St. George’s, June 1, 2012 – Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas held no public function Friday and was largely out of sight amidst continuing questions about a campaign donation.
Questions lingered two days after his press secretary read a statement seeking to clear the air on opposition accusations about the source of a cash donation that reportedly went directly to Thomas’ bank account.
The statement in the Prime Minister’s name said he received a US$50,000 donation for his ruling National Democratic Congress from what was described as a corporate resident in the British Virgin Islands.
But Friday there were fresh doubts as to whether the NDC did officially receive the money, with Grenadians calling radio talkshows and posting blogs on internet sites, second-guessing the Prime Minister who has made issues such as honesty, transparency, accountability, and morality in public life centre pieces of his governance.
He has championed the need for a “value-driven’’ society, and also argued that many ills can be attributed to “integrity-deficit’’ on the part of mankind.
“Everyone will now realize that the transparency and accountability was just a well-researched marketing ploy to contrast Tillman and Keith (Mitchell) and get Tillman elected,’’ one blogger posted on the popular internet site, Spiceislandertalkshop.
Another blogger wrote: “It seemed that one of the few things NDC-ites and NNP-ites sort of agreed on, at times, was that the current Prime Minister was somewhat of an honest man. Is this still general consensus?’’
Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s statement indicated that there will be no further discussion on what was done with the reported campaign donation, suggesting it is an internal matter for the NDC party.
A pro-government talkshow, hosted by local broadcaster George Grant, has listed Thomas and the statement refuting the opposition’s allegations against the Prime Minister as part of its feature for the show that is broadcast Sunday on internet and radio.
However, the Prime Minister’s handlers have been avoiding him access to the mainstream media in St George’s.
“There are a few questions I’d love answered, since for more than a year, the Grenada Prime Minister has not made himself available to be seriously questioned by any members of the media except for the Government Information Service and the extra-friendly MTV News,’’ said veteran journalist Hamlet Mark who recently visited Grenada.
A seasoned public relations specialist, who has worked on political campaigns for parties in Grenada and other parts of the Caribbean, Grenada-born Mark is the chief commentator for the Miami-based Caribupdate, which produces news for radio and TV broadcast, as well as for the internet.
In a June 1 commentary, titled “The facade has been lifted’’, marked raised about 15 questions of the cash received by Thomas from someone described as having “corporate residence is the British Virgin Islands’’.
“Can we clarify what ‘corporate residence’ means?’’ Mark asks in his commentary. “It’s an offshore company, right? Does that ‘corporate resident’ have business interests as well in Saudi Arabia and Oman and Switzerland?’’
Mark said he does not think “anything criminal happened’’ in the money transaction, but claimed it’s more a case of government hypocrisy and of Prime Minister Thomas showing that he is “just another politician who will do what it takes – short of illegality – to survive politically.’’
He added that “all I’d’ say finally is that, with this episode, the façade has been lifted.’’
