Taiwan, we apologise!!!
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- Parent Category: Oct 2011
- Category: Week ending Oct 22nd, 2011
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Editorial
The chickens are now coming home to roost.
It is the only way THE NEW TODAY can best describe the unfolding events due to the manner in which the former New National Party (NNP) government headed by Dr. Keith Mitchell decided to abruptly dump The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan in favour of diplomatic ties with Mainland China.
This bungled diplomatic move by Mitchell is now hurting Grenada as Taiwan is clearly tightening the noose around the neck of our country for the over EC$75 million in loans that were never paid back by the NNP administration over the years.
And what is most vexing is that the former Prime Minister had informed the nation that the NNP administration had borrowed US$100 million to be used to pay off a number of outstanding debts including those owed to Taiwan for the first national stadium at Queen’s Park. Was this a deliberate lie to the people of Grenada, Carriaocu and Petite Martinique?
The former Minister of Finance under Mitchell’s government, Anthony Boatswain often defended the massive debts created by NNP by trying to get the nation to buy into his thinking that creating debt was not the problem but it was one’s ability to manage it that mattered.
The uncomfortable situation in which Grenada has now found itself with Taiwan clearly tells us that the former administration did a very poor and lousy job in managing and handling those debts.
And to think that the likes of Mitchell, Boatswain, Elvin Nimrod and Gregory Bowen are serious about wanting to get back into power? If they did not deal with the debts then, are we to believe that they can deal with it tomorrow?
These former NNP officials need to tell us as Grenadians what should the current government do in order to untangle ourselves from the nasty web in which the Taiwanese now have us - sardines before hungry sharks.
Clearly, the NNP cannot suggest that the Tillman Thomas-led NDC government should engage Mainland China to use whatever clout or leverage it has in getting Taiwan to back-off from its actions to recover the millions owed from these outstanding loans.
It should have been the NNP call to first address the millions owed to Taipei as part of the package from Beijing before making any switch.
It is now too late to go cap in hand to the Chinese on the Mainland and get them to commit to paying off the millions owed to their “nemesis” on the other side of the peninsula.
What is clear to us is that the so-called unmatched leader that the NNP likes to boast about, clearly lacked imagination in handling the Taiwan situation.
It should not have come as a surprise to anyone who followed the stewardship of Mitchell as Prime Minister that he would have dumped Taiwan in such a manner and run after the goodies tangled before his eyes by Beijing.
The former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Brian Francis can testify that whenever Taiwan called for payments on the loans, Mitchell would always threaten them about breaking ties and going to Mainland China.
And instead of paying back the loans, he would quickly turn around and ask the Taiwanese for more money. Taipei often obliged out of fear that Dr. Mitchell would one day play the One-China card on them.
This is the kind of individual that ruled this country for 13 years. The U.S diplomats correctly accessed that laying his hands on financial resources is all that mattered to the former Grenada Prime Minister in his dealings with anyone.
What is so disgusting about the behaviour of Mitchell is that he ran up millions of dollars in debts with countries such as Taiwan and bluntly refused to pay them back anything including the interest.
However, in his own personal dealings, the same Mitchell took a number of persons to court, won questionable judgements and sought to crucify these people for not paying him any of the debts.
The proof can be found in the manner in which the former Prime Minister went after the likes of Eddie Frederick, GBN, Stanley Charles, George Worme and the now defunct GRENADA TODAY newspaper whom he hounded down for money from court cases.
As a matter of fact, Mitchell is still going after Mr. Worme in the liquidation matter involving the Grenada Today newspaper and the company called Grenada Today Ltd.
And to think that this man is talking on one side of the mouth about forgiveness and reconciliation and still harbouring thoughts of wanting another term in office, as he said to deal with his legacy. What legacy is he talking about?
The Mitchell legacy is already inscribed in history as the Americans through their wikileaks documents described him as one of the most corrupt Prime Ministers in the Caribbean and even more corrupt than former Prime Minister of Antigua, Lester Bird.
His legacy is of one who entertained the likes of imprisoned fraudsters, Eric Resteiner, Rita Regala and David Rowe and opened the doors of Grenada for crooks and conmen to operate such as Viktor Kozeny, The Pirate of Prague and Van Brink of the famed First International Bank of Grenada.
THE NEW TODAY can only empathise with its fellow Grenadians in the Taiwan saga because as the saying goes, the people choose the government that they deserve and the NNP legacy will remain in our minds very much like the ravages of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Grenada might never recover from the years of reckless borrowing and spending by Keith Mitchell and Team NNP.
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