Opposition leader predicts Grenada PM will lose his seat in general election

Keith Mitchell

Reproduced from CARIBBEAN 360

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, Friday September 14, 2012 – As the pressure mounts on beleaguered Prime Minister Tillman Thomas, the opposition New National Party (NNP) is predicting that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) leader will be one of the casualties at the country’s next general election.

Dr Keith Mitchell, NNP leader and former prime minister said recently that he believes the general election will be held before year-end and the mood of the country is “boldly in the NNP favour”.

Following up in an interview with CC6 TV, he predicted that the prime minister, who is MP for St Patrick East, would be one of the NDC casualties of the election.

PM Tillman Thomas

“It’s highly unlikely that he’ll be back in parliament,” the NNP leader said of Thomas, who won his seat in 2008 by 104 votes over his NNP opponent.

According to Mitchell, his prediction was based on reports from the St Patrick East constituency, as well as “fatal mistakes” by Thomas who has “marginalized” key members of the NDC such as Peter David, the party’s general secretary.

The NNP, which had held the reins of power for 13 years, was defeated 11 – 4 at the 2008 election in the face of a robust NDC campaign headed by a team that included party executive members Peter David and Arley Gill.

Since then, serious divisions have split the NDC and there has been escalating tension over investment and economic policy issues, and on the failure to deliver on promises made during the campaign.

The discord led to the resignation of David from government, and Gill was replaced in the senate by Dr George Vincent and lost his job as culture minister in May.

Adding to the dissent, NDC MP Karl Hood has stated that he intends to write to Speaker of the House of Representatives George McGuire, seeking a special session of parliament. The house has been in recess for several weeks.

Hood, who resigned as foreign minister in May, recently filed a no-confidence motion against the government with the clerk of parliament, claiming that the Thomas administration “has failed to fulfill its promise to implement programmes that were marketed to deliver economic and social development to the people of the State of Grenada”.

The former foreign minister, and MP for St George South East, also charged that the “dismal mismanagement of the economy” has resulted in joblessness “rising to astronomical levels”.