ST. GEORGE ‘S, Grenada: An upset Grenadian Prime Minister, who perennially has had open battles with some of the country’s leading utility companies, is taking on Cable and Wireless in his latest spat.

He suggested at a political rally on Sunday that Cable and Wireless Grenada might have sabotaged the New National Party’s planned live broadcast of his final major political rally.

The event was to have been broadcast by a slew of local stations, but party officials claim that the broadcast line they had ordered from the telecoms giant was not put in place.

Mitchell suggested that the failure might have been for political reasons.

Cable and Wireless officials were not immediately available for comment on the accusations.

“We are going to take it to the highest possible level and deal with it,” Prime Minister Mitchell said. “We are going to launch an investigation into this as soon as tomorrow (Monday).”

The Grenadian leader, caught in a tight re-election race, implied that the company’s attitude to him might have something to do with his position on the liberalization of the telecommunications industry.

Dr Mitchell raised some eyebrows here when he appeared in a Digicel promotional video inviting Grenadians to “make the switch.”

Detractors had called his pitch highly inappropriate because of his position and the fact that the government of Grenada is a 30 percent shareholder in Cable and Wireless.

The Grenadian leader comes at a time when ruling New National Party officials have openly suggested that the company many have donated as much as half a million dollars to the campaign of the rival National Democratic Congress.

Government, as a shareholder of the company, has two members on the company’s board of directors, and such expenditure would however have to be cleared by the Board. Cable and Wireless also has a policy of not donating money to any political campaigns.

NDC has denied receiving any sum from the company.

During a rally of his party on Sunday, NDC meeting Chairman Arly Gill made light of the accusations. He quipped: “Tell the Prime Minister if they send the money it is perhaps in the post, because we ain’t get it yet.”

Two years ago Prime Minister Mitchell had openly accused the Grenada Electricity Company of sabotage after a power outage affected the annual convention of his party.

Subsequent investigations indicated that a fallen tree had interrupted power to most of the island at the time.


SOURCE: CARIBUPDATE.COM