On Tuesday 19th August, the Governor General opened the Eighth Parliament of our Tri-Island State , at the Trade Centre in Grand Anse, and officially set in motion the engine of the vehicle of our Parliamentary democracy – viz the Upper and Lower Houses of Parliament. And before a packed Chamber – which has been in use as the nation’s Parliament, since Ivan destroyed the ancient building on Church Street in St. George’s, and nothing has been done to-date to restore that historic site – all the members of both Houses took the Oath of allegiance to the Queen as Head of State, and pledged to carry out the trust bestowed upon them by the people, and to uphold the laws and the Constitution of our Tri-island State. And although not all the members ended the Oath with the plea “so help me God” – for whatever personal reason – I recalled a Christian duty I saw in writing somewhere, which said that Christians can support parties and Governments so far as these safeguard – “the values, especially those of liberty, responsibility and openness to the spiritual, which guarantee the integral development of man” That statement came back to mind, as I listened to the members making their pledges in front the large crowd of well wishers – who were present to see the turn around brought about by the July 8th Wind of Change. And the values mentioned herein also came back to mind, as I listened to the press conference held by the last Minister of health in the NNP Government that was recently de-throned by the NDC. The Ex-Minister was accompanied by Dr. Braithwaite, who was the Director of Medical Services at the General Hospital during her term of office – and who, incidentally, had taken leave during the recent Election Campaign to assist the ex-Minister in her struggles to capture the South St. George Seat, which she lost for the second time to Mrs. Glynis Roberts. The press conference was called to explain to the nation – the reasons or the rationale adopted by the ex-Minister and her Director of Medical Services, for the hiring of one Dr. Niamatali as a Cancer specialist (an oncologist) at the General Hospital . The ex-Minister and the Director of Medical Services admitted that the man was not qualified to hold the position – and they both knew he was not so qualified. They nevertheless hired him and gave him a one year contract, and he was not even registered by the Medical board in the Medical Register to practice medicine in Grenada . Under the Medical Practitioners, Dentists and Veterinary Surgeons Registration Act Cap 189 – sec.5 of the Laws of Grenada – “if any person not being registered in the Medical Register practices medicine in Grenada , he shall be guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of $500.00 and to imprisonment for six months.” Naturally it was those two officials’ (the Minister and the Director) duty and responsibility to ensure that the Doctor was duly registered – upon production of his Medical Degree, and other documents evidencing the qualification he was relying upon to be so registered. Obviously he did nothing of the sort, and those two high-powered officials carelessly and negligently failed or omitted to ensure that the law was carried out – but instead of throwing themselves on the mercy of the people for their irresponsible behaviour and breach of their duties and trusts – they were complaining that the new Minister of Health had treated the un-registered and un-qualified “specialists” with little regard. It is also reported that the so-called Cancer Specialist, was bringing to Grenada suspect drugs – in terms of their expiry dates – and selling them to the Government for him to treat the patients. Many of those may well have been given drugs not suitable for their state of complaint, or which usefulness had expired. Clearly, therefore, the Government’s Legal Advisor should be investigating the whole scenario. The discovery and early detection of that frightening state of affairs, by the Minister for Health and his Junior Minister Senator Ann Peters – is the kind of very quick break-through, and immediate and very urgent action that the powers-that-be must bring to bear in all departments – if the needed change is to be seen to be done, and those two must be highly commended. I have said it before and do not mind repeating myself on that score – that in order to bring about the needed change the majority voted for on July eighth, the public servants structure that oversee Government’s policies and implement their plans and programmes, must be changed and moved around to enable the new thinking to take root, and to be able to pick up and readily identify the long standing wrongs and mal-practices – that brought our systems and moral good name into dis-repute and utter disgrace. Another good example of swift movement and direct action to put right glaring injustices and set their record straight in a transparent way – is the action by the COP James Clarkson. Readers will no doubt remember the incident last year at the National Stadium, when the Mainland Chinese Government was handing over the new stadium to the Keith Mitchell Government in readiness for the then up-coming Cricket World Cup. The Police Band under the direction of Band leader Inspector Bryan Hurst, played the Taiwanese Anthem rather than the Chinese Anthem. The COP at the time, Winston James, apologised to the Chinese delegation, and so did the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. And an immediate Enquiry was ordered to be conducted by Senior Officers of the RGPF. When the report was completed and released, it showed that the incident was a genuine error with no malicious intent by any one. And if any blame was to be handed down, it should not have been on Inspector Hurst – who had been removed from leading the Police Band and sent to do ordinary Police duties elsewhere, almost the next day after the incident. The report hinted, that the people responsible for nation to nation protocol should have been more pro-active about such matters and not leave it simply to the Police Band. The powers-that-be, in national security at the time, refused to accept the Enquiry findings and made a big play about appointing a more open minded group to do another Inquiry. We are still waiting on that report – but Inspector Hurst remained punished and the Band had to exist without his expertise. The new COP has righted that wrong by returning the Inspector to his position as Band Leader. Well done COP Clarkson. Then, pursuant to a Video recording that was brought to the attention of the said COP – which showed pictures of Police Officers (mis) handling a suspect on Carnival Monday in St. George’s – Mr. Clarkson has mounted an investigation to ascertain what really happened, why it appeared to happen as shown on the Video, and the reasons surrounding the whole incident. Again, very proper and commendable action by the COP, and I trust we will be advised of the findings and appropriate action when the report is ready. There are lessons worth emulating from the COP’s actions in those two matters – and I hope others in high authority would do just that. If certain actions were wrong when done by one group, or one individual, and it was seen and recognised as wrong at the time it was done. When another group or individual replaces the wrong-doers in positions of authority – should they do nothing to put right that which was wrongly done, then it can only be taken and understood to mean, that the new group in authority endorses the wrong doing and adopts it as its own – by the omission to put it right. And I maintain by logical reasoning – that this adoption, by omission to take appropriate action, must be taken to apply in all such cases of public affairs wrongdoing. Before the new Parliamentarians have had time to discuss the very first item on an order paper in the Eighth Parliament - it seems that the new Government’s first venture in the foreign affairs arena, has attracted regional concerns from our comrades in Jamaica , vis-à-vis the CARICOM Treaty. Our P.M. and his delegation first visit to Trinidad, to hold bi-lateral talks with the Trinidad P.M. on the one hand, and then the “little-four” talks that included the St. Vincent and St. Lucia P.M’s – seemed to have taken on much more in the final outcome than was expected; to the extent that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has actually been signed by the above four P.M’s, as well as the two observers from Barbados and Guyana who were present at the discussions in Port-of-Spain. From the reports about the outcome that were published, the MOU seems to be centred on Economic Union, Single Economy, and Political Integration between 2008 and 2013. All those nice-sounding phrases are already fully embedded in the OECS and CARICOM Treaties, and the CSME which is the latest off-shoot from the CARICOM (15) fifteen member States – and all have similar date lines for implementation. To add fuel to the fires of suspicion that may have raised the Jamaicans political pressure – no sooner the meeting ended in T&T with the signing of the MOU, P.M. Manning and our P.M Thomas were off up the Islands to Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, and St. Kitts Nevis, to hold talks with those OECS States Prime Ministers on the proposed get-together. Montserrat, the BVI and Anguilla, as Colonies, were not visited; and nothing that I saw in the matter said anything about Jamaica , Belize and Suriname , which makeup Caricom. Against that background, Jamaica ’s concern is well founded – and in my humble opinion, it needs to be addressed speedily. I have seen the Statement, that all the Countries of the OECS and of Caricom are welcome to join the new process. Whatever new pathway the new process may follow in the course of time – the question begs itself, what then will be the role or the mission of the OECS and CARICOM? I must admit that when I heard about the visit by our P.M. and his delegation to meet with P.M. Manning, I felt that was very good news because Grenada and T&T have so much in common and a lot to share between the two States. And as it relates to our off-shore Oil/Gas deposits – which we now know, from the Grynberg Corporation mining discoveries in our waters, that those deposits are available in highly recommended Economic quantities, as was disclosed by the ex-Energy Minister Bowen in the last Government – we clearly need T&T on our side to facilitate the mining process in the shortest possible time-span. With the expanded version of the Economic Union, and whatever else was discussed and signed to in the MOU – the bi-lateral concept I envisaged may now be only wishful thinking on my part. Yet the question of – what is in the deal for us in the Spice Isles? – that is still very relevant. But be all the foregoing as they may – Responsibility by those in authority, to act faithfully and honestly on behalf of those who put them there; the Duty to discharge their Trust diligently and wisely, as per the Oath of office they took; and the self-interest of all those they represent, by the votes they cast to give them the required majority to control the reins of power as the Government of the Tri-Island State – these values and standards are of paramount importance and must be upheld at all times. And wherever they have been found to be breached, the necessary sanctions should be brought to bear. By Lloyd Noel (Attorney-at-law) Inside Grenada News