EDITORIAL

It is time for Prime Minister Mitchell to address the nation on a number of burning issues that the people of the Tri-island State need to hear about.

After the release of the so-called Three Bishop Killers, the Prime Minister gave a signal that he would be addressing the nation soon on that particular development.

However, there are much more important issues that Grenadians need to be addressed upon than the freeing of the three soldiers for their role in the 1983 bloody events on Fort George (Rupert) that culminated in the execution of left-leaning Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and his colleagues.

This newspaper is of the firm belief that Dr. Mitchell needs to level with the people on recent developments involving him such as the lawsuit filed against him in a court in New York that is related to the Eric Resteiner fraud case.

It is not often that the Prime Minister of a country in this part of the world or elsewhere will find himself as a defendant in matters of such a nature.

GRENADA TODAY is concerned about the constant raid on the people's purse in the National Treasury to defend our leaders through careless and reckless actions on their part.

Too much of the monies of taxpayers are being spent by the Mitchell-led New National Party (NNP) government on paying huge legal fees to foreign lawyers to defend them in foreign courts. The government has acknowledged through the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives that over one million E.C dollars have been spent on legal fees related to the actions of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Gregory Bowen on the oil and gas agreement with U.S oilman, Jack Grynberg.

That apart, we can expect thousands more to be spent on the same Bowen since Grynberg has  brought another case of alleged bribery against him in a New York court. Even Minister Bowen made the shocking revelation in London while on the Witness Stand before the tribunal that the Cabinet of Ministers and not the Parliament - the supreme law-making body on the island, approved the agreement with Grynberg.

These are the kinds of deals, which the NNP of Keith Mitchell has been entering into in the name of the Government and People of Grenada. As part of the general wholesale clean up that is so badly needed in this country, is a serious investigation of the current lot in office with a view to charging as many of them as possible with misbehaviour in public office.

There is already enough evidence around for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to cause a criminal investigation to take place into the activities of Keith Claudius Mitchell on the Switzerland Briefcase issue

This blatant mismanagement of the nation's finances is happening at a time when the people are under pressure due to rising prices for basic consumer items like milk and fuels costs. The Prime Minister cannot continue to remain silent on the issue of his lawsuit in New York, the recent oil and gas tribunal hearings in London as if to suggest it is business as usual on this little piece of rock known as Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

There are serious implications for us as a people when our leaders have found themselves engaged in legal matters in far away places like England and the United States. These are not normal and usual times in Grenada. The behaviour of our leaders is attracting international attention and publicity.

The Prime Minister and his Briefcase fiasco were even discussed during the oil and gas tribunal hearings in London. Grenada Today is aware that several of the Prime Ministers within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) are privately making certain remarks among themselves about the predicament of their colleague from the Spice Isle.

And it is quite possible that the very leaders would soon receive copies of the Timothy Bass deposition videotape in which he made the startling revelation that Dr. Mitchell allegedly received not half-a-million dollars but one million U.S in two separate payments from con man Resteiner in the form of bribes.

Grenada does not belong to Keith Claudius Mitchell and his followers within the NNP but to all of us. It is time for the Prime Minister to break his deafening silence and address the people of the Tri-island State on matters of grave concerns to them.

The late Herbert Augustus Blaize must be resting in peace wherever he might be at this present point in time after giving us words of wisdom with the saying: "What goes around comes around".

Added to that is the saying: "As it was in the beginning so shall it be in the end". It all started off for Dr. Mitchell over 30 years ago with the Shipping agents fiasco and now it is apparently ending for him many years later with the Switzerland Briefcase issue.