October 25th 2008 (Thanksgiving Day) has now come and gone. This day was established by the NNP Government in 1985 as an official holiday to remind us of the sacrifices made in rescuing us from the bondage of the brutal dictatorship that took control of Grenada after the execution of Maurice Bishop and his cabinet colleagues. It was also meant to thank God for saving us and reminding us never to allow this division, hate and foreign ideology to permeate our country again. Now more than ever before, Grenadians seem to be recognizing the significance of this day as was demonstrated by the views they expressed on various radio and television programmes this year. Many have been calling on the Hon. Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, to draw the lines now to ensure that Grenada does not have such an experience under his leadership. Others were calling on politicians to put aside their hate for each other to ensure we do not have a repeat of our shameful past. The previous NDC government (1990-1995), and the NNP Government (1995-2008), gave true meaning to the above, and recognized that day in a serious way. The National Thanks Giving Service was a major part of that observation, and opposition members and government ministers generally supported this by their presence. However, we have noticed that some members of the opposition NDC have refused to participate in those ceremonies. This year’s church service in St. Patricks’ was a significant departure from the past. Most of the present ministers of government, even Pastor Carl Hood were noticeably absent. Only the Prime Minister, Hon. Glennis Roberts, Patrick Simmons and Dennis Lett attended the service. While we understand the ideology, the past connections and the uttering of some of the ministers as it relates to their relationship with that fateful and disastrous period, in the spirit of forgiveness, reconciliation and national unity, we expected these members to behave accordingly. The country has forgiven them and forgiven each other but some of those individuals are still carrying that touch of bitterness, hate, vengeance and spite that they refuse to participate in such activities. Their absence from the ceremony in honor of the American soldiers, who lost their lives during the intervention, is another demonstration of how they feel. This is just a further reflection of the way they have governed this country since assuming office in July. All their energies have been directed at harassing and maligning, firing, and victimizing their opponents and those they perceive to be associated with the NNP. They are saying that this is payback time. It appears that they have not changed and will not change. The consistent attack on the Leader of the Opposition and other Key members of the past government can never be justified. Their pre-election strategy ‘destroy the head and kill the body’ is manifested daily even after the have won with a seven seat majority. Unfortunately their negative behavior is more and more working out to be a positive for the NNP and its leadership. We can only conclude that as we said “A Leper can never change his skin”. Apart from the vindictive action to withhold the Opposition Leader’s passport with his valid visas, the recent attempt by the attorney general to mislead the nation in believing that the Leader of the Opposition is a US citizen is a clear indication of how this hatred and vindictiveness are spreading quickly among the close associates of the NDC. They were already deceitfully planning on using citizenship status as the strategy to remove him from the Parliament. This has to be noted as very significant. The support given to Jack Grynberg by the same Attorney General to sue the Government of Grenada for US$500 million is a clear indication of the love that the Attorney General and the NDC has for Grenada. Even after the case went in Mr. Bowen’s favor rather than making a statement Bristol remained silent. However, he is now prepared to take the lead to remove Dr. Keith Mitchell from the Parliament in which he was elected by an overwhelming majority to serve. The people of the Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinque are looking on closely. The vicious attempts made to have the Opposition Leader arrested for not attending court in a matter where he was the complainant is another indication of the extent that these guys have gone and are prepared to go again. We see displayed today, the same revolutionary attitude we saw on October 19th - ‘destroy him by any means necessary regardless of who or what is destroyed in the process’. Twenty five years have quickly passed by but the bitter memories of October 19th will always linger in our hearts and minds if those who hold the reign, continue to display the same kind of behavior that causes innocent men and women to loose their lives on what can be described as a cold and bloody day in our history. (The above article represents the views and opinions of the writer and not necessarily those of the Inside Grenada staff) Inside Grenada News