Former Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell earlier this week refuted allegations that he had written to his Trinidad and Tobago counterpart requesting that Grenada become a colony of the twin-island republic. The allegations were contained in a recent edition of the Trinidad and Tobago newspaper, the Daily Express, which quoted from two unnamed former government ministers but not from the letter Mitchell is alleged to have written to Prime Minister Patrick Manning. "Anyone who said that we wanted to be part of Trinidad, this is foolish. It is totally false and it is extremely unfortunate," Mitchell told journalists during a news conference at his party's headquarters on Tuesday. "Tell them produce the letter that Keith Mitchell wrote asking for association with Trinidad in terms of political relationship. There can be no such letter," added Mitchell, the country's Opposition leader since his New National Party (NNP), in government for the past 13 years, lost the July 8 general election to Tillman Thomas' National Democratic Congress (NDC). The Express newspaper reported that the Trinidad Cabinet rejected the request which, if accepted, would have made Grenada "a virtual colony" of the republic. The newspaper claimed that the letter, signed by Mitchell, was submitted by Manning to his Cabinet about a year ago. It further claimed that Grenada wanted free access to Trinidad and Tobago's education, health and transportation systems, among other things. "I had an excellent relationship with Trinidad and Tobago. We sought a relationship that would enhance technical support like we did with Barbados. In fact, we had a stronger technical relationship with Cuba in terms of getting resources," Mitchell said. "To say I asked to bring Grenada into a political union, I can't do this. Maybe Tillman Thomas knows how to; I do not know how to do it." Last month, Prime Minister Thomas, along with the leader of St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago signed a memorandum of understanding in Port of Spain to form an economic and political union by 2013. Reprinted from jamaicaobserver.com