ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell says he will make a statement to Parliament next Tuesday on the request by the United States to temporarily install a radar at the Maurice Bishop International Airport (MBIA) and the deployment of US military assets on or near Grenada.
Speaking at a town hall meeting on Wednesday night, Mitchell told the audience that, while he had intended to address the matter in a statement to Parliament earlier this week, this was not possible, and he would now make the statement on Tuesday, when legislators meet.
He said while he did not intend to address the matter in the town hall setting, the fact that a question on the issue had come from a member of the audience, “you deserve a response and …that the request had been made (and) that we are considering the request and we are still in the process of doing so”.
Mitchell said that he wanted to emphasize that Grenada has always had cooperation with the United States in matters of narcotics, criminal activity, and the trade in firearms, among other areas.
“This cooperation continues and will continue, and even as part of the request for the installation of the radar, other requests were made which we have agreed to pursuant to our cooperation with the narcotics trade.
“It is simply because I am aware and the Cabinet is aware that he radar request would do exactly what would have happened here which is to evoke significant debate, significant discussion, significant emotive reaction because of the nature of the request and the place that it is requested to happen that we are taking our time, first to be able to address the technical challenges that it possesses.”
Mitchell said that the MBIA is a civilian airport, the country does not have a military, and as a result, “we don’t ordinarily have military cooperation, what we have is law enforcement and national security cooperation to deal with crime.
“The request will of necessity disrupt operations at the airport, and so all of these issues had to be understood and understood clearly. So, while the concept is clear… until those technical investigations are complete, we are not in a position to answer questions about which you don’t know the impact.
“So when we said we are considering the request, we actually need the time to do all those things,” he said, reminding the audience that the airport here is regulated by the Eastern Caribbean Civil Aviation Authority (ECCAA).
He said that ECCAA, for example, is yet to sign off on the new air passenger bridge facilities at the airport to accommodate passengers boarding and leaving an aircraft because ‘we have to have things like a new security plan…so until ECCAA gives us the final go ahead…and even if it is our airport and built at considerable costs, we have not been able to open them yey”.
He said that Grenada, as part of several regional regulatory bodies, must comply with the policies of these organizations, “and the presence of anything such as a radar, those things also have to be factored in, and we have to get the go-ahead from ECCAA”.
Mitchell said most importantly, his administration is also weighing the views of the population, “and I think we can say quite categorically there has been perhaps more debate on this matter than I believe any other matter that has come across in recent time on any national policy.
“And so we are happy with people having the opportunity to share their views, and all of those things will be factored in if we get to the point where a decision needs to be made.
“But we need to emphasize that from a law enforcement cooperation point of view, it is not just the United States, it is the United States and all of our regional partners, we are part of several regional security apparatus… so I appreciate the emotive responses and emotions because we are dealing with the Maurice Bishop International Airport.
‘We all know the history, we all know what happened there, but before we get to the emotions, we have to deal with the technical stuff first, and if we can’t get past that, then the emotions probably will never be triggered because we will not be in a position to say yes or no as the case may be.”
Prime Minister Mitchell said that his administration has not informed the main opposition on the issue “because some of the questions we have asked have not yet been answered thoroughly and if we were to give them information it will be disingenuous to say to them this is the request that was made and not give them all the work we have done, the questions we have asked so they are actually properly briefed.
“So until we get to that stage, we will not present half-baked or an incomplete summary to them so that they could properly form an opinion on the matter as well,” Prime Minister Mitchell told the audience.
On Wednesday, former prime minister Dr. Keith Mitchell told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that the main opposition New National Party (NNP) has not asked him to make any comment on the matter.
“This is a request made by a government to government, and clearly they have a responsibility to respond,” Mitchell said, adding, “What…could have happened is that the government should be able to consult with its citizens before, which includes a broad section of society, before it responds.
“But it appears nothing like that has been done. So I have no comment on a matter of this serious nature,” the former prime minister told CMC.
Last Thursday, Grenadians took to the streets in a peaceful protest, urging the government to ignore the US request.
“We are here demanding that our region be maintained as a zone of peace,” former foreign affairs minister Peter David told the “Peace March” that was organized by the Grenada Coalition Zone of Peace and Concerned Citizens.
David, an independent legislator, told the protest march, “We are not here to fight down anybody. We say Grenada first, the Caribbean first.
“We are here fighting to maintain peace. I have stated my position quite clearly. But we need the members of the community, the churches, the trade unions, the political organizations, all organizations, to come together on this issue.
“This is not a partisan issue, this is an issue of sovereignty and integrity for the people of Grenada,” he said, adding, “We all must be united on this.”
The Donald Trump administration has been building up a military presence off the coast of the South American country, allegedly as part of its fight against the illegal shipment of drugs to the United States. Washington has confirmed that it has bombed several vessels, killing all but two people, in recent times as it puts its policy into action.
Earlier this month, the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat said that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders had met to discuss several issues on the regional agenda, including the security build-up in parts of the Caribbean and its potential impact on member states.
It said that the government of Trinidad and Tobago did not endorse the position at that meeting.
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