Hon. Tillman Thomas

Deputy Political Leader of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), George Prime has warned Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell that he would have to face the music some day on allegations that he accepted a massive bribe in June 2000 of $US 500,000.00 in Switzerland from German trickster Eric Resteiner.

Prime made the charge Sunday night at the Sugar Mill Roundabout in front of a large gathering that showed up for a Congress meeting styled, "Time for Change". He said that the NDC would not allow the Briefcase Issue which is being affected by court hearings to die a natural death as the Prime Minister would like.

Sole Commissioner Dr. Richard Cheltenham of Barbados has not been able to call sittings of the Inquiry set up by Governor-General, Sir Daniel Williams to probe the bribery allegations due to a series of legal proceedings. The long-delay in the inquiry has prompted Prime Minister Mitchell to state that the investigation "is just about over".

Sen George Prime

Prime dropped hints that there is already sufficient evidence for the Grenadian leader to be charged for wrong-doing. He said that Dr. Mitchell publicly acknowledged that he accepted money from Resteiner and "did not put it where it belonged".

The NDC official labelled it as "a breach of the public"s trust" by Prime Minister Mitchell and something that should not be taken very lightly. Prime Minister Mitchell told the nation that he had received "approximately US$15, 000.00" from Resteiner and had used it to cover the expenses of a government delegation on a trip to several European States.

Opponents of the Prime Minister are alleging that the money should have been deposited into the Consolidated Fund. Prime Minister Mitchell is accused of accepting the US$500,000.00 from Resteiner in exchange for a diplomatic position with the administration in St. George"s.

The NDC Number Two official accused the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of only attracting "crooks, con-men and criminals" since taking office in June 1995.

According to Prime, the legacy that the NNP would leave behind is one of corruption. Several so-called foreign investors especially from the United States who came into the country to do business under the NNP regime, have since pleaded guilty in the U.S of engaging in money-laundering activities. Several of them are awaiting sentences.

Prime also touched on the Peter David citizenship court case in which the Mitchell government is trying to unseat the NDC Member of Parliament for the Town of St. George. He questioned the motive of the NNP regime to take court action against David on the grounds that he had dual citizenship - Canadian and Grenadian.

Prime said that he had spoken to a former parliamentarian of the NNP who indicated to him that the Mitchell-led party did not make that an issue in both the 1995 and 1999 general elections since several of their own candidates had U.S citizenship.

Several top executive members of NDC including Prime are known to have held talks within the past two weeks with former NNP Junior Minister of Works, Oliver Archibald who is himself a U.S citizen. Archibald won the rural St. Andrew North-east for the NNP in the 1995 and 1999 poll.

Speculation is rife that apart from Archibald, the NNP candidates who contested elections over the years with citizenship other than Grenada were Mark Isaac, Michael Baptiste, Elvin Nimrod, as well as Prime Minister Mitchell and Adrian" Spaceman" Mitchell.

In his address, political leader of the Congress party, Tillman Thomas claimed that the country is not safe at the moment and laid blame for this state of affairs on the Mitchell government.

He accused the regime of remaining silent on newspaper reports in the country about missing guns and ammunition from the Richmond Hill prison. There are unconfirmed reports that eleven assault rifles and an undisclosed amount of ammunition have been stolen from the armoury at the prison.
The Opposition Leader noted that not only single word has been issued on the incident by Prime Minister Mitchell who shares the National Security portfolio with former Army Chief of Staff, Major Einstein Louison.

The NDC boss was also critical of the manner in which Prime Minister Mitchell was treating the poor and vulnerable persons in the society. Thomas accused the Grenadian leader of forcing people in rural parts of the country to leave their homes as early as 5 o"clock in the morning to come down to his St. George North-west constituency in the hope of getting a few sheets of board to rebuild their homes following the ravages of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

He called on supporters to continue rallying with the Congress party since it was poised to form the next government in Grenada. He said that Prime Minister Mitchell and the NNP have been "wounded" since the 2003 poll in which it managed to hold onto power by one seat and they have "not been able to recover".

The Ndc is said to be getting its electioneering machinery in placed for the next poll that is widely expected in 2008.