Editorial
GRENADA TODAY would continue to see our deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen as a major manipulator of the truth unless he could offer some reasonable explanation to the public for the clear attempt made to hide from the media his role between 1995 and 1999 in the oil and gas exploration agreement with U.S investor, Jack Grynberg.
The "smoking gun" that was fired off by this newspaper in last week's issue put to rest any doubt in the minds of the ordinary folks that Minister Bowen was not speaking the truth on the issue.
What is it that he is trying to hide from us? Is he attempting to protect somebody else's role in the affair or pointing us in the direction of a particular individual?
Is Bowen sending a clear message to us that he was not the real person who opened the doors to Grynberg to tie up the country's oil and gas resources but it was someone else within the NNP administration?
Maybe, we should pay much closer attention to his utterances during the press conference when the Prime Minister's name came up as the person who might have had the initial contact with Jack Grynberg.
It was rather interesting to hear Bowen pause and then uttered words to the effect in reference to Prime Minister Mitchell and Grynberg: "Go and ask him" (who brought in Grynberg).
Dr. Mitchell was indeed the Minister of Finance in the first NNP government of 1995-98 with Senator Patrick Bubb serving as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance.
It should have been Dr. Mitchell to sign the oil agreement with Grynberg but Sen. Bubb was made to do it. Why? Was it a case of sacrificing Bubb in case something went wrong?
If Grynberg was able to deliver on the oil and gas and make millions and perhaps billions available to Mitchell, Bowen, Bubb and company then the Prime Minister might have come forward and take the credit for finding a real "investor".
There is information around which seem to suggest that Grynberg was aware of the potential for oil and gas deposits in Grenadian waters and that both Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago might later make claims that the waters fell within their maritime boundaries.
Hence, it was critical that attempts be made to settle the boundaries with Caracas and Port-of-Spain and for Grenada to move ahead with its oil and gas exploration.
Mr. Grynberg had sought to discuss the maritime boundaries with Venezuela but was rebuffed by the oil-rich South American country on the grounds that he had no status.
It was at this point that the Keith Mitchell government on September 12, 1996 sent a letter to Grynberg informing him that he had been "designated a Special Envoy of the Government of Grenada to the Republic of Venezuela for the purpose of discussing issues related to petroleum resources".
Was Grenadians informed of this development? Why was it being kept secret from the people? Shouldn't we know who are all of our officials and diplomatic representatives around the world?
But then again the NNP of Keith Mitchell was playing true to form. It was travelling the same secret and dangerous road in which it was attempting to give diplomatic appointments to crooks and conmen like Viktor Kozeny (The Pirate of Prague) and Eric Resteiner whose name is being called with the Prime Minister in the US$500,000.00 brief case scandal.
It baffles us how could Mr. Bowen now make a public statement that Jack Grynberg was interfering with the discussions with Venezuela and Grenada aimed at settling our maritime boundaries Why then was the same Jack Grynberg appointed by his NNP administration as our "Special Envoy" to Venezuela?
Mr. Bowen, please tell us what you mean by Grynberg interfering in these discussions when he was a party to the same discussions.
The Russian offer of putting 10 million U.S dollars into the Treasury to clearly break the agreement with Grynberg might now be the cause of some people losing their memory.
GRENADA TODAY has reliable information that the NNP hierarchy is currently working out a strategy aimed to stopping this newspaper and other persons in the country from making further publicity on the Gregory Bowen matter.
And at the heart of the strategy seems to be a deliberate ploy to take legal action in order to get a court order to gag persons from reporting or making comments on the issue.
The information in our possession is that a certain non-national operating in the Ministerial Complex is currently collecting all tapes and newspaper articles on the subject matter.
These include statements made by attorney-at-law, Reynold Benjamin of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP), opposition Member of Parliament, Nazim Burke, Opposition Leader Tillman Thomas, and the GRENADA TODAY newspaper.
Speculation is rife that the collections would be put in front of the Legal Hit Man in order to put together the course of action that is deemed necessary in the circumstances to try and take "the heat" from off the back of Gregory Bowen.
The Mitchell/Bowen government can try and pull the veil over our faces in order to seek shelter but the people would have to make the ultimate decision at the opportune time on their leaders to try and take them to the promised land.
