Hillsborough, Carriacou, September 10, 2012 – Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has returned to Grenada after leading a team of ministers and advisors on a weekend visit to Carriacou, where he met members and supporters of his ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The team included Finance Minister Nazim Burke, Information Minister Glen Noel, and Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, William Joseph.
In response to queries about the economy and the recent late payment of salaries to public officers, Burke explained the challenge of government in servicing the country’s national debt and the impact on the local economy of the global economic crisis.
Burke also defended the leadership of Prime Minister Thomas, who has expressed confidence in the NDC’s chances of winning a second straight general election.
The NDC, which won 11 of 15 seats in polling in 2008, has since been rocked by internal feuding and the resignation or dismissal of four ministers from government.
Longtime NDC General Secretary, MP Peter David, told hundreds of people at a town hall meeting in St. George’s last Thursday that he would not be standing for office at the party’s convention on September 30.
However, David disclosed that he willing be seeking reelection as MP for the Town of St. George at the next general election.
David, in the text message on Sunday, said he wanted to “personally thank those who attended the town hall meeting last Thursday. Your presence was greatly appreciated. I look forward to further discussions with you on the way forward.’’
Sources say Prime Minister Thomas has dismissed the meeting hosted by David, saying it was attended by lots of supporters of the opposition New National Party that are trying to make the NDC government look bad.
At the meeting, David appealed for national unity and an end to the “poisonous language and hateful tone of our current politics’’.
Now is the time, David said, “to turn to each other and stop turning on each other. The time has come for us to cover the backs of our people rather than turn our backs on our people.’’
David, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, said it’s imperative that the nation progresses and moves forward – “not as NDCites or NNPites but as Grenadians’’.
MP David said his “development agenda knows no colour. It never did, and it never will.’’
He added, “I may have campaigned under the banner of NDC; but I chose to represent people under the colourless banner of unity.’’
The “old politics of divide and rule’’ must stop, David emphasized.
“I make this special appeal to my traditional supporters and to those who traditionally might not have supported me. We have more in common than you think,’’ David said.
“We have more that binds us together than keeps us a part. Look at the love inside here tonight. Give yourselves a round of applause.’’