EDITORIAL


There's a misconception about the call being made by this newspaper for Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen to resign as a government minister in the Keith Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) administration.

This position of ours has nothing to do with the multi-million dollar court case that was filed against Mr. Bowen by U.S oil & gas investor, Jack Grynberg and his RSM Production. As far as this newspaper is concerned, the matter is before a U.S Court and in time a decision would be reached on whether Minister Bowen did ask Grynberg for bribery payment in connection with the agreement.

GRENADA TODAY's position has always been that the minister was caught openly telling a lie to this nation on his role in the signing of the agreement and should remove himself from public office on that basis.

Any public officer who tells a blatant lie to the Nation should do the decent thing and resign his post. That official should not wait around to be pushed out of office. The documentary evidence is overwhelmingly not in favour of the Deputy Prime Minister and the statement that was put out by the Ministry of Energy on his involvement in the agreement with Grynberg's outfit.

Mr. Bowen is yet to clear himself before the eyes and ears of the nation on that particular lie when he was openly caught trying to hoodwink the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

The deputy Prime Minister should also resign and take full blame and responsibility for not informing the people of this country on the arbitration proceedings in London that could prove to be a financial millstone around the necks of Grenadians for generations to come.

It might be argued with some merit that it was a collective decision of the Cabinet of Ministers under Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell to enter into the agreement with Mr. Grynberg and not a decision that was taken solely by Mr. Bowen.

However, the fact of the matter is that our Deputy Prime Minister in his capacity as Minister of Energy held the portfolio at the time that the matter went to arbitration and he failed miserably to inform the people of this country about an important matter that could affect their welfare.

This country only got to know and hear about the London Arbitration matter when the news broke that Grynberg had filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Mr. Bowen in a New York Court for US$500 million.

Is that how a government handles the business of the people? Are we saying that the people do not have a right to know about what is happening with the natural resources of the Tri-island State? Is the NNP administration sending a message that it is totally in charge and control and that no one can hold it accountable and responsible to the people?

And the Mitchell government and its officials were again true to form in the past seven days in their efforts to mislead the nation. Tourism & Civil Aviation Minister, Senator Brenda Hood announced on the popular Sunday with George Grant programme that Taiwan had financed 95% of the old stadium that was blown down by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 and that government provided the other 5%.

Sen. Hood was provided this information by one Terry Forrester, in his capacity as a member of the NNP and not as a member of the government.
It is true that Mrs. Hood since losing the Town of St. George seat to Peter David was relegated to the Senate and no longer sits in the elected House of Representatives. However, she was a member of the House of Representative when that very question was raised and debated when the Hon. Michael Baptiste was Leader of the Opposition prior to the 2003 general elections.

The Tourism Minister did not need Terry Forrester to misinform her on the issue. Mrs. Hood, do you remember when your own government told Parliament that it had borrowed US$100 million on the international market and that a large portion of that sum was used to pay off the stadium debt?

The late Eric Williams made the famous statement of 1 from 10 equal zero when Jamaica decided to pull out of the ill-fated West Indies Federation. Is the NNP government trying to play similar Mathematics with our heads.

Who is really trying to fool who once again? There is a saying that a liar has no memory. And if you tell one lie, and then another lie you will not even remember the first lie that was told. So in the end the second lie is not unexpected. It is true that the Taiwanese are no longer in the country to shed any light on this matter since Prime Minister Mitchell booted them out in favour of the other Chinese from the Mainland.

GRENADA TODAY invite Mrs. Hood and Mr. Forrester to go back to the Hansard records in Parliament and refresh their memories on what their own government told the people of this nation on the use of the US$100 million that was borrowed to help pay off the stadium debt.

Perhaps, Mr. Forrester can be excused since he has no legal standing in the government. The goodly gentleman should have come on the air himself and make that announcement instead of giving that questionable information to Sen. Hood to provide to the people.

And if the Parliamentary Opposition within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is smart then it should send a letter to CLICO which financed the old stadium project to find out how much it was paid and who paid them. When would a stop be put to the lies that are being constantly told in this little country of ours that is known as the Spice Isle of the West?