SCANDAL & SHAME AFTER SCANDAL & SHAME UNDER NNP
By Max Sterling
I recall during the entire period of the Peoples Revolution of 19791983 a Mr. Bruno, gatekeeper/watchman/security at the Drill Yard on Young Street, former home of the Ministry of Communications & Works/Construction and Public Utilities used to say: One thing with this government, we do not know what next, how next, where next and who next!
Similarly we can afford to raise the same questions during all of the last twelve years. If it isnt one thing it is another as Grenada, under the most incompetent and shameful hands of Keith Mitchell continues, to rack up scandal and shame after scandal and shame.
No wonder David Marchant in his regularly published well respected international electronic financial newsletter aptly referred to Grenada as scandal plagued.
He even went as far as to place Grenadas current holder of the office of Prime Minister in his Hall of Shame for infamous scoundrels.
It is indeed a crying shame to think that over the last thirty three years as an independent State all we can be known for in the world is scandal of magnanimous proportions. Our dear tri-island State has never been given a fair chance since the advent of self rule.
During the 19741979 period, Prime Minister, Sir Eric Gairy was known as a strong man whose preoccupation with the extra terrestrial placed Grenada at first on the international laughing stock stage and later vindicated by the same United Nations body which launched several studies into Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).
The period 19791983 was not without incident as under Revolutionary Prime Minister Maurice Bishop Grenada became known as a progressive island nation demanding a place on the world stage with its Marxist/Leninist doctrines which eventually fell victim to an ideological accident on Fort Rupert/Fort George on October 19th, 1983 resulting in half killing the other half and the accused half branded murderers, landing in jail for the alleged murders.
The catastrophic end of this era resulted in the military intervention of the United States on October 25th, 1983 with a year of interim non-political rule intended to stabilise Grenada and bring us back to sobriety.
Next would come a period of hope which quickly turned into despair with a sort of visionless leadership of Prime Minister Herbert Blaize whose integrity has never been in question.
It is his visionless leadership which led to the spin-off of the current diabolical element which unseated him in a very deceitful race for the leadership of the New National Party (NNP) in December 1989, forcing him (Blaize) into oblivion.
A golden opportunity was missed by the people of Grenada to build on the good and well-intentioned works of Prime Minister Sir Nicholas Alexander Brathwaite during the 19901995 period.
Of course, his tenure in office was not without its confusion with a kind of uneasiness within and among key high ranking members.
The perception of this group was never one of unity and camaraderie. After the promised year of leadership to his constituency, Sir Nicholas Brathwaite demitted office and is today remembered for his statesmanlike approach to bolstering the international image of Grenada while putting Grenada in the limelight as a creditworthy State once more.
Undoubtedly, this five year period was the closest to the kind of leadership which epitomised a nation well underway to real independence.
No one believed the naysayers who predicted that Grenada was on its way to following the pattern of development of the Seychelles under the leadership of the element who conned Herbert Blaize out of leadership of the NNP in 1989 and whose otherwise checkered past would resurface in the form of activities which are unbecoming of anyone in public office.
And it has been downhill for Grenada and its image since then and continuing.
When sugar ceased to be our main produce, Grenada as a British colony like most others ceased to be relevant to the Crown.
Us, wanting political independence and complete self-rule must have been regarded as manna from heaven by the British Government who no longer would have any obligation and responsibility towards us as a people.
Keith Mitchells Prime Ministership started out with quite a number of people gravitating towards him with hope for a bright and vibrant future as a continuum of the rich legacy of integrity in public life left by Sir Nicholas Brathwaite.
But that was not to be. As fast as the good, well-intentioned citizens of Grenada joined in effort to support the building of Grenada under Mitchell that is as fast as he found ways to drop them as if to show how allergic he really is to good people who were all replaced by characterless vagabonds and scoundrels.
The Peoples Revolutionary Government would refer to such elements as lumpens of society. Every failed and questionable individual who ran any sort of business in Grenada gravitated towards Mitchell and have not left since 1995.
The crookedest of crooks have found a resting place in the NNPs House. The NNP style of leadership is governed by the watchword: Nepotism: Favoritism shown to relatives or close friends by those in power (as by giving them jobs)!
Since the reconstruction of the San Souci/River Road steps way back in 1996, we could have heard of the individual in charge diverting cement from that project to one of his girl friends home that he was building.
I recall the same Mitchell when this accusation was made coming out and saying that people must bring the proof so he can take action.
What no one had realized is that bring the proof would have been Mitchells passwords for even more serious accusations against him in relation to vulgar misbehaviour in public office.
No one would have been able to predict the Offshore Industry debacle which took Grenadas international image to the gutter to meet its leaders reputation and culture.
Our islands name was blacklisted at least three times by prominent international bodies/entities The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), and the United States Treasury Department.
As a means of making quick money several close associates of the Nepotism Ring were set up as agents to entice people to an ill-conceived Economic Citizenship programme which spelled more trouble for Grenada in the aftermath of 9/11 in New York and Washington.
Canada closed its doors to all Grenadians slapping a visa requirement on us while the US tightened its entrance requirements for visitors visas.
Then came multiple accusations of bribery which climaxed in the Resteiner briefcase issue which was said to have been videotaped with Mitchell allegedly receiving certain sums of money in St. Moritz, Switzerland in June 2000.
Resteiner, a well known international fraudster, claimed that the money given to Mitchell was part payment for a diplomatic position. This issue is still pending and the exact truth will only be known when Mitchell is put out of office.
How could we forget the close association of the same Mitchell with the Pirate of Prague whose real name is Viktor Kozeny, the likes of Van Brink and another questionable German character by the name of Peter Capella, and a host of others?
For the most part this NNP bunch have shown that the only people they are really able to draw to Grenada and around them locally in Grenada are crooks and conmen and con-women. The only exception might be Peter de Savary who did not come because of NNP but for other reasons.
Are you surprised that the wrong anthem was played at the Chinese handing over ceremony for the new and properly built stadium which is free of corruption very much unlike the first one which according to last editorial of this paper was falling apart long before Ivans breeze hit it? I am not!
In the aftermath of the diplomatic blunder with the wrong anthem, etc. it was noticed that the Chinese diplomats snubbed the NNP by staying away from Monday night's Independence for members of the Diplomatic Community.
The BBC considers this story the biggest and most important story in 2007 so far. That only indicates the magnitude of the diplomatic faux par created by Mitchell and his NNP stooges.
I understand that the inappropriately dressed holder of the office of Prime Minister at the handing over ceremony for the Chinese-built stadium was able to secure the stepping aside of the Police Band Master, Inspector Brian Hurst pending the outcome of the investigation into the wrong anthem.
Why did Mitchell not step aside similarly when the Resteiner briefcase inquiry/investigation was commissioned?
Why did Gregory Bowen not remove himself from office as Minister of energy in the Jack Grynberg bribery scandal?
As far as Mitchell is concerned the Taiwan/China issue is not closed and therefore I would not put it pass him to have engineered this slip up as a means of pressuring the Chinese to pay off the Taiwanese loans which landed Grenada in international court.
After all, according to Taipei Times: The commercial loan had been transferred into one of Grenadas accounts in New York so that lawsuits would be handled under the jurisdiction of the New York courts to provide international impartiality.
Whose signature/s is/are on this bank account from Grenada considering that this money never had any parliamentary approval?
I have no question in my mind as to the outcome of all that is happening in Grenada under Mitchell and NNP - all in the fullness of time as I can hear the jail door getting ready to bang!
