The Joseph Gilbert issue

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Parent Category: Jan 2012

Category: Week end Jan 21st, 2012

Published on Sunday, 22 January 2012 16:13

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EDITORIAL

Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has once again been placed in a position where he has to take some form of action against a senior Member of the Cabinet for engaging in very inappropriate behaviour.

It will be his call to determine the fate of Minister of Foreign Trade and the Environment, Joseph Gilbert over a letter he admitted writing to commit the State to granting a casino licence to a foreign investor without the knowledge and approval of Cabinet. The Grenadian leader has often stated that once he has evidence of suspicious dealings he would act and act swiftly and decisively.

Prime minister Thomas has the "smoking gun" in his hand which can lead him to ask Governor-General, Sir Carlyle Glean to revoke the appointment of the St. Patrick West MP  as a member of the Cabinet of Ministers. This is the second time that the Grenadian leader might have to take action against one of his ministers for engaging in behaviour that can be considered as unacceptable in the Westminister parliamentary democratic system of government.

The MP for St. John, Michael Church was demoted after he deliberately misled the Prime Minister on an overseas trip in the company of former NNP Strategic Policy Advisor, Dr. Patrick Antoine. Again the Prime Minister had clear evidence when he inspected the Diplomatic passport of Mr. Church, which showed that he made a trip to Geneva, Switzerland with Dr. Antoine and not to Atlanta in the U.S to visit a sick family member as he claimed back then.

How can a Prime Minister continue to trust the likes of Church and Gilbert when they engage in such behaviour and activities? Now, there is hard evidence that without the knowledge of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Mr. Gilbert wrote a letter to one Harbour Holdings Ltd assuring them of a licence to operate a casino in the Spice Isle.

It is our understanding that no such proposal was ever put before Cabinet, much less receive the approval from the Grenada government. This letter opens up Mr. Gilbert to many questions such as what prompted him to write the letter - was he under any kind of duress for something that he might have done or accepted in return in the circumstances?

Are there other members of the Cabinet who are just as guilty as Mr. Gilbert on the casino issue? Did Harbour Holdings Ltd or Zublin hold something to the head of Mr. Gilbert to make him usurp the authority of Cabinet and to put his signature to such a letter?

There is documentary evidence that Harbour Holdings deposited US$500, 000.00 with Zublin as part of the plan to get a casino licence for them to do business in Grenada. The former Minister will have to give answers to the people of St. Patrick's West and also Grenadians on this casino licence letter in which he had no authority from Cabinet to do same.

Is there a second Cabinet running the affairs of Grenada? The Tillman Thomas-led Cabinet of Ministers knew nothing of the letter. So the question that needs to be asked is whether someone else is running a parallel government in St. George's? As far as THE NEW TODAY is concerned, the Prime Minister will have to deal with all those delinquent members in his government and party.

He also needs to quickly turn his attention to allegations that an executive member of his party, not Mr. Gilbert, someone else might have committed a fraudulent act with the misuse of the signature of a civil servant. If the allegations are true then that person ought to be disciplined immediately.

The founding fathers of the NDC must be feeling rather uncomfortable over the behaviour of some of the new members holding high positions in the party and government. There is another one who has no respect for the concept of conflict of interest and his party's ideals for accountability, transparency and Good Governance.

Why would this individual want to serve on a statutory body as Chairman when his company has the same state-run corporation in court? Is this what the NDC offered the Grenadian electorate in July 2008? The current Prime Minister has demonstrated that he is very different from those who occupied the high office in recent years at the Botanical Gardens.

He can take comfort from the fact that no fingers can be pointed at him in making questionable trips overseas and accepted money from crooks and con-men and pursuing policies that enrich he and other family members. PM Thomas has convinced us over the years that he has an inner strength deep within his body and soul that can make him take tough and difficult decisions whenever the need arises.

THE NEW TODAY expect nothing different from him in dealing with the Joseph Gilbert issue and the other executive member who is also the subject of an investigation for fraud.

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