Those I helped no longer relished my presence – Sir James

Sir James Mitchell’s decision, in 2000, to shorten his party’s term of office, had nothing to do with the meeting he had on the beach in Grenada with then opposition leader Dr Ralph Gonsalves.{{more}}

Speaking on Sunday on the television programme “Unrendered” on IKTV, Sir James said rather a series of events, including his health and the attitude of his ministers, made him decide to shorten the life of the parliament.

Sir James was referring to events which took place back in 2000, when political and social groups protested the New Democratic Party administration’s proposal to increase pensions and gratuity payments, which became known as the “greedy bills”.

The protests included road blocks, which forced the then government to hold talks in Grenada, which led to an agreement which became known as the Grand Beach Accord.

“I was already setting my mind that my ministers needed their own mandate,” Mitchell said.

He added that he was beginning to feel unwelcome in his own party and that it was time for him to go home.

“When we finally went to Grenada for that meeting, there was this group – the Organisation in Defense of Democracy – and I wanted to prove to all of them in that organisation that they were a waste of time,” he said.

“The person to deal with was Ralph Gonsalves, not them; I wanted to prove to them in Grenada that they were no use,” he continued.

According to Mitchell, the walk on the beach with Gonsalves was deliberate and did not last more than one minute.

He dealt with the matter in his latest publication “St Vincent and the Grenadines The Ungovernable,” launched this week.

Mitchell said because of differing opinons in his Cabinet on how to approach airport development for St Vincent, he had held a retreat at the Big Sand resort in Union Island.

“The pattern of discussion at the Union Island retreat sealed my mind that I would not be leading my party in another election,” Sir James included in his book.

“My ministers needed to win their own mandate,” it continued.

Sir James cited his recovery from a heart condition, atrial fibulation, which confirmed to him that he should not be in office at the age of 70.

“All this long before the “road block revolution” and my decision to shorten the life of parliament,” the former Vincentian leader said.

“No brilliance was needed to realize that the fudge at the retreat would reach the opposition before we left Union Island,” Sir James wrote in the book.

“When you sense that those whom you helped and guided no longer relish your presence, it is time to leave them alone. In parliamentary terms, when ministers whom you nurtured over the years begin to challenge your vision, in a country you inspired it is high time to leave them to their own devices. You can expect in turn they will blame you for any failure of their own making,” the book said. (DD)