Despite objections in some quarters, the new Grenada government is sticking to its decision to send controversial civil servant Ruth Rouse back to London to serve as the island's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
A government official told GRENADA TODAY that there is overwhelming support among the Cabinet of Ministers for Rouse to resume duties as the representative of Grenada in the British capital.
According to the official, the government was also influenced by the amount of persons in Britain who have been calling for the re-instatement of Rouse in the High Commission office.
The Tillman Thomas-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government has not publicly announced the re-appointment of Rouse to replace Joseph Charter who served the previous administration.
Rouse was sent to London in the 1999-2003 period to replace Marcelle Gairy, the daughter of former Prime Minister Eric Gairy following a feud between her and then Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell.
Marcelle Gairy had slammed Mitchell for the manner in which he sought to access $100 million U.S in promissory note with then Director-General of Finance, Dr. Linus Thomas with some questionable characters in London.
After the public fall-out, Mitchell despatched Rouse, considered a trusted lieutenant to head the island's High Commission office in London.
She was given promotion to become the island's Ambassador to the United Nations based in New York as replacement for the ageing, Dr. Lamuel Stanislaus.
Rouse reportedly fell out of grace with Mitchell after entertaining a delegation from NDC at the Grenada U.N office that was visiting New York a few years ago.
She was demoted and brought back home to serve as a Permanent Secretary.
After the July 8 poll, newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter David decided to send Rouse back to her old posting. Critics of the female envoy have often pointed to Rouse's apparent closeness to Mitchell.
The former UN envoy accompanied Mitchell in the late 1990's on his swing through Europe with disgraced former Grenada Ambassador, Viktor Kozeny who is known in international circles as the Pirate of Prague.
In recent times, Rouse came under scrutiny for her bungling of the Patricia Mark issue in which the Mitchell government attempted to remove the Chief Magistrate from office without going through the proper legal channel.
The envoy who held the post of Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Legal Affairs has been chastised in legal circles for wrongfully writing a letter to the Chief Magistrate advising her that she should demit office after taking holiday leave.
Legal sources have said that it was not the job of Rouse to write the letter to Mark but rather the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) which is responsible under the Grenada Constitution for the hiring and firing of legal luminaries serving the State.
