Former Education Minister George Mc Guire says he was prepared to serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the new parliament which is due to meet on January 9 if both government and opposition had given him their support.

This was indicated to GRENADA TODAY by Mc Guire who was approached by this newspaper following remarks made by Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell about his decision to look for a new Speaker of the House.

The Grenadian leader said that her was forced to look for a new person to fill the post because Mc Guire had indicated to him on his appointment earlier in the year that he would only serve in the post until the holding of new national elections.

Mc Guire was brought in to fill the post that became vacant on the retirement of long-standing civil servant Sir Curtis Strachan who served at one time as Clerk of Parliament before he was elected to the post of Speaker of the House.

The new job has been given to former Chairman of the ruling New National Party (NNP), Lawrence Joseph who held the post of Minister of Labour in the last government before parliament was dissolved for the November 27 general election.

Mc Guire said that Dr. Mitchell was 'correct' when he said that he had initially indicated a willingness to take the job only to serve out the rest of the life of the last parliament. He said that he also indicated to the Prime Minister that "we should see how things go".

According to Mc Guire, he did not mind continuing in the post once he had the support of both government and opposition sides in parliament. However, he said that Prime Minister Mitchell could not be faulted for appointing Joseph to the post given the new situation existing in the House of Representatives.

The NNP will enjoy a slender one seat margin in parliament following its 8-7 victory over the NDC in the poll. Mc Guire felt that it was proper for the Grenadian leader to appoint someone of his "ilk" to serve in the post unlike him who is not "politically aligned" to the ruling party.

Mc Guire said that he is not prepared to occupy the Chair of House Speaker to give 'political patronage' to NDC or NNP since he is not a supporter of either party.

He admitted that NDC Political Leader Tillman Thomas had called him to pledge NDC's support for the post of House Speaker.
However, Mc Guire said that with the announcement by Prime Minister Mitchell that Joseph will take up the new position, he thought it prudent not to allow his name to be put forward as a candidate for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The ex-government minister drooped hints that he intends to call Thomas to put forward his position to him on the issue. The NDC was said to be planning to put forward Mc Guire's name as a counter-candidate to Joseph at the first sitting of parliament when the Speaker is to be formally appointed to the post.

Mc Guire was an original member of the NNP when it was formed in 1984 as a member of three centrist parties - the Grenada National Party (GNP) of Herbert Blaize, the Grenada Democratic Movement (GDM) of DR. Francis Alexis, and the National Democratic Party (NDP) of George Brizan.

Blaize became the first leader of the party but was deposed in 1989 by current Prime Minister Mitchell in a leadership battle at a party convention held in St. Andrew's.

Supporters of Blaize including Mc Guire, Ben Jones and Pauline Andrews moved out of the NNP and formed their own political party known as The National Party (TNP).