Less than four months after evolving into a political party in Grenada, The Grenada Movement (TGM) of Dr. Patrick Antoine is set to lose another key member.
THE NEW TODAY spoke with one of the founding members of the party who indicated that although TGM is still holding meetings, the party is not seemingly going anywhere in the politics of the country.
“It appears to (be) still functioning. I don’t see us as being relevant anymore. All I can say is that the thing is still functioning – they still have their meetings going on. Up to last Thursday, TGM had a meeting. I am just watching what’s going on. Am not very active, not very much involved anymore,” she said.
“The only thing I will say is that they are still functioning in terms of meetings and so on and that kind of thing. I am not too impressed myself with things but I will just leave it like that – I don’t want to say much,” she added.
The TGM executive member went on to say: “I am still there in the group but am watching it very closely – it depends on how it goes. If I ain’t see nothing serious happening (then I am out). I am watching things, I’m not taking much of an important role – more observing.”
According to the party official, the only public engagement in recent times for the new party was the appearance by one of its members on a recent “To the point” programme conducted by the Grenada Broadcasting Network (GBN).
She pointed an accusing finger at the Trinidad-based Dr. Antoine as having failed to provide the type of leadership that was needed for TGM to go forward politically in the country.
She said that she expected Dr. Antoine as a leading regional economist to speak to the Grenadian people on “a new vision” for the country but that is absent and lacking at the moment.
She also said that some members of the movement have issues with the fact that the leader is not spending enough time in Grenada to do the work to advance the cause of the newly formed party.
“I don’t know if he has intention to live here, the fact (is) that he’s not on the ground,” she quipped.
In addition, the party member claimed that some members of TGM do not even know when Dr. Antoine is in or out of the country as everything involving his movement is done in secrecy.
The executive member also felt that as a new political party that Dr. Antoine should have brought on board some “new faces” to invest in the movement but the people in the forefront are seen as persons who were deeply involved in other political organisations in the country.
“I think that is a little mistake from the beginning too,” she remarked.
This is an obvious reference to the likes of former Congress members Michael Church, Jenny Rapier and Faye Thompson and to a lesser extent former Attorney General, Jimmy Bristol who had a brief stint in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration of 2008-13.
Rapier and Thompson along with former Ambassador Eugene Pursoo have reportedly pulled out from the small party in recent weeks.
The TGM member acknowledged that the newly formed party has had to face accusations of seeking to play “a spoiler” role and working on behalf of the ruling New National Party (NNP) of Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell with general elections due within the next 18 months.
“Based on how things are now, the dynamics have significantly shifted now in favour of the NDC and I said to myself… I have no intention of going on the ground and working for a different political party to upset another political party’s success because I believe that we are going to be seen as spoilers.
“I really don’t believe that I should be in a constituency doing political work on behalf of another political party right now because the dynamics have shifted significantly – the ball was in our court one time – at one point in time we had a momentum and they didn’t take advantage of it.
“I’m seeing now that NDC has rebranded in a sense – they have the momentum, they have re-energised their base and possible going beyond their base and I don’t think it is right for another party to go and upset their success and so on because we’re going to take votes from them. I can’t see myself doing that.
According to the female political activist she did not want to see TGM taking away votes from another party like Congress that will be beneficial to the ruling party in the end.
“…“Now we are no longer relevant (and will only be) taking votes mainly from the NDC. That’s how I see it,” she said.
Another bone of contention within TGM is the failure of Dr. Antoine to identify a constituency to run in the upcoming general election.
“That is a huge problem there because if you are leading and you haven’t selected a constituency to do the groundwork in your area then why should I do anything,” she said.
Speculation is rife that Dr. Antoine was giving thought to running in St George North-east or St. Andrew South-west, the birthplace of his late father, Alphonsus “Crotie” Antoine.
The TGM member acknowledged that NDC is making waves nationally after the holding of its October 31 convention with the election of a new political leader in 44-year old attorney-at-law, Dickon Mitchell and “a new vibrant, youthful team” to take control of the party.
“People are gravitating towards it,” she said.
In addition, the female activist noted that Dickon Mitchell “is hitting the points, he’s speaking well, saying the things that people want to hear” and posing a problem for the ruling party.
However, she identified a possible hurdle which NDC has to deal with as the selection of their candidates in order to convince the electorate of their ability to govern the affairs of the island and to guard against having a youthful team while their candidates might not be exciting.
The TGM official asserted that if Dr. Antoine comes now and tries to influence members to start pushing political work in the various constituencies she will not be involved in doing any such thing with TGM.
She also raised concerns that on the TGM’s leader Facebook page, there is only one posting about the movement and sees this as another “dire point”.
She also challenged a recent statement put out by TGM which denied that the party leader had discussed in a meeting allegations that Dr. Antoine spoke of allegations about a recent meeting between him and Prime Minister Mitchell.
She quoted Dr. Antoine as telling TGM members that this is not true and that they only saw each other in a funeral and just acknowledged each other’s presence and nothing more.
She said that some TGM members have been whispering among themselves the rumour of this possible meeting.
“I am not doubting anything with this man (Dr. Antoine),” she remarked.
According to the TGM executive member, she will not be surprised if the party’s main activist in the rural St Andrew South-east constituency align himself soon with the newlook Congress party under Dickon Mitchell due to frustration with his own grouping.
Asked about a recent pronouncement made by former executive member Jenny Rapier that a number of statements critical of the NNP regime were put together by TGM but were never released into the public domain.
“I am not aware so much of statements – the only thing I know is that we should have been speaking more and talking more after the launch… we should have been more on the different platforms and doing the necessary work because to me we had the momentum at that time,” she said.