ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA: SAYING THAT “corruption cannot be accommodated, it must be challenged,” the leader of the opposition’s charge in the Grenada’s Upper House has strongly suggested that Prime Minister Keith Mitchell should resign over bribery allegations. “He would do well from here if he saves his family and party, and our country, this ongoing embarrassment,” Senator George Prime said in a televised address here last night. Prime was nominated to give the opposition’s response to Dr Mitchell’s national address on Wednesday. Dr Mitchell has been accused of taking a half million dollar bribe in 2000 from a German man he made a diplomatic representative. He denied the allegations, telling the nation that he was handed “approximately 15-thousand dollars” to refund him for expenses he incurred with his personal credit card. But Prime said last night the controversy undermines the government’s ability to effectively govern. “The bigger picture is that a government that so compromises itself as his administration has, cannot serve the best interest of the people. The Prime Minister must soon make up his mind what is more important – saving his job or saving the country,” Prime said. Responding to the Prime Minister’s statement that the current furore is the making of a “desperate” opposition, Prime declared: “Our cause Mr. Prime Minister, is not a cause of desperation. It is a cause of rescue.” Prime said Dr Mitchell did not provide the answers required when he addressed the nation on Wednesday night. “The speech lacked conviction and contrition. It is filled with reproach and anger, and tinged with panic and fear,” he said. Saying there were more questions than answers, Prime declared: “We still cannot understand what would have led to the Prime Minister using his credit card rather than getting advances from the treasury.” “By accepting the cash (from German fraudster Eric Reisteiner), whatever the total, reflects badly not just on the person, but the office of Prime Minister, and the country as a whole,” the Grenadian senator said. Prime called Dr Mitchell’s Wednesday night address a ”sympathy mission.” “(The Prime Minister) must be acutely aware that Grenadians are not in a mood to tolerate anything but the best behavior in office,” Prime declared. He said: “Prime Minister Mitchell must bring in the documented evidence; let us look at it in parliament. He has to prove, as he said, it was indeed 15-thousand dollars he received.” Prime added: “He has to prove that every cent was used for legitimate purposes.” SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM