It never ceases to shock right thinking and ordinary human beings, how some people go out of their way to fool and deceive others. But history is loaded with examples of how those same people only end up fooling and deceiving themselves. What they do over a period of time, is that they decide whatever they want to achieve, by whatever means, and then they invent reasons to try and make it look right. The strange attitude of those people, always seem to leave them looking silly and being an embarrassment to others around them. But for even stranger reasons, many others coming long after them seem to follow in their footsteps. And in our Brand of Politics Caribbean style, that pattern of behaviour seem to stand out above all else – and sad to say that in our little neck of the woods in these Spice Isles, the disgraceful and embarrassing behaviour is far more prevalent then in most of the neighbouring mini-states. But then again, as the very wise and humble statesman as he was once put it – that was the late H.A. Blaize when he felt he was up against deceit and conniving gutter-type tactics – “what goes around is bound to come around”. And as the dear old folks used to say – if what you are doing is right, and is not grounded in selfish and greedy schemes to enrich yourself at the expense of others, then you will always remember what you did and how you did it. But so long as your deeds are infested with graft, and avarice and self-enrichment – by abusing and mis-using the trust bestowed upon you, by the people who appointed or elected you to serve in your privileged position – then for so long you will suffer convenient loss of memory, and bring shame and disgrace to self and family and Country. This Gas and Oil riches we are supposed to have embedded in our offshore waters, and which all are predicting will bring to the forefront - the development and economic bliss that are so woefully lacking in our Tri-Island State – those expected riches have now landed us in so much confusion, and controversy, and suspected Bubul, with Millions of dollars that should have been deposited in the Consolidated Fund of the people’s treasury, but have disappeared elsewhere. And in keeping with the truism that what goes around is bound to come around – those who were responsible for dealing with the said Millions on behalf of the people, they have suddenly become infected with the political disease of convenient loss of their memories. But unfortunately for them all, that is no Defence to the pending Criminal charges surrounding the dis-appearance of those U.S. Thousands of dollars. Yet over and above the Criminal Law taking its due course in the fullness of time – the dealings with the people’s monies and contracts in connection with the Gas and Oil riches in our waters, can land us in even deeper legal squabbles that are destined to cost the people of Grenada a lot more scarce dollars, on the one hand; and on the other hand, it can hold up the actual exploration and mining of the Gas and Oil in the delimitated Zone for years down the road. Those dealings with the resources in our waters, started round or about the second term of the NNP Government in office in the late nineties. The Contract then to explore for Oil was with Grynberg and his RSM Corporation in the U.S.A. I cannot recall hearing anything about that contract at the time – but maybe I missed it. During the last term in office of the NNP (2003 -2008) news hit the headlines about Grynberg taking Gregory Bowen, the two Russians involved in the Global Petroleum Group (GPG), and the Government of Grenada, to Court in New York for damages of over $500 Million U.S. dollars for Breach of Contract. The grounds were that Bowen and the Government had taken a bribe from the Russians to dump Grynberg’s RSM Corporation and award the contract to GPG. It was also alleged by Grynberg, that the NNP Government Minister had demanded a Bribe from him before awarding him the Contract, and it was because he had refused to give in to the demands that the Russians came into the picture. As far as I can recall, nothing was told to any sector of the Grenadian people about the coming of those Russians, or the payment of any monies by them to hire Lawyers in New York , or to pay some $600,000.00 U.S. to Lev Model from the Russians Millions. I did get a copy of the Russians Letter to Bowen and the NNP Government, enquiring about the monies they had paid to the Government in connection with their bid to obtain a Contract. I also got a copy of the letter from the lady who was employed at the call centre in Saint Andrews , when she was leaving the job – and she gave details of monies passing to the same Lev Model and being sanctioned by a Government Minister. All these and those very suspicious and highly irregular activities were taking place as a matter of course in those times – and nothing at all was ever said to the people of Grenada, although it had everything to do with the people’s monies and their legitimate business matters. Since the current Government came into power, a team of experts were put together to hold discussions with the Government of T&T about Boundary delimitation, and the meetings held were no secret right up to the widely publicised final meeting when the agreement was reached. Strangely enough, nothing was heard from the Opposition in Parliament or elsewhere – until it was announced as expected, that the Treaty to settle the Boundary details were about to be signed by the two Governments. And all of a sudden all hell broke loose, and Grenadians were warned to wear Black on Wednesday 21st April, in mourning for the great losses we were about to suffer. With no shame, or remorse for all the wrong doings committed by the very same persons who are now crying wolf – even though the actions and decisions are public knowledge, and the Treaty is a legal document that will be exposed to Parliament for discussion and approval; whereas none of the actions and so-called contracts, or whatever other documentation that ever passed between the wolf-criers now, and the powers-that-be then, have ever seen the light of day. And out of the blue, two days after the team that represented the Government of Grenada, in the talks with Trinidad and Tobago, returned to Grenada from Trinidad – two Russians from the Company that have been dealing with NNP Government for all those years behind closed doors, they suddenly turned up in Grenada with their Contract in hand, and very generously offering Millions to our people in the hope of getting the go-ahead to mine our Oil. And as if this loss of memory disease is now widespread – because those Russians are behaving just as brazen and cocky as their Counterparts who once held positions of trust, and violated the same with nothing more than shame and open scandal for our people – they went about sharing wine and other niceties at a cocktail party, as though the document in hand was cast in stone. Lord help us!!! And even a few people here on the Island, who have been around for all those years of gross mis-management and squandermania at the people’s expense – those few are making the same comments about the Government acting too hastily, and one or two have even approached me to say that Trinidad and P.M. Manning have taken the Government for an empty ride, and whatever benefits flowing from the agreement will be going to T&T. But although they were making the comments on the very day the Treaty was being signed – none of them was wearing Black, as suggested by the Leader of the Opposition in mourning for Grenada . I also noticed that the said Opposition Leader, is asking the P.M. in Parliament certain questions about funds and spending in his Ministries – and one of them has to do with how much was paid to the Advisory Committee of Henry Joseph, Carol Bristol Q.C., and Lloyd Noel (he forgot Debbie St. Bernard) for the work they did. I told him before, but maybe he conveniently forgot – none of us received a single cent from the Government, or any other source, for the many hours we spent every week reviewing contracts and interviewing persons who were involved in one way or another with those Contracts. And if I may add to help satisfy his concerns – there was not even a Budget to provide Coffee or juice on any day of our meetings. The once or twice we received such a treat, it was courtesy Miss Faye Thompson who was our Secretary for the exercise – so there you have it. The same thing cannot be said about those hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars, and Millions in some cases, that were passing through the hands of the Ministers of the past Government and going into hands of very questionable characters with no accountability to anyone. So now-a-days as the bigger picture is un-folding and so many things once hidden in the dark are now coming to light – trying to pull political wool over the people’s eyes, or conveniently taking leave of their memories would not help that cause. It may very well be much better to throw in the towel, and put themselves at the mercy of the powers-that-be with a full confession to try and gain the people’s sympathy. Time is running out. By Lloyd Noel