EDITORIAL
The taxpayers of this country have once again been called upon to bear the heavy burden of another financial fiasco of the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell.
The latest information involves the payment of over 2 million E.C dollars in legal fees by the State to high-priced overseas lawyers in cases centered around actions and decisions coming from our Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Gregory Bowen.
The unsuspecting public is not aware of the millions of dollars that this particular minister has caused this country over the years through many ill advised and ill-conceived actions on his part.
The biggest so far is the Dipcon judgment of over 20 million dollars when Bowen as Minister of Communications and Works spearheaded the move to break the legally binding contract that the previous government had with the Trinidad-based road building company.
That judgment is growing each and every passing day by thousands of dollars as the cash-strapped government of Mitchell and Gregory Bowen and Company fail to make payments.
And now the nation is being told through the Accountant-General in the Ministry of Finance that just over a month ago the State paid in excess of $250, 000.00 to retainer a U.S law firm to represent the deputy Prime Minister in his own bribery allegation case.
There is a saying that "birds of a feather flock together" and this is very appropriate in the current situation in Grenada.
If there is one minister who needed to be stripped of his portfolio in the weekend Cabinet reshuffle is the Energy Minister for his many failures.
But the Prime Minister in his "wisdom" and "vision" decided to leave Mr. Bowen with all his portfolios intact.
This minister should be apologising to the Grenadian people for the millions of dollars that he is causing the taxpayers through his many mistakes in discharging the portfolios given to him as a member of the government.
Both Minister Bowen and his boss would need to ensure that victory comes their way at the poll in the next general election. A stop must be put to the bleeding of the nation's financial resources through the heavy burden being placed on the taxpayers due to Mr. Bowen's many experiments.
And Dr. Mitchell would need to win as many general elections as possible in this country in order to avoid the criminal investigation that waits him "all in the fullness of time" on the briefcase issue.
His recent uttering on the "video-tape" at the NNP public meeting at Progress Park in St. Andrew's are intended to prepare the people for the eventual release of the "hard evidence" that is now being played out in a U.S court.
The Prime Minister is fully aware that it is only a matter of time before Mr. Grynberg is able to lay his hands on the "prize" since a U.S judge has already ordered Mr. Resteiner to hand over the "video-tape" depicting the transfer of the funds at St. Moritz, Switzerland in June 2000.
No amount of fancy talking by Dr. Mitchell would exonerate him from addressing critical aspects of the briefcase issue.
Anything that he says now would have to be judged and weighed against the address that he made to the nation nearly four years ago when the briefcase issue first surfaced.
In that speech, the Prime Minister stated quite forthright that he did not receive any money from Mr. Resteiner in a briefcase.
He admitted to receiving "approximately US$15, 000.00" and not the US$500, 000.00 as is being alleged.
Up to now, Dr. Mitchell has stayed clear in addressing the means through which the funds were given to him by Mr. Resteiner.
If the video-tape which is known to be in the hands of agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States can show the Prime Minister receiving a large cash payment from Mr. Resteiner then he certainly have a lot of questions to answer.
This "briefcase issue" can be put to rest within a quick period of time in light of the recent developments in the U.S court.
The Governor-General, Sir Daniel Williams should be petitioned to use his good offices to ensure that the Mutual Assistance Treaty between Grenada and the United States is invoked and the tape is made available.
The FBI itself can be tapped to give an expert opinion on whether the videotape had been tampered with.
It is already important to note that the FBI conducted a polygraph test detector test of Mr. Resteiner to determine whether or not he was speaking the truth on the issue of the tape.
If the experts determine that the tape is suspect then the "briefcase issue" should be dropped immediately.
However, if on the contrary, the tape is authentic then the Prime Minister should be criminally questioned like in any person suspected of breaking the law.
