March 9th, 2009 The Hon. Tillman Thomas Prime Minister, Leader of NDC Grenada, Carriacou &PM. St. George’s Grenada West Indies Greetings Sir, I would like to congratulate you and the NDC Leadership on a successful and reflective 24th gathering of the National Democratic Congress Convention. I would like to congratulate the Hon. Nazim Burke on being appointed Deputy Leader of the NDC and the Hon. Peter David being reappointed General Secretary. Sir, I listened and read with interest the speeches made at the NDC Party Convention by you and General Secretary Peter David. I am heartened to hear that you and the Hon. Peter David recognize that there is a disconnect between what many of us NDC supporters in Grenada and the Diaspora expected from your government, and what we have experienced thus far. However The following is a number of concerns and issues I would like to respectfully bring to your attention. 1. Sir, I find it troubling that as Prime Minister of Grenada you did not find the time in Oct. 2008 when you visited Toronto on your investment tour to meet with my client Whitten Capital Group, whom I believed, at the time, to be the most important potential investor seeking an audience with you to discuss investing in Grenada. Whitten Capital Group was represented by Mr. Kevin Whitten, Chairman of Whitten Capital Group. He is a former Chief Counsel of the Bank of Nova Scotia. Frankly, he was very disappointed and felt slighted by you when you or Ms. Gumbs who handled his schedule felt he was not worthy of a meeting. Whitten Capital Group is a well respected financial services company with merchant and retail banks, asset management and real estate companies throughout CARICOM. He had hoped to discuss with you moving his corporate head office to Grenada, cleaning up the Cap Bank debacle, and potentially bringing 500 financial services jobs to Grenada. I am not privy to who the other investors are that you personally met with during your Toronto investment tour, however I respectfully endeavour to state that I can’t believe that there was a more credible and worthy investor than Mr. Whitten. This begs the question why you as the Prime Minister of Grenada leading an investment delegation chose not to meet with what I believe to be the most credible, viable, impactful investor on the list of Canadian investors seeking to meet with you. This is a mystery to me and many others privy to the bona fides and impeccable credentials of Mr. Whitten and Whitten Capital Group. Sir, with all due respect you were fully aware of Mr. Whitten as I had introduced him to you the night before at the NDC Fundraiser as he was kind enough to purchase a table. Grenada Consul General Ms. Gumbs requested and was forwarded a copy of Whitten Capital Group’s profile up to three weeks before your delegation arrived in Toronto, so no one can say that they was not aware of the importance of Mr. Whitten and his interest in having a face- to- face meeting with you to discuss how Whitten Capital Group can bring 500 jobs to Grenada. Frankly Ms. Gumbs is my long time enemy, I believe she will stop at nothing to undermine me for her own warped personal reasons, suffice to say ( hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”) so I don’t know if she gave you a copy of the bio/profile of Whitten Capital Group? I am assuming that she did, If NOT she should be dismissed immediately. Assuming she did, with all due respect I/we find it inexplicable that you would find the time to meet with smaller investors expressing interest in investing in Grenada, but could not find five minutes to have a chat with a high profile investor prospect like Mr. Whitten. I noted that upon my arrival for the meeting with Mr. Whitten you were leaving the meeting room, and when I asked you if you were leaving, you basically turned your back and kept on walking as if it was timed to make sure that you would not be present for the meeting with Mr. Whitten, his Vice President and my self. If that is the case, as a citizen and tax payer of Grenada, I believe I deserve an explanation from you sir? Of course its your prerogative to meet with whom ever you please, however as a government official and Prime Minister representing the people of Grenada, Carriacou & PM on an investment tour abroad, I believe that you have a special responsibility to meet with investors and Grenadians business men who have the potential to do the most for Grenada on tax payer- funded investment tours, thus giving the tax payers of Grenada the best ROI on their investment. Frankly this is bizarre and remains a mystery to me and Mr. Whitten, respectfully sir maybe you can shed some light on why you and or Ms. Gumbs decided that Mr. Whitten, his Vice President and my self were not worthy of an audience with you to discuss this very important offer of bringing up to 500 financial services jobs to Grenada & Carriacou, as well as the other above-stated initiatives. How can you or your Ministers justify not aggressively pursuing a company like Whitten Capital Group that was offering to bring 500 financial services jobs to Grenada in these rough economic times for Grenadians? How can you rationalize or explain this to the electorate of Grenada, Carriacou & PM? You government was elected on the sacred promise of accountability, transparency and good governance, I saw none of these principles been applied in your dealings with Whitten Capital Group and my self. Mr. Prime Minister you recently made the following statement to Public Service Officials. “We want all parties to know that we share a common destiny as a nation. We have a responsibility as a Public Service to build a legacy of excellence, “the Prime Minister told the gathering of managers of the public service and statutory bodies. “Our Grenadian people are looking for results and their expectations are high. Let us therefore face change management in our ministries and departments with the true Grenadian spirit of resilience. Let us work together to build a legacy that will make future generations proud. Let us distinguish ourselves as a nation through our level of service excellence and commitment to standards,” I trust the above statements also apply to your office and you’re Ministers. Mr. Prime Minister how can one ask the public servants to build “a legacy of excellence” and “service excellence and commitment to standards”, when its not practiced by the elected Leadership themselves? I trust the above statements are some thing to reflect upon? 2. In your absence the Hon. Peter David, Minister of Foreign Affairs & Tourism met with Mr. Whitten and myself for approximately ten minutes, which is not a serious amount of time to be allocated to an investor seeking to discuss bringing up to 500 financial services jobs to Grenada, to help clean up the Cap Bank mess, as well as considering financing a conch farm and eco -resort in Carriacou with potential employment of further 150 jobs. I even gave Minister David some preliminary information on the proposed conch farm. Following our meeting the Hon. Peter David gave me a phone number and email address requesting that I follow up him with him in a few days. He promised to speak with his colleague the Minister of Finance, the Hon. Nazim Burke in order to move this initiative forward. I sent him a follow up email restating my client case and providing him with some additional thoughts and observations on some other initiatives I am working on that may benefit Grenada. When I attempted to call him on the day he asked me to call him I did not get him so I tried a couple of days later. He answered the phone and advised me that he was on a train and could not talk. He requested that I call him again about 5 days later. I called him as per his request and since he has no voice mail, I was unable to leave messages for him. I know he was answering his phone because when I called on several occasion his phone was busy, then when I called again it would just ring incessantly which gave me the impression that the Minister was intentionally not answering my calls or responding to the emails sent to him despite his pledge to facilitate Whitten Capital Group. Suffice to say that five months later and despite many attempts to neither follow up with the Hon. Peter David, Mr. Whitten nor myself have yet to receive a response from him. I must say that this is one of the most bizarre and inexplicable episode I have ever witnessed from a Government Minister representing a government that was recently elected on a mandate of bringing good governance, professionalism, integrity, respect and transparency to government. I must say that I am an individual who held the Hon. Peter David in high esteem; however his conduct in this matter has been bizarre and shocking to say the least. Frankly, Minister David has embarrassed me with my client because for years I stated to my client to hold on and that things would change when the NDC was elected to government, because they had some real classy, competent and ethical individuals in the leadership. Suffice to say this episode has affected my credibility with my client. I guess the moral of this story is not to speak too soon and seeing is believing. 3. In September 2008 at the request of the Hon. Nazim Burke I arranged on short notice for Mr. Whitten to visit Grenada to meet with the Hon. Nazim Burke Minister of Finance to introduce himself and to discuss his previously submitted March/April 2008 strategic business plan to acquire the assets of the Capital Bank which was in receivership. After the meeting I contacted the Hon. Nazim Burke and was advised by the Minister when I inquired of him his impression of Mr. Whitten, he replied “Good Enough” indicating that he was happy with the meeting and Mr. Whitten’s presentation giving me the impression that he had no reservations about moving forward. Due to the fact that Hon. Peter David pulled a “Houdini” on us and was not answering his phone for weeks on end. We decided to try and follow up with the Hon. Nazim Burke directly, a man whom I have known for almost 20 years back when he resided in Canada. A man who was personally aware of my trials and tribulations with the Keith Mitchell regime. A man who is aware of how my business proposal idea was hijacked and ripped of by the regime. A regime I fought and resisted for 14 years, when other so-called NDC supporters here in Toronto were silent and in some cases were condemning me for “outing’ and speaking ill of their Maximum Leader and their NNP regime. Suffice to say I have called The Hon. Nazim Burke some 15 times on his personal cell phone coupled with multiple emails, not once has the Minister responded to my emails, and the few times when I did by chance get him on his phone he would more or less inform me that he cannot speak requesting that I call him back again, it would be another week or two weeks until I reach him again. On the couple of occasions we had the opportunity to speak for a few minutes I have advised Minister Burke that Mr. Whitten was seeking a Retail Banking License in the interim until the Cap Bank matter was resolved by the Court. The last time we had a brief conversation he advised me to deal with Mr. Antoine and re-submit Whitten Capital’s business plan without making any mention of Cap Bank. Mr. Whitten wrote to Mr. Burke advising him that there is no reason to resubmit as the matter was addressed in the original business plan. I also followed up requesting that Minister Burke put his request in writing for a new business plan to be resubmitted to the Ministry of Finance, which was 2+ months ago, seemingly Minister Burke has decided to ignore our basic request for a written response from his office; this is a very strange way to do government business. Frankly, I don’t know if this is some kind of “pay back” because of some past issue Minister Burke and I had about 10 years ago when I engaged his legal services on behalf of my mother to handle a family land dispute in regards to an Estate in Carriacou. Assuming that is the case, I am not sure why he would be vindictive over the matter when after months and multiple promises to me that he would commence legal action on the matter, Mr. Burke failed to commence action on the matter, and so in frustration I pulled the case from Mr. Burke. He agreed to drop the case, but then changed his mind and called me seeking to discuss the matter further. Frustrated and angry at the time I declined to discuss the matter. I am not sure if Minister Burke stills holds a grudge against me despite the fact we had a brief chat about the matter when the NDC Leadership visited Toronto prior to the election of 2008. He assured me that bygones are bygones, yet who knows what stirs in the hearts of men? It would be sad indeed if he was to put his own need to settle personal scores above the national interest. Frankly, it’s beyond me as to why Minister Burke has not jumped on the Whitten Capital Group offer to bring up to 500 jobs to Grenada, especially in this economic depressed time when the people of Grenada, Carriacou & PM are crying for good and decent jobs. Despite my and Mr. Whitten’s email to Minister Burke for written guidance and an official response to Whitten Capital Group’s business plan, we have not received an official response from Minister Burke. Is this how the NDC government intends to treat legitimate investors seeking to bring employment to Grenada, Carriacou and PM? Frankly, I believe that the people of Grenada would be stunned to find out that this is how their affairs are being handled, especially in light of the Ministers own statements about of how tough the employment situation will be in 2009 and I quote. “"Unemployment is rising. Already it is very high in the neighbourhood of 23 to 24 percent," said Burke in his address to the meeting. "Since the onset of the crisis we have already seen some layoffs in tourism and the telecommunications industry. We are anticipating that by the end of the year we could see unemployment as high as 30 per cent.” Frankly, if I was in the Minister’s shoes I would be calling Mr. Whitten day and night to find out how the government of Grenada can facilitate his investment, not ignoring him and refusing to even offer a written response to his communications as if he was a nobody. Its unconscionable to me and a gross dereliction of duty as well as a betrayal of the trust his constituents placed in Minister Burke that Minister Burke would treat me and my client with such utter contempt and disrespect, especially in light of the fact that tens of thousands of Grenadians are desperately looking for jobs, not to mention the thousands of depositors of Cap Bank who would like to get their money back. Personally I would be exploring every available avenue and opportunity to bring jobs to Grenada and addressing the Cap Bank matter so that poor Grenadians depositors can receive some measure of justice. Sir, I am starting to wonder if this irrational snubbing of Mr. Whitten has more to do with me, is Minister Burke more interested in settling personal scores than doing the business of the people? Please see below the words of the Hon. Peter David from the Convention. “But whatever the challenges and the shortcomings, there must not be a deficit of hope, nor a surplus of pettiness. There are objective explanations as to why the things we hoped to achieve have not happen in the last nine months, and won’t happen in the next either. But there can be no excuses for us to lose the links with the people.” “The rank and file of the party comrades must push for a robust democratic movement that will consistently hold the leadership’s feet to the fire, forcing us to account for our stewardship every day. The government we lead can only get itself into trouble, if there is a disconnect from the party and the people that got us there.” “With business struggling and people losing their jobs - the attainment of that vision is indeed a priority. That’s why we must move forward from this convention, more united, more determined, and more committed. We must put aside our individual preferences for the collective good”. Gentlemen, I could not agree more with the above statements from General Secretary Peter David, however I am not alone in my dismay and disillusionment as to what some of us have been experiencing when dealing with your government over the past 9 months, many of us are wondering if its “Déjà Vu” all over again? Many of us here in the Toronto Diaspora who were on the front lines for over a decade fighting and resisting tooth and nail the NNP regime in the media, Online TALKSHOP, community meetings, and face-to-face conversations with other Grenadians deserve better as we no doubt contributed substantially in a variety of ways to the NDC July 8th victory. Personally I have paid a heavy price in lost business opportunities in Grenada and Carriacou to the tune of million dollars over my principled stand against the regime from early. Many overtures were made to me over the years from the regime, however I rejected them all hoping and praying one day we will get an ethical and principled government in Grenada, Carriacou and PM. I still have hope that the NDC ship can be righted and that you gentlemen will live up to the hope and aspirations we ALL had for you on July 8th, 2008. I still believe that I can be an asset to the Grenada, Carriacou and PM due to my extensive business contacts and relationships across the globe. Your self and your Ministers have called for Grenadians in the Diaspora to step forward and help develop the country. Is it the policy of the NDC Leadership & Government to work with ALL Grenadians or just the ones they like? Is the NDC Leadership going the down the same road as the NNP in terms of pettiness and victimization of those the PM or his Ministers don’t like? I would like to assist the land of my forefathers and my birth to rise up and meets its full potential, however gentlemen as the saying goes it takes “two- hands to clap”. I await a response from your government as to how we can move forward in light of the issues I have raised above. This should not be about “whom like who and who don’t like who” this should be first and foremost about the national interest. This is not what many of us fought for, for 14 long years to see. It would be a crying shame and a crime against the people of Grenada, Carriacou & PM to forget what we ALL fought for, so easily. Gentlemen, I state the above not to make enemies with you or to generate ill-will but to have an honest and frank dialogue, and to demonstrate the glaring disconnect and inconsistencies between your personal conduct and your publicly stated positions, including the speeches made at your 24th convention. If it’s your wish that I have to once again take my cause to the media and people of Grenada as I did against Keith Mitchell then so be it, however let it be written and recorded that the violations and disrespect started on your door steps, not mine. Frankly as bad as Keith Mitchell was, I can’t imagine him refusing to meet with an investor offering 500 jobs and or tolerating his Ministers giving the back of their hand to an investor offering 500 jobs. As a student of history and a fairly astute business man I have been around long enough to know that what politicians say publicly and how they conduct themselves privately are often two different things. I am under no illusions about such matters; however the question you have to ask your selves is: Can the country afford more of the same or similar conduct we all experienced under the Mitchell regime? Can Grenadians at home and in the Diaspora take any more of petty personality politics and victimization, and the resulting damage it can do to the country in terms of lost opportunities? Sir, I look forward to hearing from your office as it relates to an explanation of the above violations of the very principles you and NDC Leadership campaigned on and indeed presently espouse to Grenadians at home and in the Diaspora. Respectfully, Trevor David (The views and sentiments expressed in the above letter are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Grenadian Connection)