Nothing but grand standing!!!

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Parent Category: Nov 2011

Category: Week ending Nov 26th, 2011

Published on Tuesday, 29 November 2011 18:29

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EDITORIAL

In recent days, there was an important pronouncement from the current Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Keith Mitchell on the need for government to establish a protocol on travelling by ministers. 

The former Prime Minister also questioned the decision taken by Prime Minister Thomas to spend thousands of taxpayers dollars to travel to as far away as Australia to attend the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government summit meeting.

Checks made by this newspaper seem to suggest that the former Prime Minister was not factual on the issue since the trip was financed largely by funds secured by Ambassador Stephen Fletcher in Brussels from the Europeans.

This newspaper would be the first to question any unnecessary raid on the public purse by government officials. Some of the current ministers can rightfully be accused of engaging in overseas travel that are of little or no benefit to the country. A recent trip to Israel by Foreign Minister, Karl Hood should be seriously questioned in light of the sensitive nature of the politics in the Middle East.

Congress as a government should be careful of the signals being sent to the oil-rich States in the Middle East given the Israeli-Palestine conflict that has been going on for decades. Quite a large number of these States have been giving generously to Grenada over the years, like Kuwait and the several road projects funded on the island, and the generous offer made by the United Arab Emirates to co-finance with Australia the rebuilding of our landmark Parliament Building, better known as York House.

A few other ministers can also be accused of being engaged in not island –to-island hopping like the case of LIAT but rather country-to-country roaming much like our telecom providers. The Prime Minister needs to rein in some of these ministers who have constituencies to look after and are thinking of seeking re-election in the next general election.

The experts often argue that  the real politics are local. Let’s hope the government ministers get the this particular message – not necessarily the one that came from the Leader of the Opposition. The truth is that Dr. Mitchell is the wrong messenger to be used, whether by the NNP or any other group in the country to preach the virtues of a protocol for overseas travel.

This is the one individual in the country who have violated the protocol and often kept Grenadians in the dark about some of his infamous trips abroad. It took a Miami-based journalist by the name of David Marchant to open the eyes of our people to the trip made by Dr. Mitchell to meet with imprisoned fraudster, Eric Resteiner in Switzerland where it is alleged that he collected the US$500, 000 in a briefcase as a bribe to make the crook an ambassador of Grenada.

Did the country know anything of this trip to Switzerland before it was reported upon by Marchant and his Offshore Alert? Even in the Cheltenham Commission of Inquiry, the country heard for the first time that as Prime Minister, Dr. Mitchell travelled to a certain country in Europe without his personal bodyguards? Why was this done?

Former Opposition Leader, Michael Baptiste can testify about another of Dr. Mitchell’s sojourn to Switzerland without the knowledge of Grenadians. As the Minister of Agriculture in the former NNP government, Mr. Baptiste was on an official trip to Japan and had to call Dr. Mitchell who was then in London to discuss a matter with the Grenadian  leader.

Mr. Baptiste confirmed to this newspaper that he made the call and was informed by High Commissioner, Ruth Rouse that Dr. Mitchell had left early in the morning to make a quick trip to Switzerland. Did the people of Grenada know about this trip to Switzerland which many know is the banking capital of the world for offshore banking activities. It seems rather strange that Dr. Mitchell was in office for 13 long years and never saw the need then to institute a protocol on travelling for government Ministers and officials. Why now?

THE NEW TODAY would also like to remind the former Prime Minister of his trip to some European capitals in the company of one Viktor Kozeny (The Pirate of Prague) on the private jet of this notorious character. Grenadian  journalist Hamlet Mark could testify about this trip. Was there a protocol in place for government officials to travel with characters like Kozeny? If the NNP want to be treated seriously on such matters then the members are better advised to seek another Spokesman on a travel protocol for government and not their current leader.

This newspaper has a hunch that Dr. Mitchell is trying to say the right things while in opposition in order to convince the electorate to put him back in the Botanical Gardens. But the million dollar question which Grenadians need to constantly ask is this – Can a leopard really change  the color of its skin?

A rose by any other name is still a rose.

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