by Linda Straker
- Defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Mitchell after Joseph claimed that he was an investor in failed St Mark’s shrimp farm project
- Joseph’s application to file a late defence dismissed on Thursday, 28 January
A 29 January 2021 Court order has listed 23 March 2021 as the date that Claudette Joseph Public Relations Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), will know how much she will have to pay Dr Keith Mitchell in a defamation lawsuit.
According to the court document which is subject “Final judgement in default of defences” no defence having been entered by the defendant herein, it is this day adjudged that judgement be entered for the claimant for an amount to be decided by the Court.”
When asked to confirm the date set by the court to assess damages, Joseph said that she has appealed the late defence judgment and the possibility exists that it will be dealt with before 23 March 2021.
“The matter is sub-judice and especially as an officer of the court, I ought not to be giving running commentary. There is an appeal filed which in all likelihood will be dealt with before 23 March,” she said via text message.
The Master of the High Court Grenada on Thursday, 28 January 2021 dismissed Joseph’s application to file a late defence in the defamation lawsuit filed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell after she claimed that he was an investor in the failed St Mark’s shrimp farm project.
Joseph, using broadcasting outlets claimed that Dr Mitchell was an investor in the failed aquaculture shrimp farm project which was listed as a Citizenship by Investment project. She has over the past months, pointed to a YouTube video as evidence of the claim.
However, Dr Mitchell has denied that he was an investor in the project. The government in March 2019 announced an investigation into that project after it failed to materialise.
In December 2019, Joseph who is a lawyer by profession received a letter from the law firm of Nigel Stewart and Associates demanding that she cease and desist from repeating the claim; apologise and pay compensation in the amount of EC$350,000 within 7 days of receiving the pre-action protocol letter.
The court should fine the defendant and proceed to trial. It is in the public interest to have matters heard on the merits.
National Demonic Congress needs to be shut down. They did nothing for the Country. The GDP decreased by 12% while they were in office. people’s salaries did not get payed. if anyone puts NDC back in office this country would go into deep poverty again. people will become hopeless. no progress will be made. NDC will make people go broke, put people out of business. rob people of tax money.
They can’t even hold their party together to call something strong leadership. More than half of their members have left their party organization. Also had to mention the fact that they had stopped road construction for years. Roads were filled with potholes. lack of maintenance towards infrastructure. Talking about health care they did not continue the construction of the new wing of the General Hospital that the NNP had to complete years later. NDC is just a bunch of terrible propaganda. NDC don’t care about this country.
They were given a chance to show their true colors which turned out to be a failure of leadership towards properly running the country. I don’t why people are buying into this Propaganda. If NDC really cared about the people in this country and taking power in Grenada they would have come forward with things they would want to bring towards the people of this country such as more jobs better health care, improving standard of living. Most of all NDC has proved that they have done nothing for this country.
Keith Mitchell has had enough free money out of Grenada. He certainly doesn’t deserve any money for this action. He is a politician. He should expect people to say things about him he doesn’t like. Lots more could be said about his character and actions were someone to actually do investigative journalism as to where the over ONE BILLION EC DOLLARS has gone that was given and borrowed for covid relief that has not been accounted for. Look to everything this man has done over the past years.
talking about what kieth mitchell has done over the past years. he had built the national cricket and rebuilt the national athletic stadium. he has created more jobs and employment over the years. he has built a new wing in the general hospital. upgraded and built roads for people in communities, built housing projects, opened up opportunities for business people. he brought malls and supermarkets through very good deals with Arabs. NDC CANT DO ANYTHING FOR THE COUNTRY THAN TO JUST SPREAD THE PROPAGANDA AND BICKER AND FIGHT TWITH POLITICAL PARTIES LIKE CHILDISH IMMATURE CHILDREN.
I have always been told that you must do your homework if you want to pass your exams.
Now this is a simple example we all learn at school which prepare us for the big world when we get there.
If we wish to find out what investment a prime minister has you need to check and ask the right people.
A lot of that information is public knowledge but a little digging in the right places will be good start.
I personally subscribe to the notion that all members of parliament (regardless of the country) as people taking on a civil service role should declare to the people they serving annually their total income. It will certainly increase transparency and potentially build trust in our elected leaders. If they were not on the fiddle, they would have no issue with this.