Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has admitted that his eight seat victory in the November 27 general elections has created "tremendous psychological and other pressures" on his leadership.

The Grenadian leader made the disclosure at his first official news conference held Tuesday at the Ministerial Complex building in the Botanical Gardens, Tanteen, St. George's.
Dr. Mitchell's New National Party (NNP) was narrowly returned to power when it edged out the main opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) of Barrister-at-law Tillman Thomas 8-7 at the polls.

The Prime Minister told reporters that it was not easy for him having to form a government having just won 8 seats in an election when he was expecting far more.

"So some of the plans that I had before elections had to be adjusted tremendously. But I am convinced, may be God has his plan and it (is) all working out well for the NNP government and the country", he remarked.

Dr. Mitchell was accompanied at the press conference by Minister of State for Youth Afairs, Senator Emmalin Pierre, Acting General Manager of the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), Sonia Roden, National Disaster Co-ordinator, Sylvan Mc. Intyre and Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Abel Newton.
The Prime Minister said it is just over one month since the administration has been back on the job and it is too early to speak about performances of ministers.

However, he said that despite the slender one seat majority in parliament, he is happy with the current composition of the Cabinet of Ministers which is smaller than the last NNP team of government ministers.

He also said he is pleased with the way the different ministers have taken to their new portfolios.

The Prime Minister blamed the poor showing of his party in the election on the failure of government "to sell what it has done" over the years, noting that others had come around and told the people the opposite which they believed.

"We have not done a good job, we are hoping to correct this... to sell precisely what the government is doing", he remarked.
According to the Grenadian leader, his administration is not perfect but it certainly deserves more credit than what it was receiving at the moment.

"Sometimes it takes people from the outside to tell us how well we are doing. So much has happened in the short period of time that we take things for granted", he said.

Dr. Mitchell faulted some people for picking on what he called "little holes in areas of weaknesses" of government and spending too much time on them instead of applauding the country for its overall performance.

"You know there is one thing about Grenada, Grenada is a nice free country", he quipped.

"People can say what they want, how they want it, they malign people, they say all kinds of things about people with no foundations whatsoever, and they call that freedom of the press", he said.

The NNP boss spoke of wanting to have a little freedom sometimes for himself because he campaigned for freedom for everybody in the past but lost his own freedom in the process.
Dr. Mitchell has the record of being the Prime Minister of Grenada to have taken the most legal action against the local media.