St. George’s, February 23, 2010 – The government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is shooting itself in the foot by allowing party “advisors’’ to cause it to deviate from its inclusiveness and by the ongoing public attacks on Peter David, says trade unionist Chester Humphrey.
“If the government becomes less and less inclusive it won’t survive,’’ Mr. Humphrey warned Monday night during a live television interview on GBN’s “Beyond The Headlines.’’
Host Lew Smith solicited Mr. Humphrey’s views on two recent reports in The New Today, alleging that there is a “Gang of Four’’ cabinet ministers “bent on destabilising the government’’ of Prime Minister Hon. Tillman Thomas.
The newspaper said the information on the “Gang of Four’’ or “Four Musketeers’’ was received from “someone with close ties’’ to the NDC.
Mr. Humphrey, the Labour Representative in the Senate, called the reports not only “an attempt to divide the government’’ and to “sow confusion,’’ but also an attack on persons perceived to be “progressive,’’ particularly Foreign Minister and NDC General Secretary, Hon. Peter David.
“Both articles actually focus on Peter David. Let’s be clear on that,’’ Senator Humphrey said. “When you read the articles there could be no doubt at all that central to the Gang of Four, the Four Musketeers – whichever name they use – is the focus on Peter David.’’
The Senator said the attacks are coming from political mischief-makers, who are the “same group who left and abandoned the NDC after the 1999 general election’’ in which the party failed to win a single seat.
The veteran labour leader, who is President General of the Technical and Allied Workers Union, claimed that the focused attack on Mr. David is nothing new. It came from the New National Party (NNP) while it was in government and also from some who were on the NDC side during the 2008 general election campaign, charged Senator Humphrey.
“Even in the run up to the elections,’’ the Senator said, “there were those who were what I describe as the loose anti-NNP movement who also had issues with Peter David, an individual who is exceedingly popular. He has a way with ordinary working people. Ordinary working people are attracted to him.’’
Mr. Humphrey pointed out that the NDC never won a general election prior to 2008, and said Minister David’s contribution to the party should not be devalued.
“The fact of the matter is that in 2003 the NDC fell short of office by six votes, and then they won the election subsequently,’’ he said. “On each occasion, Peter David was General Secretary of the party and he played a definite role there.’’
What defeated Dr. Keith Mitchell’s NNP regime in 2008 was a “coalition of forces, of which the progressive forces played a significant role,’’ Senator Humphrey added.
The NDC strength is that the party is led Mr. Thomas, who is accommodating and “very deeply democratic in outlook,’’ he argued.
“I think there are forces outside of government who, for whatever reason, are uncomfortable with that kind of approach of accommodation,’’ the Senator said. “Prime Minister Thomas is the best thing for Grenada now and in the foreseeable future because he practices inclusiveness.’’
Mr. Humphrey lamented the “disintegration’’ of the NDC as a functioning party, and the inability of government to properly communicate its messages and successes.
“The issues confronting Grenada today has absolutely nothing to do with ideology,’’ Senator Humphrey said. “All in all the government has done a significant amount of work but it has failed to promote that work and to explain the difficulties it has encountered. The government is not speaking the language sufficiently of working people and not communicating effectively.’’
