Hood and Lord engage in physical clash

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Parent Category: Sept 2011

Category: Week ending Sept 03rd, 2011

Published on Saturday, 03 September 2011 13:19

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Details are beginning to emerge about a physical confrontation between a senior Grenada government minister and an executive member of his own constituency branch. An authoritative source told THE NEW TODAY newspaper that Minister of Foreign Affairs, Karl Hood and newly appointed Deputy Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ralph Lord were engaged in a physical battle following a recent meeting of the Executive of the St. George South-east branch of the party.

The source who asked not to be named said that following a heated argument, Lord used his hands to push away Hood who in turn moved towards him and pushed him back in like manner. Newly elected Deputy Chairman of Congress, Pastor Stanford Simon reportedly rushed between the two battling men in an effort to bring an end to the hostility.

The source told this newspaper that the issue was sparked off by the result of an election for a new executive for the St. George South-east constituency branch in which Lord was defeated for the post by Pastor Simon who is widely regarded to be a key member of the so-called Peter David-faction of the Congress party.

According to the source, Lord called for the results of the election to be cancelled on the grounds that not many members of the branch had showed up to cast their votes for the post. He spoke of the Lord proposal being defeated since the meeting had been planned some time before and members were aware of the schedule.

The source said that when the meeting finally came to an end, there was some kind of discussion taking place between Pastor Simon and Lord about an upcoming meeting of the branch.

"I heard that Lord asked Pastor Simon to remind him about the meeting in a kind of argumentative manner. Pastor Hood then jumped in and said words to the effect that Lord already knew about the meeting and the date etc, and that he find that Lord was behaving like a fool", he told NEW TODAY.

"It was at this point that Lord moved in on Hood and pushed him with his hands. Hood then said that he wondered if Lord knew who he was playing with. Hood then moved towards Lord and pushed him away with his hands. When Pastor Simon saw what was going on, he immediately rushed between the two men to keep them separated and from continuing the fight.

When THE NEW TODAY contacted Pastor Simon for comment on the issue, he said: "I have no comment on that". However, the religious leader confirmed that he was elected as the Chairman of the Constituency Branch, which is responsible for identifying potential candidates for the next general elections.

There is known to be widespread opposition in some parts of the constituency on Hood's possible selection to contest the seat on an NDC ticket on allegations that he had not provided adequate service to the needs of constituents. Over the years, Minister Hood and Lord have enjoyed an acrimonious relationship with the government minister at one point trying to bar the latter from attending a national meeting of Congress as a delegate of his South-east constituency.

A party insider said that Hood had instructed Lord not to attend the meeting since he had not selected him to be on the list of delegates. Lord reportedly took the issue to the party's General Secretary, Tourism Minister, Peter David who informed him that he had every right to attend the meeting since he was a member of the executive council of the NDC St. George South-east branch.

According to the party source, Lord defied the orders of Hood and attended the meeting and the two were engaged in a further verbal battle on the grounds of the meeting hall. The source could not say whether the latest physical confrontation between the senior government minister and his constituency branch member will be referred to the Disciplinary Committee of the party.

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