Newly elected General Secretary of the opposition New National Party (NNP), attorney-at-law Dillon Charles has to be controlled by his political colleagues during the rest of the campaign for the upcoming General Election.
His latest statement on the missing EC$54.2 million from the sale of Grenadian passports for the failed Shrimp Farm project is very embarrassing for the party as the official campaign kicks off with the winner looking to take charge of the affairs of the government for the next five years from the Botanical Gardens.
There are just not enough words to describe the foolish utterances of Mr Charles that the government did not lose anything from the actions of the Investors to collect the fees from the sale of passports and then run away with all the cash.
This high office holder of the NNP has brought back onto centre-stage an issue that the party would very much like to forget as it showed up its incompetence in handling the financial affairs of the country.
Mr Charles has opened up the door for serious questions to be asked of his Leader Emmalin Pierre since she was a senior member of the Cabinet when the money vanished from the project in Victoria, St Mark.
The then NNP boss, former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell did promise that the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), headed by Tafawa Pierre, the husband of Emmalin Pierre, was mandated to investigate this financial debacle with the Shrimp Farm project.
The country was never informed about the outcome of the Tafawa Pierre investigation.
It appeared that it was buried just as the undertaking given by Keith Mitchell in Parliament that his family members will repay the $EC19 million borrowed to run the failed Call Centre initiative.
Back in the 1960’s, former Prime Minister Eric Gairy was accused by political opponents of Squandermania over the purchase of a Piano.
What happened under Keith Mitchell and NNP in their stewardship of the country over the past 25 years was the real SQUANDERMANIA.
Another of their investors, E.J Miller ran away with millions that was drawn-down on the Mt Hartman project from a bank in Europe with a Grenada government Guarantee.
THE NEW TODAY is not sure if the Government and People of Grenada are still paying back on that loan.
And on the eve of the official start of the campaign for the election, the new NNP General Secretary would just open his mouth and make such a foolish statement that the government did not lose money on the Shrimp Farm project.
The 55 passports that were sold for millions belonged to the Government and People of Grenada and not any of the shady Investors.
Over the years, none of the high profile lawyers of the NNP – Dr Lawrence Joseph, Dwight Horsford, Kim George and others like Nigel Stewart – did not make any public statement on the issue.
Why did Mr. Charles, a relatively new entrant into the top echelon of the party, choose to resurrect the Shrimp Farm project on the eve of the Election Campaign?
Who sent him and for what purpose and reason?
The utterances of Mr Charles raises some doubts in the minds of many over the suitability of current NNP Political Leader Emmalin Pierre to run the affairs of the party much less the country.
A few weeks ago, the NNP General Secretary was able to influence his leader into attending a public meeting of the party, decorated not in the official colours of the political organisation.
Mr. Charles put forward the argument that Emmalin Pierre did buy into that some persons wanted to associate with NNP in their meetings but were not comfortable in putting on the Green jersey and other Green clothing.
And it was a spectacle to see the two of them did show up not dressed in Green.
This was the first red flag that the NNP Leader should have picked up that her General Secretary, a green horn in politics, did not understand the workings of a political party.
The colour and symbol are at the heart of a political organisation and that is what is used to identify its members and to a lesser extent the supporters.
There are known instances in which former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell will berate supporters of the NNP if he sees them wearing “Yellow” which is the colour of the rival National Democratic Congress of current Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
These two shots from Mr Charles should wake up those with influence in the NNP to move quickly and control this General Secretary who is turning out to be very embarrassing to them in the public space.