PM Thomas Dismisses Hamlet Mark

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Parent Category: Jan 2012

Category: Week end Jan 21st, 2012

Published on Sunday, 22 January 2012 16:40

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Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has again scoffed at a report done by Miami-based Grenadian journalist, Hamlet Mark. In a piece written in his Caribupdate News Service, under the headline banner, “GRENADA PRIME MINISTER LEAVES OUT SENIOR MEMBERS FROM CAUCUS”, Mark said that PM Thomas last weekend held a meeting which excluded the majority of his Cabinet members and the executive Congress.

The article said that Deputy Party Leader, Nazim Burke and Sports Minister, Patrick Simmons were the only elected MPs along with Thomas who attended the caucus. It also identified Senators Glen Noel, Ann Peters, Dennoth Modeste and Franka Bernadine as the members from the Senate who also attended the meeting.

Conspicuously absent, the article said  were Party Chairman, Kenrick Fullerton, Deputy Chairman, Stanford Simon, General Secretary, Peter David, Public Relations Officer, Arley Gill, and all other MPs. According to Mark, a source close to the meeting indicated that “the Thomas caucus is not ruling out a new party to contest general election next year, if they are not guaranteed control over how candidates are selected.”

However in response to the article at the conclusion of the Sitting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, PM Thomas said that he is not shaken at all and reminded reporters of his history of struggles in the country. According to PM Thomas, these things strengthen him more and more to get involved in the process and to put forward “what I know the Grenadian people want to see”

The Prime Minister admitted that he did hold a party meeting and not a Cabinet meeting as such. “Some of the persons (at the meeting) we have not seen for a long time who have been in the background, to give strong supporters an update and to let them know that election is getting near and should preparing for elections,” the Congress Leader said.

PM Thomas said that there is “nothing unusual about that, a normal get-together of supporters of the National Democratic Congress. He stated that issues discussed included the strengthening of the party as an organisation, getting the constituency branches more effective, vibrant and getting involved in the registration process.

When asked about rumours that some members of the NDC are allegedly planning to break from the party to form their own party, PM Thomas replied: “Well I mean MP’s are MP’s, MP’s are individuals, NDC supporters are NDC supporters. I mean of course they may have friends too but generally I don’t think that will create any major problem.” In December 2010, Prime Minister Tillman Thomas labeled the owner of Caribupdate, Hamlet Mark as “dangerous to Grenada” after Marked alleged that democracy was effectively hijacked on the island by PM Thomas after a mini-Cabinet reshuffle.

“This is a man (Mark) that is giving Grenada a bad image abroad. Here you have a democratic country were the Prime Minister is operating within the Constitution to do(es) a reshuffle and at the same time to carry out what we stated in our manifesto to maintain accountability and transparency and this is a person writing that democracy is hijacked in Grenada.” Mark is considered to be a close ally and strategist for Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister, Peter David, widely regarded as the leader of a faction within Congress.

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