CATEGORY:COMMENTARY ------------------------ INSIDE GRENADA TUESDAY May 08,2007 by Lloyd Noel (Attorney-at-law) As we try to fit into this ever-changing market place, wherever we are living or existing on planet Earth - it is without any doubt a daunting task to achieve. No matter how much we do in our personal daily lives, and try to follow the rules or norms laid down, or taken for granted by Society - there comes a time when we have to stop awhile, and question the rights or wrongs of what we are doing and why. And that is necessarily so, because what happens in our lives is not solely dependent on us alone. Just as we have to obey certain rules and regulations and laws in any Society, so too, we have to live with and among people of all types and backgrounds and outlooks. Despite the many things we can deliberately choose to do or not do, there are just as many we have no choice about. And it is so often true, that like Charlie Brown in the Comic Strip, we all profess our love for all mankind - its (some) people we cannot stand. But we cannot give up on Hope and Trust, because it is not just a “pie-in-the-sky” philosophy that makes us endure situations with self-control, but the certainty that there is a Divine Providence looking after the World and its people at all times, and guiding them to their final destiny. We often times feel things are not moving fast enough; like those fast food outlets, we want to order a box now and get it “just now.”But despite the strange happenings in these trying times, that are really and truly testing our self-control - on a daily basis as things go from bad to worse to ridiculous - we simply cannot give up and abandon Hope and Trust. On the other hand, as Stewards of God’s Creation, with a vested interest in the failures or fortunes of all mankind - we cannot sit idly by and passively witness the destruction of the World and its people, whether we like them or not. And in our own little Island and neck of the woods, we must be doing or saying something in our power - to help to eliminate the causes of poverty, injustice, and corruption in any form, so as to help promote the rights and dignity of our fellow human beings, created in our own image and likeness. Take the Region and the happenings in our neighboring Islands for starters, and especially in the context of the recently concluded CWC2007, and the parts played by Foreign Governments in helping to make the many Stadium facilities ready in time. The new Sir John Compton Government in St. Lucia, for many years before it was changed by the Dr. Kenny Anthony party, was always a close friend of the Taiwanese who helped St. Lucia financially. Dr. Anthony had other ideas when he took over the reigns of power, so he ditched Taiwan and embraced Mainland China - and no doubt his Government received some financial assistance. But after two terms in office, the people of St. Lucia decided that they must go back to Sir John and his party - as is their democratic rights. The new Government, remembering their friends of old, decided to renew the old friendship and the collective decision of the Cabinet did just that. The same Mainland Chinese, who had offered all sorts of financial enticement to Dr. Anthony to dump Taiwan and take them on board - they are now crying out vengeance on St. Lucia, and accusing Taiwan of employing “money diplomacy.” Strange happenings indeed. Those Mainland Chinese did exactly the same dam thing here in Grenada, and dangled a re-constructed State of the Art Stadium before Dr. Mitchell and his NNP colleagues, as the bait to betray Taipei and let in Beijing. True enough, they delivered and the Stadium stands proudly as the Symbolical “Thirty pieces of Silver.” But is it really worth the betrayal of trusted friends? The hands of mis-fortune, or musical justice in the face of a diabolical breach of trust - showed its presence in the rendition of Taiwan’s National Anthem, instead of the Mainland Chinese Anthem, when the Stadium was handed over to the Government of Grenada. And the widely promised investigation and report therefrom - continues to remain a Chinese mystery. And of even deeper concerns to Grenadians in general, inspite of all the propaganda of economic benefits and whatever else have you - are the deafening questions of, what next for the new Stadium? And how are we going to maintain and insure it, while we await the promised economic salvation? The Stadium is not like a Hotel, or Factory buildings, or Agricultural development - that can be utilised towards providing employment, and needed resources for the benefits of the people in health and education and other Social requirements. It is a showpiece for a one-off occasion until whenever in the future. On the other hand, just as Mainland China and Taiwan are free to form alliances with whomsoever they wish, as and when they so wish for their own selfish reasons - why can’t St. Lucia or Grenada, or any other independent State do likewise, with either or both of them? The one-China policy is their business, and I fail to see why we should be involved, one way or another, or be threatened because we refuse. And talking abut dual relationship, at whatever level, I understand that the Taiwanese delegation that was in St. Lucia for the recent signing of Diplomatic relations, some of them visited Grenada last week Thursday - to meet with members of the Grenada/Taiwanese friendship group and have dinner with them at Flambouyant Restaurant. Just before they were due to meet, a team of Police and Special Branch Officers turned up and took the members of the delegation away for questioning. The Grenada group was in the process of calling off the dinner meeting, when the Taiwanese delegation were brought back by the Officers and the dinner went ahead as planned. If all the foregoing indeed took place, then I say Bully to those who acted with such common sense and independent wisdom - in these trying times when such strange things are always taking place. By the time you are reading this, the results of the “NNP Rally to celebrate the successful CWC matches held in Grenada” will be known; and the Breaking news announcement promised for the occasion will also be public knowledge, if it was made. If it has to do with changes in the Cabinet, and the introduction of new blood on board, in preparation for the up-coming General Elections whenever it is called - then my grapevine news will be accurate. In the matter involving Minister Bowen and Grynberg, and the bribery issue in the New York Court - in which Grynberg’s Lawyers had been given leave to obtain the infamous “Video Tape” from Resteiner to be used in the New York Case - I heard the Minister saying last week that the matter was being finalised the very day he was speaking. From my reliable information that was not so, and the Tape has been handed over to be used as pleaded in the application - that is to show that demands for under the counter payments by Government Officials in Grenada are the norm, when dealing with developers and others who want to use Grenada for their own sinister ends, as was the case with Resteiner. How that scene plays out in due course of time will be interesting to behold, and how the effects therefrom will impact on the political scenario down the road, only more time and the Electorates will tell. Allegations of scandal and corruption seem to have played big parts in the St. Lucia and the Bahamas General Elections recently - it would be interesting to see when the time comes, whether Grenadians would continue to create more “first” - by showing tolerance and acceptance and maintaining the Status quo, despite the strange happenings. The West Indies team for England has at last been chosen - with Sarwan as the Captain on probation. Getting to that stage also showed up a lot of strange happenings, with meetings and consultations, and promises of one kind or another that remain secrete for John Public. After all that have taken place before getting there, we can only wish the team good luck on theat tour. And in the dark at Progress Park last Sunday night - almost like the strange happenings that took place on the evening of the CWC Final in Barbados - the Prime Minister delivered on the promised announcements at the Rally the NNP held to celebrate the successful World Cup matches in Grenada. There was a big crowd to hear him announce the changes in his Cabinet on the 15th May, but the reaction from the crowd was not very audible over the T/V coverage. The changes will affect Five elected M.P’s and one Senator, with the Prime Minister himself taking back the Finance Ministry, and Minister Modeste-Curwen changing places with Senator Brenda Hood in Tourism. This latter change I find interesting, because the so-called success around the CWC in Grenada, was supposedly under the direction of the Tourism Minister. But then again the Prime Minister has the facts and he decides.What was not said in the announcements by the Prime Minister, pertaining to the Ministry of Finance which he is taking back as Minister - was who is really going to run the day by day affairs in that Ministry, since the Prime Minister is not giving up any of his existing responsibilities. And it is in that area my fairly reliable information seems to be accurate. One of the existing Senators will have to be sacrificed, to make room for the “New Senator” who will be the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Ministry of Finance, with the daily responsibility for that Ministry. The new man, who is already deeply involved in the Economic planning aspects of the Government, and a sort of roaming Ambassador in that field - will also be in the running to challenge the NDC’s Nazim Burke in the North East St. George Constituency - according to my fairly reliable grapevine news. That change in Finance also seems interesting, coming, as it does, so soon after the recent down-grading of Grenada’s financial performance in the Global Market Place, by Standard and Poors from New York. The outgoing Minister Boatswain had responded to that down-grading, by saying that the people in New York had got it wrong - in their analysis of the local Banking position, regarding the Government’s Credit rating and its ability to service its debts. The sudden change in that Ministry raises the obvious question of.... who really got it wrong? But whoever got it wrong or right - the situation with our National debt, that is only going up and further up with no sign of going down, cannot continue for much longer - and whoever the new man maybe - he has some major hurdles to overcome in these trying times.