Editorial

The re-sentencing of the Coard Gang of prisoners is once again opening up deep wounds in the Grenadian society. And the situation is not being helped by certain statements being made by operatives of the ruling New National Party (NNP) government, especially the Attorney-General, Elvin Nimrod.

The minister sent a clear signal to the country that the administration was not prepared to accept any decision of the high court to release the Gang which committed the most heinous, brutal and barbaric acts of murder in the modern day history of the English-speaking Caribbean.

The NNP should be the last party in Grenada to attack anyone on freeing the Coard group of prisoners. The former Commissioner of Prisons, Winston Courtney is still alive and can attest to the moves being made by then Minister of Implementation, Joslyn Whiteman in his capacity as a member of the Mercy Committee to free some of the prisoners.

There is also evidence of the involvement of the hierarchy of the ruling party to woo the Coardites in the society to support them in both the 1995 and 1999 general elections on the promise"to free the men on the hill". A former PRA Chief from Tivoli who was supporting the NNP at the time was sent as an emissary to the Coardites and osme of them took the bait that was offered and openly campaigned for Mitchell and his NNP bunch.

It is sad that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has allowed itself to be boxed in on the Coard issue due to the presence on its platform of some of the revolutionary figures like Peter David, Nazim Burke and George Prime.

As the Political Leader and Prime Minister-in-waiting, the onus is on Tillman Thomas to make a clear statement to the Grenadias people his party's position on the issue of"the men on the hill". The NDC is still to make a public statement on the virtual freeing by the NNP of Phyllis Coard, the wife of Bernard Coard who to the best of our information is living in style in her homeland in Jamaica on the pretext of receiving treatment for"colon cancer".

As the Privy Council indicated, the issue of"the men on the hill" should not be left to the hands of the politicians in the country since they are often prone to be engaged in politics of expediency on such matters of importance.

GRENADA TODAY hold no brief for either side in the 1983 power struggle within the New Jewel Movement (NJM) that eventually led to the carnage at Fort Rupert now returned to its original name of Fort George. That party which overthrew the duly elected Eric Gairy government have the blood of many Grenadians on its hands.

The leaders including Maurice Bishop, Unison Whiteman, George Louison, Bernard Coard, General Hudson Austin, Selwyn Strachan and countless others were responsible for the assassination of many Grenadians like Strachan Phillip, the Stanislaus Brothers of St. Patrick's, and the Muslim dissidents among others.

The NJM so-called"glorious revolution" was born in deceit and died a natural death also in deceit. The leaders told a big lie to the Grenadian people that Eric Gairy had left instructions to the police force, army and"Green Beast to liquidate the likes of Bishop and Coard and as such the NJM was left with no other choice but to retaliate and take power by force of arms.

The military wing of the NJM was always in training in several locations in the country and also on other Caribbean soil for the"big day" when Gairy would be overthrown. The information in our possession is that even two weeks before March 13 the soldiers were on stand-by to execute the plan against the government of the day.

The attack was eventually called off. The NJM leadership decided that the best time to strike was when Gairy was out of the country out of fear that if he was not killed in the initial attack and managed to escape then the Prime Minister might be able to rally his supporters in the country to deal with the coup plotters.

There were elements in the police force who occupied key positions and always kept the NJM leadership informed of the movement and whereabouts of Sir Eric. Today some of these elements are still around and one in particular is very close to the NNP hierarchy and might even offer himself up at the next general elections.

And the Nelson Louison role in the current re-sentencing of the Coard Gang should not be surprising to anyone. The records would show that Nelson Louison was a supporter of the Coard Group in the bloody palace coup against Bishop. His brothers, George (deceased) and Senator Einstein Louison ended up on the Bishop faction and were subjected to house arrest by their former revolutionary colleagues.

Nelson Louison approached the editor of this newspaper after the collapse of the Grenada Revolution to expose his brothers whom he claimed wanted to"kill" and did not want him to come to the family house at Concord.

Our position then and even now was that this was a family dispute and that the Louisons' should try and resolve the issue among themselves. The latest turn of events involving Nelson Louison and the manner in which he has apparently now turned tail coat against the Coard Gang is another classic case and example of why the Grenada Revolution had to fail because of the elements who were involved in the process.