In recent months and weeks, the Grenada political landscape has been dominated by news that former Congress General Secretary Peter David will be challenging the veteran Dr. Keith Mitchell for the position of Political Leader of the New National Party (NNP).
The focus has been on the age of Dr. Mitchell and the need for him to step aside and make way for a much younger leader for the party.
There has been one missing element in all of the arguments – the age of David who will be around 70 or just over it at the time of the next general election due in 2027.
David is seen as very likeable as a politician but it is doubtful whether that factor alone will be sufficient to land him the top job in the country.
The former senior member of Congress has been his own biggest enemy on the local political arena.
Since his re-entry following the demise of the 1979-83 Grenada Revolution, the former Secretary for Information in the ill-fated People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) has never presented a plan to the country on what can be expected of him in charge of the nation’s affairs.
No one knows what kind of economic policies that he will pursue in office or his thinking in Healthcare, and Education.
The current Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell has heads and shoulders above David and others like Derick Sylvester when it came to articulating a vision to take Grenada forward over the next 20 to 30 years.
In less than one year of his entry into frontline politics, the then 44-year old attorney-at-law was able to deliver a crushing blow to the long-standing Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and his New National Party (NNP) and become the occupant of the two State Vehicles.
Dickon Mitchell who now sits in the important office of Prime Minister on the sixth Floor of the Ministerial Complex came on the political scene at the right time as the country was looking for new and credible leadership to bring an end to the reign of Keith Mitchell who was by and large offering nothing new and fresh and was very fatigue in office.
An astute Dickon Mitchell defeated Keith Mitchell at his own game by going around the country to meet people at every corner and to promote his platform and Transformational Agenda.
No other Congress leader has been able to do just that in the last 10 years to be able to stand a chance against the NNP which is known to have a larger support base than NDC.
Peter David has not been able to do anything like this even in his present effort to sell himself as the next Political Leader of NNP and next Prime Minister in waiting in the country.
The only thing of note that the pretender to the NNP Throne has done on the national scene in Parliament is to introduce a Bill to address the issue of ganja and its medicinal use.
What is Peter David’s position on casino gambling? Will Peter David pursue projects in agro-processing? What can be expected of Peter David in terms of diversifying the Grenadian economy and its dependency on passport-selling, given efforts by the USA, Britain and other Western counties to plug the loopholes in the CBI scheme?
Dickon Mitchell was able to cement his place as a worthy challenger to Keith Mitchell for the June 23, 2022 election when he attracted public officers with his commitment to start paying the long-outstanding issue of pension for retirees.
This decision attracted thousands of votes to the NDC as public officers became part of the coalition of forces including thousands of young people to help sweep out Keith Mitchell and NNP from office.
This could be Peter David’s last hurrah on the national stage and his exit will also result in the end of the dream of elements of the Grenada Revolution to see one of their own bring back the glory days of the early 80’s for them.
There is no other individual from their era who stands a chance before the Grenadian electorate on the next polling day.
THE NEW TODAY would like to see the nearly one year old Congress Government of Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell move with haste in securing a competent, highly qualified and sound person to occupy the key position of Chief Technical Officer (CTO) in the Ministry of Infrastructure and Physical Development.
The position is too key to be ignored as it can determine victory or a loss at the next general election.
The Congress team will have to get a number of important projects going as quickly as possible in order to help stimulate activities in the economy and bring about more job creation.
The Keith Mitchell/Gregory Bowen combination made serious blunders and cost the NNP the last general election by their misguided policy of putting incompetent persons in key positions in some of the serious ministries because of their mantra to seek out loyalty at the expense of performance and capacity to get the job done.
The NDC of Dickon Mitchell has to walk a much different road and allow competence and meritocracy to prevail in going forward.