Government Member of Parliament Peter David has resigned as Grenada’s Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture.
David tendered his resignation on Monday morning during a meeting of cabinet ministers chaired by Prime Minister Tillman Thomas.
“I was pushed into having to take this decision after the prime minister refused to accept the proposal that the Minister of Information retract public comments that sought to bring the party and government into disrepute,” David said in a statement to reporters following the submission of his letter of resignation.
“Many people have seen the online video where incendiary and unbecoming comments, almost bordering on slander were leveled against me and other cabinet colleagues,” he added.
In the video, Information Minister Glen Noel – a former chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) – alleges that David and others had conspired to control the executive of the party with the aim of removing Thomas as leader of the NDC.
Other conspirators, according Noel, included Labour Minister Glynis Roberts; Social Development Minister Sylvester Quarless; former Minister of Works, Joseph Gilbert; and former senator and interim leader of the NDC, businessman Jerome Joseph.
“The record is there to show that, in spite of repeated provocations and a well-orchestrated smear campaign against my name, until now I have said nothing publicly on the issues at hand,” David told the media.
“However, within the last week the situation became untenable with the publication of the comments by the minister that was made in the presence of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and Minister of Finance Nazim Burke. Given their presence, and their subsequent stance Monday when the issue was brought up, it is now clearer that the comments were made with their tacit approval,” he said.
David, who will remain MP for the Town of St George and general secretary of the ruling NDC party, said the current “state of affairs made my continuation as a member of the cabinet untenable.”
He is the second minister to resign from government since the NDC’s 11 – 4 general election victory in 2008.
The other MP to have resigned was Michael Church, former Environment Minister.
A third minister, Joseph Gilbert, was dismissed from cabinet in January by Thomas.
Prior to David’s resignation, plans appeared to be in the making to rid the NDC of members that Thomas has accused of trying to “undermine” him, and his supporters have labeled as troublemakers, gang members and leftists.
The prime minister, backed by a few of his cabinet colleagues and some party supporters, has been holding a series of “Solidarity Sunday Meetings.”
At a recent meeting in Parish of St Patrick, of what some are calling the “Fight the Leftist Movement” of the NDC, Thomas said that thought is being given “to ensure that we get a cohesive and unified front” for Grenada’s next general election that is due by 2013.
“It’s a matter that we’re giving some consideration,” the NDC leader and prime minister said. “We cannot reveal all our strategies. You may have ideas you could share with us, too, of how we could go about doing it.”
Thomas emphasized that, “we have to find a way of dealing with the problem we’re faced with.”
Meanwhile, a group of what is referred to as “senior and long-standing members of the NDC” has denied that anyone is challenging Thomas for leadership.
“The issue is the way he treats and labels those with viewpoints other than his,” the group said in a statement signed by Collin La Barrie, a former NDC chairman.
The statement added that “detractors who are making references to leftists, resurrecting labels associated with the turbulent period of our history, are bent on destroying the NDC.”
The group said that it is “working hard to find a solution” to the party’s problem.
“It may mean the emergence of an NDC that may have to shed some individuals who refuse to abide by the democratic principles which govern the way we carry out the business of the party. Rest assured it will be a stronger NDC that emerges from this experience,” the statement said.
