Wednesday 9th December, 2009: The NNP views with alarm the recent actions of the security arm of the Government and the hostile release issued by the Ministry of Security as reported by the media. The Ministry of Security has significantly distorted the truth and seeks to distract from the important incident which occurred on Friday 27th November, 2009. Mrs. Mitchell who has been out of the country for extended periods in recent times has never been previously requested by Government to surrender her passport. On Friday 27th November she was travelling on her U.S.A. passport and only showed the Grenadian diplomatic passport when queries were raised about the absence of a departure slip. Another immigration officer was called and there were further phone calls. After explaining the difficulties that she might face using her U.S.A. passport with a return ticket purchased in Grenada, Mrs. Mitchell was granted permission to leave the country with the diplomatic passport (which expires in July 2015) with the understanding that she would surrender the passport at the airport on her return. The exchange with the immigration officers was cordial and Mrs. Mitchell denies any resistance on her part to surrender the Grenadian passport. An inspection of the passport reveals that there is no reference to Mrs. Mitchell as the wife of the Prime Minister (unless this were to be in some coded form) and Mrs. Mitchell feels deeply insulted that she has been reported to be trying to impersonate the wife of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas. It should be further noted that her husband, the leader of the opposition, Dr. Keith Mitchell is the holder of a diplomatic passport issued by the NDC government and as such protocol dictates that she would also be the holder of a diplomatic passport. The release from the Ministry of Security fails to tell the public that Mrs. Mitchell was seated in the public departure lounge at the airport when she was paged on the intercom. On reporting to the airline agents she was subjected to the humiliation of having a male plain-clothes security officer escort her to an area where her suitcase was searched. It is alarming in many respects because it is a well known fact that the spouses and close relatives of Political Opponents were never harassed by the Governments of the late Sir Eric Matthew Gairy and the PRG led by the late Maurice Bishop. The NNP views this as an attempt by the security forces and the Government to harass, intimidate and embarrass Mrs. Mitchell, the wife of the former Prime Minister, who served in that capacity for 13 yrs. Coming against a background of intimidation of other citizens (including many NNP party supporters) the NNP calls on Grenadians to appreciate the significance of the search of Mrs. Mitchell and to place it in the context of the latter period of the period of the Peoples Revolutionary Government. This present NDC Government has sunk to the lowest possible level. From the Office of the Leader of the Opposition