Clerk to Grenada’s Houses of Parliament Andrew Augustine has sent a written apology to Opposition Leader Dr. Keith Mitchell and all other opposition members of Parliament for the exclusion of their names from the program for the ceremonial opening of Parliament on Wednesday.
“The Office of the Houses of Parliament noted the error of omission of Members of the Opposition on the initial program for the ceremonial opening of Parliament. This was rectified during the ceremony,” said a news release from the Clerk on Thursday.
“The Office of the Clerk has provided a written apology to the Leader of Her Majesty’s Opposition and, by extension, to all the Opposition members. The Office has further provided an apology to members of the Executive and all other Parliamentarians who may have been so affected by the error,” it added.
The corrected program with the names of all 15 members of Parliament was disseminated by the time the ceremony concluded, but by that time, most of the attendees had already left the Parliament building.
In an interview following the ceremony, Dr. Mitchell, who previously served as Prime Minister, described the omission of the original program as “sad” and “strange.”
“That is a very strange one. I mean, I do not understand it. The document is there every year, and I don’t understand how it could have been left out. It is unfortunate, but I will not cast any aspersion; it’s sad and not a good thing,” he said.
Following the June 23 general election, the incumbent New National Party – which had won the 2013 and 2018 elections with all 15 seats – got six seats while the National Democratic Congress won the other nine.
and then 