Grenada PM hints at an election date

ST GEORGE'S, Grenada, CMC – Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has given his broadest hint that he would soon announce the date for the general election as a visiting Jamaica government minister called on Grenadian women to support a bid by the ruling New National Party (NNP) for an unprecedented fourth consecutive term in office.

Addressing the women's convention of the NNP, Mitchell said that it was important that the young people are involved in the future socio-economic development of the island and that following a youth convention on April 20, "any number could play".

"If we have so much power tonight in the women's representation, we have even more power in the youth of our country.

"So my friends, on the 20^th of April, we have a youth convention and we have lots more in store for young people...they are going to set the tone for bigger things for Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.

"So sharpen your pencils, and we say on your mark, get set, we will tell you when to go my friends," Mitchell said.

Mitchell’s NNP controls eight of the 15 seats in the Parliament.

In her address to the convention, Jamaica's Youth, Sports, and Information Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange said the fate of the NNP in government rests heavily on the role of the women.

 "Whenever (Prime Minister Dr. Keith) Mitchell calls the date, you are the ones who would have to ensure that the people go out and vote. No political party in the Caribbean could survive without support from women," Grange told a women's convention of the NNP in the eastern parish of St. Andrew's on Sunday night.

"You are the field force. You are the foot soldiers and if you don't work the party cannot win .You have an awesome responsibility. If the party wins, it's you who made it win and if the party loses it's you who would have made that happen. You have to work very hard to bring home your party so that it gets the fourth term".

Grange said she was also challenging the women to ensure that the ruling party wins a fourth consecutive term in office.

"I am saying to you tonight that you will write history, which you will write your own story in the history books when you ensure that your party gets the fourth term.

"Never again in the history of this country must the NNP win with a majority of one" she declared referring to the party's slender one seat majority in the lower house of parliament.

"Make that commitment that never again. I want you to sweep the election as we say in Jamaica… with the river come down bank to bank in green and sweep all the seats and walk proudly into parliamentary with a majority of which you can be proud" she told hundreds of supporters clad in the green colours of the party.

CMC/rt/pr/db/08