There has been a call for Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Elvis Morain to be removed as Supervisor of Elections in the wake of the saga involving Chimera Spice Holdings and Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association (GCNA) saga.
Morain is one of three government representatives serving on the governing Board of Directors of the nutmeg body.
Chimera in which Olinga Mitchell, the son of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell is the Managing Partner, is said to owe GCNA EC$144, 000.00 for a shipment of nutmegs and mace and is refusing to pay the money despite several requests.
Morain and two government ministers was asked last week Monday night on the “Beyond The Headlines” programme of the Grenada Broadcasting Network about the money.
He denied any knowledge of the money along with Agriculture Minister, Yolande Bain-Horsford and Trade Minister, Oliver Joseph.
A GCNA Board member has disputed Morain’s denial saying that he was at Board meetings along with the top civil servant when the Chimera issue was being discussed.
This has prompted political activist Terrence Forrester who is now associated with the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to call on Governor General Dame Cecile La Grenade to remove Morain from the Electoral Office on the grounds that he cannot be trusted.
The following statement was issued by Forrester on the issue:
I wish to make some remarks on the nutmeg and cocoa associations issue with government and to say that I was a bit taken aback to learn and confirm that Mr. Elvis Morain, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture is also a board member of the Grenada Cooperative Nutmeg Association, and therefore he ought to have been better prepared for the GBN’s “Beyond the Headlines” programme last Monday night.
It is also his responsibility as PS to have even better prepared his minister on the issue. Now, we also hearing an allegation that a very large sum of money is owed to the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association by the son of the Prime Minister who is or was associated with a company named Chimera and is or was registered in Holland.
Our investigations revealed that the said company was wounded up or went into liquidation on 2 January of 2020.
It is also alleged that this debt owing to the GCNA and indeed to the poor farmers of this country was discussed at a GCNA board meeting and that he Mr. Elvis Morain was part of the discussion as a legitimate board member.
I want to remind Mr. Morain that he has a fiduciary responsibility. However, I am saying this to say that on the said GBN programme, Mr. Morain denied any knowledge of a top government minister’s son owing the GCNA a large sum of money for nutmeg sold to the said company known as Chimera to which the Prime Minister’s son is or was a part of the directorship and ownership of that company.
This is therefore now a formal request to the Grenada Co-operative Nutmeg Association to confirm or deny this allegation to the National Democratic Congress in defense of the thousands of farmers in Grenada.
If this is true I and we of the NDC are respectfully calling on her Excellency the Governor General to promptly revoke the appointment of Mr. Elvis Morain as Supervisor of Elections.
The position, which he also holds – he is presently the Supervisor of our Elections and we making this request on the grounds that he is therefore untrustworthy and is prepared to lie, cheat and manipulate the facts in favour of his bosses so as to protect the status quo.
I wish to remind Mr. Morain and indeed other officials of the Perjury and Obstruction of public justice. In other words, whoever commits Perjury shall be liable to imprisonment for 10 years and whoever fabricates evidence with intent to defeat, obstruct or pervert the course of justice in any proceeding shall be liable to the same penalties as if he had committed Perjury in that proceeding.
I want also to remind Mr. Morain and others that the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister himself only last year warned the Public Servants – He stated, “Public Servants ought not to be afraid to speak the truth and that no Minister of government could do you anything.”
Mr. Morain, I rest my case.
THE NEW TODAY has reached out to Morain without success through telephone calls and WhatsApp message to get his response on the subject matter.
The following message was sent to him: “Good day sir,
I called you on Tuesday and today (Thursday) again to get your response to allegations that you might have been less than honest in a response to the host on GBN’S Beyond The Headlines Programme last week Monday night when the host asked if you were aware of the son of a top government member who owed GCNA money for its products?
I am told that you denied this as you ought to know something of it as a member of the GCNA board”.