CATEGORY:COMMENTARY ------------------------- INSIDE GRENADA TUESDAY June 5,2007 by Lloyd Noel After all the hectic buildup to the CWC2007, that took place between March 13th to April, 28th in the nine pre-selected venue States in the Region - it seems that the only issue still deserving of comments and attention, is the mystery surrounding Bob Woolmer’s death in Kingston Jamaica on March 18th - after Pakistan was beaten by the under-dog team from Ireland. At first it was a heart attack that caused the death - and many would have associated the shock defeat with that condition. But after the Post Mortem the cause of death was given as manual Strangulation resulting in asphyxiation, and the mystery escalated thereafter. Because of bob Woolmer’s size and fitness; it was further rumored that no one person could have strangled him without more - so the element of first poisoning him to make him helpless then surfaced. And just as the CWC was a worldwide spectacle, so did that mysterious and alarmingly sad incident take on a Worldwide scientific and security investigation. The best expert institutions became involved, from Scotland Yard to the F.B.I. to Interpol and others in between, and instead of solving the mystery it became more confusing. A report, supposedly coming from Pathologists who visited Jamaica with Scotland Yard to assist the investigation, was published as stating that the death was from natural causes (heart attack) - but it seems that was not accepted and the investigation continued. Woolmer’s body was eventually released by the Jamaican authorities to his widow in South Africa, where it was cremated soon after arrival. And only last week I saw a statement from Mr. Shields, the Jamaican deputy Police Commissioner who is leading the investigation (an Englishman from Scotland Yard), and according to him the investigation, and of course the mystery, continues. As for the Cricket itself, while others seems to be picking up the pieces and moving on - am not sure the same could be said about our West Indies team thus far. True enough, the batting in the first Test at Lords in England held on to save face and the follow on - but I cannot see our Bowling getting out the England side twice in a Test to win a match. The pace bowling is not up to mark and the variety is sadly lacking. So from all appearances, we have to look elsewhere to find anything that can be said resulted from CWC2007; and except for the huge debt burdens incurred by one and all, it is very difficult to find any such thing. In our case here in the Spice Isles, our Credit rating continues to go deeper and deeper down the drain of no return - according to Standard and Poors - and the actual debit balance is going up and up, as the daily interest rates in many cases are being added to the outstanding up-paid Capital sums. After the latest Standard and Poor’s publication on the matter of our Credit rating, I heard no public comments from the newly-appointed Finance Minister - the Prime Minister himself; but I had an interesting report coming out of an NNP public meeting in Chantimelle, St. Patrick, last week Thursday. The M.P. for that area, Hon. Anthony Boatswain, who was recently removed from the Finance Ministry, and placed in a brand new Ministry created just for him - was reported to have said, that by the end of 2008/9 there would be no more un-employment in our Tri-Island State. The political grapevine reports surrounding M. P. Boatswain have been that he is under the Candidates Selection panel close watch - regarding his popularity in that Constituency. My reliable information is, that he has admitted that he was relieved of the heavy duties in Finance, to give him more time to spend in the Constituency to buildup his fading image - with “E” day just around the corner. So with his new responsibilities in “Economic Planning and Development,” and the long list of pending major projects disclosed by the Prime Minister and new Finance Minster at the NNP rally recently - M.P. Boatswain maybe in possession of national secret information way outside the knowledge of us lesser mortals. But whatever that secrecy maybe, and however deep maybe the pockets of those new investors - with Billions to spend in this newly discovered “concessions galore” Caribbean Tax haven of Grenada - M. P. Boatswain and his colleagues will have to come very much better than that “full employment nonsense,” to win friends and persuade the suffering masses to vote them again. The propaganda Bill Boards, the Village meetings, the letters to voters in the Constituencies, the one or two localized projects here and there to keep the fires burning as it were - have all been taking place and are visible enough, to indicate that the Election tempo is steadily building up - in anticipation of “E” day. But while these are on the boil, the other bigger issues are still hovering in the background with no end in sight. The cases in New York and Boston in the U.S.A., that involve the Prime Minister and his deputy Bowen, are very much alive and on-going and more fees have been paid to Bowen’s Lawyers in New York to put in a Defense. The U.S. $2.5 Millions paid to Government by those Russians, and confirmed by Minister Bowen, still remains a mystery as to its whereabouts in which Account. And as if to add more embarrassing chaos, unto the already mysterious confusion, surrounding the Taiwanese Anthem played instead of the Mainland Chinese version - at the handing over ceremony of the National Stadium, built by the Chinese as a gift to the Government of Dr. Keith Mitchell - the said Government have rejected the report, after a three months delay of the publication of the investigating Commission findings, which cleared Inspector Brian Hurst of willful and intentional wrong doing, when the wrong Anthem was played. According to Minister of State for National Security in the Prime Minister’s Ministry - Senator Einstein Louison - the report left a lot to be desired and the investigations need to be broadened. To achieve that end Government is appointing another Commission, to include the Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, Col. Nestor Ogilvie, who was once Commissioner of Police. This state of affairs looks on the surface, as though the Government is Appealing against the decision of its own appointed Commission - and then using Appeal personnel who owe allegiance to the top echelon of the Executive itself. It all looks very questionable and a denial of natural justice. And while all the foregoing are in the news and making headlines - the Heads of Government of the OECS sub-region were in Grenada for three days discussing regional issues. The one missing head from the Region was Sir John Compton of St. Lucia - who is recovering from a sudden attack on his health that took him to the U.S.A. for emergency treatment. He is back home in St. Lucia but in no condition to resume his duties as Prime Minister for the time being. The OECS Leaders had an Agenda that addressed issues involving the sub-region specifically - but from the reports I saw there was nothing on the paper touching and concerning the CSME and the CCJ, which are matters of great importance to the Region as a whole. The Caribbean Single Market (CSM) is supposed to be in operation, as well as the CCJ for matters dealing with the Treaty regionally, and the Appellate Final Court for Barbados and Guyana. None of the OECS Administrations has as yet made proper and binding arrangements to enter the CCJ - yet at a Head of Government meeting no discussion was held on the matter, at least not advertised for so doing. Are there some State secrets involved here? And what is more, in the case of St. Vincent the people there have already demonstrated against the 16% VAT introduced to replace the lost Custom duties; and in Grenada’s case, the last Finance Minister told the Nation before he moved out - that our 15% VAT is not coming in October this year as was widely publicized. And thereafter I heard some ole talk on the airwaves, that a paper concerning the said 15% VAT, and circulating in public, was not a product of the Ministry of Finance and its contents should be dis-regarded.But even more confusing - the way the official was talking about “the VAT due to come on stream in October” - it all sounded as though the postponement was revoked. So the calm, after all the World Cup storm in the Caribbean, continues on the surface at least. But is this calm not also one before a real storm? In our situation in Grenada - besides the obvious signs on the Election grapevine, that the Campaign bells are ringing albeit quietly for the time being - the quiet and behind the scene happenings on the so-called Investors development front, are beginning to show their very ugly true colours.The revelation on the Internet, of the massive Tax free Concessions given to the Port St. Louis and many other associated Real Estate schemes - all under the control of the publicized “Billion dollar Investor,” Mr. Peter DeSavary - has opened the Pandora’s Box. Lest some may forget, we had the international trickster “Kozeny, Pirate of Prague” in the same Blue Lagoon and Santa Maria Hotel development. Then we had the Offshore Bank Crook Van Brink, and the Millions he and his gang invested in one of our General Elections in 1999 - to ensure his scheme of swindling innocent investors continued un-abated. And in addition to the current all - embracing Developer - from Cinnamon Hill, to Santa Maria and Blue Lagoon, to Black-Bay, to Mt. Edge Combe, to Levera and wherever else - we hearing about a dozen other pending Investors in the pipeline. Since they must all be getting very generous concessions to lure them to invest in this Tax haven - then where would the Government Revenue be coming from to Finance Social Services? We are seeing the very clear signs - on the not too distant horizon - and they look ominous. If we remain asleep, and refuse to wake up, the apparent calm on the surface could lead us into a National disaster that would make “Ivan” look like a gentle breeze.