By Arley Gill

Caribupdate Weekly

St George’s, May 6, 2013 – It was on the last day of April last year that Peter David resigned from the government.  Two days later – on May 2 – I was informed by the then Prime Minister that he intends to ask the Governor General to revoke my appointment in the senate. What transpired thereafter?

Two other ministers subsequently resigned from the said government; a no-confidence motion was filed and debated with the government barely surviving the trauma.

Another motion was filed and the parliament was shut down for an unprecedented period of time. Then, Peter David, Joseph Gilbert, me and other comrades were expelled from the NDC without charge or due process. Following that, general elections were called and the New National Party won all 15 seats.

There has been so much drama in the past 12 months, it’s enough for Grenada to make Hollywood look small.

Many things were said about the internal workings of the NDC government. How many cabinets existed? Who were conspiring? Who had solidarity Sundays?

The truth is the government became a virtual circus. Every week there was talk of who next to resign, or who actually resigned. At times, it was depressing.

I saw it coming – the unraveling and the NDC march to a precipice. I warned against it but I was dismissed and ignored because I was “Peter Boy’’; I was part of the conspiracy as well, so they said.

In January 2012, the Prime Minister called an emergency meeting about some letter purported to have been written by my colleague and friend (fellow “Gang of 4’’ member) Joseph Gilbert.

As the discussion descended into the intent and purpose of the letter and whether or not it was actually sent out, I got an inspiration; I requested the floor from the chairman – the Prime Minister.

I coolly asked of the PM: If he had done a count of how many ministers he will be left with, since he was bent on firing Joe Gilbert. It appeared that the dice were cast; he wanted Joe out and the letter was just the vehicle to be used.

With my intervention, the Prime Minister was a bit taken aback and his deputy nodded in approval of the probing question.

I continued by explaining to the PM that if he fires Joe, he will be down to nine and that it was public knowledge that he and Peter did not get along well. What will happen if Peter left? And Glynis Roberts (“Gang of 4’’ member) was supposedly “Peter’s Girl’’.

I went further and pointed out that we have been having so much reshuffles and saga around the government. Why is it we were creating further instability?

When Gilbert’s appointment was revoked, I literally saw the wheels of the NDC train falling off and that train not reaching its destination.

When Peter resigned I was numb; I temporarily lost my sense of feel. I could not believe it. Although, I often wondered why he did not leave the government before.

The Prime Minister turned red every time Peter spoke, even on the most mundane of issues. Clearly, Peter and his friends were not wanted.

They were never invited to the Solidarity Sunday meetings hosted by the PM. Decisions of the party were not made by the executive, and the PM acquiesced in Glen Noel’s declaration of a conspiracy and defended Glen.

Jerome Joseph, the father of the party, was disrespected and humiliated publicly. Tillman Thomas saw nothing wrong.

My opinion was that a decision was taken for Glen to make that statement about a so-called conspiracy involving Peter, Jerome Joseph, Sylvester Quarless and others. Glen was not acting on the spur of the moment. Here, again, the dice were cast.

Once Peter left government, I knew I was next. You see, NDC leadership did not make decisions based on performance or capacity. They were made by who you were supposedly for or against.

It did not matter whether or not they were cutting off the most creative member of the team or easily one of the better thinkers. It did not matter whether they were silencing their most effective voice and an essential link with the youth.

What mattered to the NDC leadership was that they were defeating the “Peter David gang’’.

Lloyd Noel, writing in his “Law and Politics column’’ on the day Peter David resigned and left the cabinet meeting, said that I picked up my bag and followed Peter.

Lloyd’s reporting was a lie and the cabinet office issued a statement after I said to the PM that he is not defending the truth. I never had the good fortune to read a retraction or apology from the goodly Mr Noel.

It is this promotion of lies as facts that caused irreparable damage to the NDC. The PM defended his friends even when he knew they were lying on his ministers.

He never raised a finger to set the records straight. He appeared to enjoy it. It became so cynical, that if cabinet members wanted to know what the government was doing, we just read the New Today – especially the editorial. We referred to the paper as the “government gazette’’.

Confidentiality of cabinet meetings was observed by its breach rather than its observance. It was a joke. If you look at back copies of the said newspaper, you will read that there was a policy position to bring in prospective candidates through the senate and get rid of those who were not running.

I knew where I stood with the leader after Michael Church resigned from government. As the most senior NDC party man from St John’s I was not asked a question of what should be done. It was myself along with Marquez and other comrades that spearheaded a revival in that constituency after 1999.

But, I was not asked a question because I was a “Peter David man’’. The NDC sowed the seeds for its demise a long time ago.

And, the Prime Minister was untruthful to the nation when on May 3 last year, he said that I was assigned to some ambassadorial position for the sea. Persons less lettered than I am, would say he lied.

The PM and I had a meeting on May 2, 2012. He indicated that he wanted to bring George Vincent to the senate to be his new Minister of Tourism and that he will ask the Governor General to revoke my appointment. (Actually, that talk was all over the place even before Peter resigned).

Prime Minister Thomas told me that George will be ready the following Monday. I then said to him that I am proud of my work and I thank him for the opportunity to serve.

He offered me two options: one to become High Commissioner to London or ambassador to the sea. I said to him I will have to think about it and get back to him. We agreed.

Before, I got back to the PM I heard him announcing in a national address that I was reassigned. I was bombarded by congratulations and farewells.

In a party executive meeting that followed, comrades challenged the PM about his decision. They felt that I was one of the few ministers that were performing.

The PM became annoyed. He said it was me who doesn’t want work. I stopped him and I explained to the executive the discussion we had.

The Prime Minister then conceded that I was right. After the party executive meeting we agreed that I will visit him. I did. I informed the PM that I can serve the country well by doing work on the maritime space. Even when we were in opposition I developed and presented papers on how we can develop our maritime space; so, he knew of my work.

The PM said to me: “Arley, you that know about these things; develop a terms of reference and submit it to me’’. That was the answer he gave me when I asked him what he wanted me to do.

I consulted experts I knew in the Commonwealth and submitted a paper to the cabinet secretary, who was our agreed go-between. I said to the cabinet secretary that the government will decide the remuneration.

I never got a response but only to hear that Arley Gill doesn’t want work or he wants too much money. I did everything I was asked to do and my name was scandalized by my NDC friends.

One year later I still rue the fact of the missed opportunities NDC had. I still cannot understand how men will make up a story, promote that story and still believe the story that they themselves made up.

It was a was made up story that there was a conspiracy to oust Tillman Thomas. He himself knew it was a fable. But, he embraced the story and the NDC paid a heavy price for the lie that was of their own creation.

Today, NDC is in the same place it was when the “rebels’’ joined the party: they have no seats in parliament.

Fingers are pointed at us, even though I wrote “don’t blame we’’. The NDC has one man to blame for its demise. Until that is done, there will be no healing.

On this one year anniversary Peter David, Joseph Gilbert and myself each had a glass of wine with fried fish and greens.