In man’s quest for truth, questions will be constantly asked, some deep, some superficial, many just plain silly. And in that exercise we have to also remember, that no one has all the answers, neither have any one group of persons on all issues – whether it is about Religion, politics, or life in general among peoples anywhere. It has been well said and successfully practiced by the wise and deeper-thinking leaders Worldwide – that honest self-questioning is the sign of a mature and well balanced conscience. And even when we are committed to hunt out error and wrong doing, we must question our motives and make sure we remove personal antagonism. Rigid answers often divide, further questioning can produce balance and due tolerance. And I think the same principles should be applied, when one is taking a decision to put a new or an un-usual series of events into operation – that can have conflicting and disturbing effects on the ordinary and simple thinking members in the society. Take, for example, the announcements by the Leader of the Opposition, Dr. Keith Mitchell, when he named his shadow Cabinet – after his outbursts about the actions of the new Commissioner of Police (COP) Mr. James Clarkson. He named not only the Seven members of the Opposition in Parliament – Four in the Lower House and Three in the Senate or Upper House – but all the others who contested the General Elections and lost at the Polls on July eighth. He assigned duties to them all, as Shadow Ministers to all the new Government Ministers in or out of Cabinet. I doubt very much that this new approach to Opposition politics, has ever been practiced anywhere else in the Commonwealth – but then again Grenada has always been the land of so many “Firsts”, what difference would one more make? But while it could be said to provide some little measure of comfort or consolation to those losers, and create a false sense of sympathy to those thousands of supporters who will take a very long time to get used to the facts of political life – that even after thirteen long years of doing their own dam thing, and running the people’s business as their own private estate to squander and benefit their cronies – the crew have been thrown overboard, and the gravy-train that used to pass around handing out some of the loot, that something-for-nothing disease has been eradicated or cured. On the other hand, many of those simple minds are falsely thinking that those “shadow Ministers” outside Parliament are still getting paid by Government – and I even heard the Ex-Minister of Health saying on a Radio programme, that the shadow Cabinet is waiting in the wings to take back control at the next Elections. What a long wait. But the Opposition Leader was so taken up with his “Shadow” appointments for the various departments – that one or two persons expressed surprise that he did not name a “Shadow COP” for COP Clarkson. To move, however, into the more substantive areas of the real and operating Government business – the news item last week that the Minister for Finance had “Revoked” the Banking Licence of CapBank Intl. Ltd., and that he did so on the advice of the Central Bank Authority in St. Kitts – must have raised some eyebrows and thrown up many questions from persons in the know about CAPBANK. Readers may recall that I mentioned some months ago, that the Ex-minister for Finance, Dr. Keith Mitchell, had given the CapBank CEO Notice which was gazetted – that he was going to Revoke the Banking Licence of CapBank at the end of so many days. The Ex-Minister for Finance had also said in his Notice, that he had the advice or authority of the ECCB – the Central Bank in St. Kitts – to revoke the said Licence. The history of this CapBank saga would remind us, that way back in the late nineties the same ECCB had advised the said Ex-Finance Minister to Revoke the Licence, and he refused or failed to heed the advice. Then earlier this year the Ex-Minister, through his legal specialist Advisor Hugh Wildman, went to the Court and he got a Receiver appointed to take over the CapBank affairs, and the operations of the Bank were duly closed all over the State. That Order of the Court was revoked by the same Court, when it was challenged as the Bank was permitted to do in the said Order, and Wildman had purported to Appeal to the Court of Appeal. While all this was pending July 8th came along and the whole playing field was changed, by the votes of the electorates on that date. With Wildman’s special Legal Services no longer needed by the new Government, the newly appointed Attorney General (A.G.) became the Advisor and representative for the Minister of Finance. Before the Court of Appeal (CA) in mid-July, time was given to the AG to acquaint himself with the Government’s side of the matter, so as to be able to properly advise the new Finance Minister. The A.G. was not totally new to the proceedings, because he was associated with the Central Bank (ECCB) Lawyers in the matter with CapBank regarding the granting of Clearing House facilities. That association, I am advised, ceased after the C/A gave the AG time to so acquaint himself with the Government’s Case, and his Brief for the ECCB was passed to another City Lawyer. Apparently there were on-going discussions between the Finance Minister and CapBank CEO DeBourg – with the AG as Legal Advisor to the Minister, and CapBank’s Lawyer (C.Hood) present during those discussions. Sometime during those on-going discussions, another city Lawyer was retained to represent the AG – for the Finance Minister in Court – as a case was due to be heard in the High Court in the week of September 22nd to 26th (this week). In the meantime there was agreement between the parties to withdraw all Court proceedings, and CapBank had petitioned the Finance Minister to use his Legal authority under the Banking Act – to re-organise the Bank’s operations. Then on Thursday/ Friday last week the consent Agreement was filed in the Court, the Banking Licence was revoked, and the same original Receiver – whose first appointment was over-turned by the Court – was re-appointed as Receiver of the un-Licened Bank. The Bank has (14) fourteen days to Appeal against the revocation, but it firstly has to get past the Receiver in the same time span. Whether or not the foregoing Legal technicalities and political ramifications are all above board, and justifiable – in the events which have happened, and the parts played by the persons involved up to-date - can it be said that the whole scenario was without conflicts of interest, and that justice was done and seen to be done? And in the light of the recent statement by the Bank’s CEO, that he had secured the partnership of a foreign investor who was ready and prepared to invest Millions of dollars to help get the Bank on its feet again – how does revoking the Licence after all these years help the process? Moreover, whose interests are being served by this latest action of revocation of the Licence – surely not the depositors? And if not the depositors – then whose interest is involved? A whole lot of people may have their hang-ups about the Bank’s original shareholders and operators, for whatever reasons; and those question marks may have been perfectly justified, in all the given circumstances and the events which have happened. But why are they brought to the forefront now? The biggest stakeholders in all this financial drama, are the little depositors who had put their faith in a service of convenience Island-wide. They were let down by the shareholders and the promoters over the years, on the one hand; and they were not protected, nor their interests secured under the provisions of the law, by the powers-that-be as they should have been, on the other hand. We now have the required change that we have been canvassing for over the years – so why are the new powers-that-be, who are the direct result of the Island-wide clamour for change, not seeming to be acting in the justified interests of those little people who voted for change? If it is my failure to see the wisdom of the actions now taken by the Finance Minister, then why not some explanation about what is happening and why? After all is said and done – the Ministers of Finance both in the last Government and in the incumbents, are supposed to have been acting in the people’s interest, but what is more, this CapBank business goes much deeper than the public concern, it is the depositors personal savings – truly their dam own money. So come on Mr. Finance Minister, let the people know what is happening, why it is so happening, and the rationale for one preference rather than the other options. The public already know that the situation was fully inherited from the outgoing lot, and they in fact created it from day one – hence their silence. You are not so constrained, and the best and surest way to gain the understanding and support of the people you have to serve by your office – is to come clean and take them into your confidence at every stage of the proceedings. I keep on applauding the actions of the COP, and the way he is discharging the duties imposed on him when he agreed to accept the leadership of the Police Force. What is happening in the Police department – the actions and the omissions are all the people’s business, and the people have a right to know what is happening, not months and years afterwards. The wrong-doings and the conflicts of interest by those in control at the time, were hidden secrets from the people. But as with everything else, all that happens in the dark must come to light at some time, and when they do they must be disclosed and dealt with; if for no other reason but to send the message to others – that the right alone is right and the wrong is always wrong, and the evil that men/women do will live after them. The so-called un-usually large “shadow Cabinet”, comprising all the losers and the opposition Parliamentarians, will no doubt be finding their own brands of fault and looking in every corner to discover even what is not there. And suddenly the press and media that were considered the enemies of the NNP while in office – they are now the new tools of salvation, to rescue the people from the ravages of the NDC who are not even three months in office. But that is how life goes around and comes around, and we have to learn to face it all in our strides and daily living – but keep on doing what has to be done when it must be done. The new P.M. and one or two of his Ministers have been out to the Diaspora in the U.S.A. and Canada, to say thanks to the Grenadians out there and bring them up to date with the changes here at home; and also to meet with potential investors that those very Grenadians can introduce them to, and partner in business back home. Nothing wrong with that – so when ex-Ministers on the Radio complaining that everyday one is hearing about the new Ministers on a plane going somewhere, and doing nothing here at home, just take it with a smile and let the progress continue under the new congress in control. I saw a whole lot of de-bushing and cleaning up along the roads last week-end, especially on Sunday, and the information picked up was that the people were giving voluntary service to help out the situation. It clearly was a nice gesture by those Villagers who provided their services, and I trust the efforts will not be forgotten and the partnership of public sharing will be remembered, encouraged, and added to in return – by those in control of our public affairs. We cannot build a country, and empower people to be able to provide for themselves, by political or religious divisions. We have to be open, honest, and frank, in what we do and how we do it. Conflicts and contentions will arise – but what matters is how we deal with them, in the interest of all our people. Inside Grenada News