VZCZCXRO6238
PP RUEHGR
DE RUEHGR #0065/01 1942011
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 132011Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY GRENADA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0585
INFO RUEHWN/AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN 0587
RUEHGR/AMEMBASSY GRENADA 0679

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GRENADA 000065 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EFIN SOCI GJ
SUBJECT: NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS: ONE YEAR IN POWER 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Prime Minister Tillman Thomas told the nation 
on July 9 that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government 
completed its first year in office with great success.  His 
speech skated over details and blamed the previous government 
and the current economic downturn for making it impossible to 
meet public expectations.  The Prime Minister backpedaled on a 
promise to reshuffle his Cabinet he had made to Grenadian 
expatriates in New York in June on his way back to Grenada from 
China, saying only that changes might be made in the future.  A 
few of the GOG's campaign promises have been met, but many more 
remain unfulfilled.  The population is showing signs of 
impatience for the government to make good on its campaign 
promises to provide open, transparent governance and to bring 
investment to the island, creating much needed jobs.  The 
opposition issued its own report card, describing what it called 
the "government's failings. 
 
IT'S MY PARTY 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Prime Minister's July 9 twenty minute address to 
the nation was short on details as a stony-faced Thomas insisted 
that the government had just completed a very successful first 
year in office.  The PM blamed the previous government for most 
of its problems.  In an increasingly familiar refrain, Thomas 
condemned developed countries for mismanaging the world's 
financial affairs which he averred is also responsible for much 
of his government's inability to accomplish its goals.  Notably 
absent from the speech was an expected announcement of a Cabinet 
reshuffle that the PM promised in a June visit to New York City. 
 He alluded to possible future changes but insisted that none 
was currently needed. 
 
"SAME-O SAME-O" 
 
¶3. (SBU) The National Democratic Congress (NDC) won the July 8, 
2008 election taking 11 of the 15 seats in the lower house of 
Parliament.  Voters appear to have opted for change without 
necessarily strongly supporting the NDC.  The margin of victory 
was only 2,000 votes.  Disappointment that the new crew's 
behavior is not fundamentally different from that of the old one 
has resulted in an increasing percentage of the population 
decrying the "same-o, same-o" behaviors.  Public complaints that 
members of the Cabinet are more likely to be seen abroad than in 
their constituencies have multiplied along with accusations that 
the politicians "don't care about the people" now they are in 
power.  The New National Party (NNP) government appointed twelve 
ministers.  Upon taking power on June 9, 2008, the NDC appointed 
sixteen ministers and a non-minister/non-politician Attorney 
General.  The NDC has provided jobs for the "boys", a practice 
the party had heavily criticized when it was in opposition. 
Grenadians expected that having more ministers would enable a 
more productive government.  However, greater efficiency has not 
materialized.  Since January, newspapers normally sympathetic to 
the NDC, e.g., Grenada Today, the Grenada Informer, and the 
Grenada Advocate have been running critical editorials and the 
number of negative letters to the papers signed by people 
willing to give their real names, has risen. 
 
¶4. (SBU) There are a few successes.  The Minister for Education 
took office with a free school book program ready to go.  While 
it does not provide all the required texts, it does at least 
reduce the number of books families' must purchase outright 
(there is a small refundable fee to pay for administering the 
program).  The Minister for Finance, after initially claiming 
the cupboard was bare and the ministry a wreck, has quietly 
continued policies put in place in late 2007 by the previous 
government to meet the country's IMF standby program 
requirements.  The Minister's decision to delay implementation 
of a value added tax until 2010 and to limit the number of 
companies it will apply to was very popular with the public, but 
may come back to bite the revenue-strapped government later. 
Already suffering from the drop in revenues caused by the 
expiration on 12/31/08 of the five percent national 
reconstruction levy (NRL), the announcement of a restrictive 
application of VAT has led to speculation that some other tax 
will be required as well to keep the government afloat; an 
excise tax is under discussion. 
 
COMMENT 
 
¶5. (SBU) Not unexpectedly, the PM's anniversary speech to the 
nation did not address the local perception that the government 
is struggling nor that it is no different from the former New 
National Party (NNP) government.  It was left to opposition NNP 
leader and former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell to point out the 
problems that continue to face the country.  A small core of 
die-hard NDC-ites (which includes a number of local journalists) 
still believes the country is moving in the right direction, but 
the public is clearly impatient with continued excuses.  The two 
ministers who have been criticized the most are Minister for 
 
GRENADA 00000065  002 OF 002 
 
 
Foreign Affairs and Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation, 
Peter David, and Minister for Health, Karl Hood.  David is 
perceived as handling neither of his portfolios well, spending 
more time on the road than governing.  Members of the local 
tourism association are openly calling for him to give more 
attention to tourism or give the ministry to someone who will. 
Hood, who has no health care background and appears to be mostly 
absent, is criticized for allowing the junior minister (who is a 
nurse by training but is not widely popular because of her 
hard-line revolutionary views) to be the public voice on health 
issues. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Grenadians were waiting to hear how the PM would 
reorganize his Cabinet, based on his announcement in New York. 
Thomas' delegation stopped in New York City on its way home from 
China (the group also made a stop in London) to meet with NDC 
supporters.  Grenada's political parties rely heavily on 
expatriates in the U.S., Canada, and the UK, as well as on 
countries like China, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Cuba to 
fund party activities.  Since the expats provide so much of the 
money to keep the parties afloat, they believe they should have 
a large say in how the country is run.  There reportedly has 
been a great deal of unhappiness among expats in NY with the 
NDC's inability to get its act together in its first year in 
office.  The Prime Minister was apparently caught off guard by 
pointed media questioning and promised a reshuffle of his 
cabinet.  Once back in Grenada, he seemed to regret making the 
promise.  In a testy exchange with local media on upon his 
return to Grenada in late June, the normally phlegmatic Prime 
Minister shouted that it was his decision to make and no one 
else could tell him what to do.  His July 9 address contained 
only a vague reference to possible change at some undefined 
point in the future. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The NDC potentially has another four years before it 
needs to call elections, giving it time to get its act together. 
 If party and government officials focus more on responding to 
local concerns, ensuring that ministers are not overwhelmed by 
their duties, and empowering the country's ambassadors and high 
commissioners to act rather than flying ministers around the 
world every few weeks, the Tillman Thomas government could 
improve its governance. 
MCISAAC