Somewhere along the treacherous road we are traveling, we must begin to promote peace by building bridges, not walls. Especially in religious and political matters, we must respect lawful authority and the opinions of those who do not agree with us. We do not need regimented robots, senseless or selfish simpletons, or power-mad self –seekers to lead our people down the wrong road. We want honest-to-god patriots who realise the power of unity, who are ready and willing to learn from the past while refusing to live in the past, and who are prepared to plan positively for the future under the mantle of the Almighty’s loving supervision. If only we could get those who jump unto the political Band Wagon, to even give our people half of the above services – we would be on our way to prosperity.. But the strange thing about our politics in these Isles – is that so many come to the forefront with good ideas and intentions, and seem to possess the qualities for sound judgment and making positive decisions, but no sooner they are given the opportunity to put those qualities into effect, something gets into the mix some how and the outcome is in-defencible. And what is even more baffling – is that although the people who initially voted them into power, and supported them for years through thick and thin and all the ups and downs that come with power – when those same people decide that enough is enough, and remove them from the seats of power to try another group – those cats just cannot seem to get the message, and accept the reality that things have been changed and they are now on the other side of the power base. I suppose that in the case of the Dr. Keith Mitchell regime – which held power for about thirteen years, and administered that power over the people and the assets of the Country, as though they all were his personal property to deal with as he and his cronies saw fit – without any accounting to the people or to the Institution of Parliament, that was the very foundation of the power-base he manipulated for all those years. That because of that longstanding State of power-madness, as it were, it is somewhat more difficult for him to come to terms with the reality – that for the next five years (now four more years) he is not the power-baron who once controlled the state machinery and all those who were involved or employed therein. So that, for instance, when he had his last two Speakers of the House (Lawrence Joseph and Kenny Lalsingh) in the Chair, no one of them would have dared to pull him up for un-Parliamentary behaviour and dis-courtesy to members on the opposition side. And because of that on-going disease of Power-madness, in public places especially, he failed to come to terms with the presence of a speaker of integrity in the Chair, and allowed himself to be subjected to the in-dignity and humiliation of having to be removed from the Parliament Chamber by the Sergeant of Arms for un-Parliamentary behaviour. There is no doubting the reasonable expectation, that someone of Dr. Mitchell’s long-standing presence in Parliament, as an Elected member thereof, he should be setting the highest level of dignified parliamentary behaviour – not only to others in the House, but more especially to those younger ones on the outside, who are looking to persons of his standing, qualifications, and experience, to show the leadership qualities our nation’s youths are so badly in need of in these trying times. His language to the Speaker that “he could do and say what he want, because he is being paid to do so”, is no different from that of the young man in the Gouyave Magistrate Court, who very rudely was reported to have told the Magistrate – “is ting you like” – and for that he got Six strikes and in now serving Two Months in Her Majesty’s Prison. The funny side of our Politics in Grenada, can be measured by the antics and bahaviour of the same Keith Mitchell who, a few days before at his party’s Convention, where he was elected un-opposed as the Leader for the next year and going into Twenty-odd years as such, he was mimicking the current P.M. and other Ministers, and predicting his return in the near future as Prime Minister of our Tri-Island State, and using the Calypso by “Scholar” that he cannot Defend the in-defencible NDC regime for their lack – lustre performance in the first year of office. And as per usual, the new Executive of the NNP on the Convention platform around him, immediately created a new dance routine to accompany his version of the calypso to entertain his supporters. That kind of piccong is a part and parcel of our Politics, but it is a horse of a very different colour – when the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition, take the same convention bacchanal behaviour into the House of Parliament. And to even think – that he is aiming at and seriously contemplating another term as Prime Minister, makes our already long-suffering and fed-up-to-the-teeth strugglers cringe at the mere thought of it. And that is precisely why so many of our normally very patient, tolerant, and usually calm and understanding fighters of the old brigade – are sounding the warning bells to alert all and sundry that we cannot make the same mistake again. Of course, those on the Opposition side who are sorely missing the gravy train, and would do anything to put it back on the track – they are purposely and maliciously mis-interpreting the warning bells, to make them sound as though people are fed up after one year with the change they voted for, and they are ready and willing to return to the bad old days. I certainly hope that the powers-that-be can see through that worn out scheme, and take the warnings, or criticisms, or complaints, in their stride and deal with them in a responsible and mature frame of mind to make amends and correct the mistakes. The comments and observations relating to the first year in the driving seat have been valid and timely, in my opinion, and those in control must see them as such and respond accordingly. The public relation side of the administration – as well as the issues of information and communication with the local supporters, have been badly lacking and must be quickly attended to. Just look at the boo-boo those responsible for sports and culture made of the reception planned for Kirani James – on his return home from putting Grenada at the top of the sporting/athletics tree, for his age group in the 400 and 200 metres Worldwide. The dignitaries were invited to welcome him home, and that was fine – but how could they forget to invite his Mom and Dad? I would have thought they would have been the first persons to be invited, along with other members of his family – and an official vehicle sent to Gouyave to pick them up and take them back home, with Kirani on display from the time they entered the parish of St. John in Concord . And what better occasion it was to have made an official announcement of some tangible gift to him and family. Instead, the ready-made opportunity was bungled – and quite naturally a few local comments to me was, “if it was a St. George’s boy they would not have forgotten”. Come on guys, put on your thinking caps and give jack his jacket – whether he hails from Lance Aux Epines, River Road , or “Gun Battle”. Kirani is the Commonwealth Youth Champion, now the World Youth Champion after breaking Usain Bolt 400 Meters record – and he is destined for an Olympic Gold at the games in Wembley , England in 2012. He is already a more fitting role model for the youths of Grenada Carriacou and petite Martinique , and more worthy of national recognition than the renaming of the Airport as M.B.I.A. Is it any wonder the calysponians are making headlines with “Ah can’t defend dat”, “Ah can’t see”, and “Complaints” – among other topical lyrics? So many wrong actions, and corrupt decisions, and bubul arrangements entered into with the people’s property, over the previous thirteen years, that it is near nigh impossible to do worse than what went before. But everything remains the same, more or less, and that is quite baffling to the little man on the street corners. The people are not hearing about any inquiry, or other investigation, into all those deals with so many crooks and conmen in the last few years of the ousted regime. In many cases monies supposedly paid to the Government cannot be traced inside the Treasury or into the Consolidated Funds of the Government – yet silence prevails and business going on as usual. The concerned citizens group, of which Miss Sandra Ferguson is a spokes person, are the only voices being heard on the questionable sale and re-sale involving DeSavry and his Port Louis Company and Camper Nicholson – and the Lagoon road yachting facility and the poor fishermen who have been using that area for their boats for decades. We heard at the time of the so-called Sale of that facility and the Pandy Beach area – that so many hundreds of thousands of dollars were ear-marked for moving those involved and re-settling them in other areas with some basic facilities. The movements did take place but the areas of re-settlement are far from satisfactory, so where have all the dollars gone to, and where is the evidence of accountability from those who were involved? It is in these and those areas of grave and very suspicious hanky-panky dealings – with no reporting or up-dating from those in control of what is happening, to those who voted for change and now “cannot see the positive results therefrom” – that is giving serious causes for concerns, and allowing the Opposition Leader to keep on dreaming that Jonah can be resurrected. The call centre at Seamoon in St. Andrew had Millions of Government money pumped into that scheme, and all sorts of assurances were given that relatives of Government Ministers would have been paying back those sums. To-date nothing paid back and again silence – but I see the charges against Finton Debourg in the Cap Bank Fiasco have started in the Magistrate Court . More or less the same charges that were dropped have been brought back and now in progress – so how it is evidence could have been found to charge DeBourg, but even where admissions were made about monies belonging to the people being secretly and deceitfully applied for personal and family gains – yet no charges forthcoming against those involved . It is situations like this that are causing many to say they cannot defend the indefencible. By Lloyd Noel (Attorney-at-law)