Ticker Testing
House cleaning time!!!
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- Details
- Parent Category: Jan 2012
- Category: Week end Jan 28th, 2012
- Published on Sunday, 29 January 2012 13:38
- Hits: 995
EDITORIAL
Recent events should send home the distinctively clear message to Prime Minister Tillman Thomas that his National Democratic Congress (NDC) needs to engage in some serious house cleaning in order to rebuild some of the confidence in the population that has been eroded in recent weeks.
It is no longer a question of examining the horns of some of the players on board but simple put - getting rid of those who are the known trouble-makers. The Member of Parliament for St. Patrick West, Joseph Gilbert is now a part of history in light of the events surrounding the Casino licence issue.
There are two distinct factions within the Congress government - one led by the Hon. Prime Minister Thomas and the other that is seemingly loyal to Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Peter David, the current General Secretary of the ruling party.
It was at Minister David's family-owned hotel complex that the leading members of the so-called rebel faction were captured on television converging after last Wednesday's Emergency Cabinet meeting in which the Prime Minister signaled his intention to dismiss Gilbert as a minister for breach of a serious Cabinet principle.
Speculation is rife as to the true nature of the get-together of this so-called "second Cabinet" within government in light of the problem faced by Gilbert who is widely regarded to be a key member of the Peter David faction of the government.
Word also leaked out that the Peter David-controlled NDC executive held a meeting at which it was decided among other things that Prime Minister Thomas should be summoned to appear before the body to give an explanation for the firing of Gilbert.
What a joke. It is nothing but hogwash - a party executive trying to usurp the powers of the Constitution of Grenada which gives the Prime Minister the legal teeth to select the composition of his Cabinet of Ministers.
This move in the view of the NEW TODAY newspaper is a clear repeat of 1983 when then Prime Minister Maurice Bishop was summoned by the Central Committee of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) to appear before a meeting of Full Members of the party including the same Peter David to defend himself against allegations that he had personally played a part in spreading a rumour that his deputy, Bernard Coard and wife Phyllis Coard were planning to kill him.
The rest of this episode within the NJM is now history as Bishop was eventually executed in a bloody massacre at Fort Rupert by a faction within his party and government that was loyal to the hardline ideologue, Bernard Coard.
Why would Mr. David want to be engaged in anything that smacks of a repeat of 1983? He was a leading member of one government that self-destructed in 1983 and should not like history to record him as perhaps the only Grenadian to assist in bringing down two governments.
The NDC will only continue to fool itself that it can return to the days of "business as usual" and expect to convince the Grenadian electorate in the next 18 months that the Camp has been reunited under Prime Minister Thomas as the head of the Ship of State with sailors on board including Peter David who want to be put in charge of things.
The Grenadian leader has to make a choice - either break at some time with Peter David and those who are loyal to him such as Gilbert, Glynis Roberts, Arley Gill, Kenrick Fullerton and Pastor Stanford Simon and company - or face the consequences of a humiliating loss of power at the polls in 2013.
If Peter David feels that he is popular, charismatic and likeable then he should go out and form his own political party and contest the post of Prime Minister of the country. Is he hoping to hijack the Prime Ministership of this country by engaging in all kinds of little gamesmanship?
Our suspicion is that the MP for the Town of St. George is not prepared to venture into unchartered waters but will wait for the Prime Minister to push him and then go out and launch an attack to try and paint a particular image of "Uncle Tilly".
The country could be subjected to a long drawn out "cat and mouse game" since the Peter David faction will want to hold onto the symbol of "The Heart" in very much the same way there was a contention within rival camps of the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) for the "Star".
The likes of Maureen Emmanuel and Ann-Marie Aban would continue to haunt all those who voiced strong opposition to their stand back in the early 2000's against Peter David and the other former leftwing revolutionaries coming into the NDC to help in its rebuilding after the devastating loss to NNP in the 1999 general elections.
The grab for power by the former officials of the 1979-83 Grenada Revolution is very much linked to the casino issue. He who pays the piper calls the tune. The Prime Minister for security and State reasons might not be able to give full disclosure to the Nation on the role played by others within the Cabinet. The sacked Minister, Joseph Gilbert is not the biggest culprit in the entire episode.
This newspaper has reasons to believe that PM Thomas is fully aware of allegations that persons outside of the country accepted payments on behalf of their colleagues in Grenada to help facilitate the bid by Zublin and Harbour Holdings to land a casino gambling licence to operate on the St. George's New Port.
The Prime Minister has to be truthful with the people of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique and send a signal to them at an appropriate time that he has begun a process of "house cleaning" within Congress and rid the party and government of certain bad seeds.
Our people are not fools and are smart enough to know and understand that a serious problem does exist within the ruling party. It is how the problem is addressed that can make Grenadians want to continue to have faith in Congress for a second term in office.
However, a Congress party and government with Tillman Thomas and Peter David and company still together cannot hope to get much buyers to eat with them on the table in 2013.
The NDC is at the cross roads - either to rebrand without the likes of Peter David and his few die-hard and questionable supporters and make a clean break and offer a new and trusted team to the Grenadian people in 2013 or face disastrous consequences at the polls.
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