Wife of former PM caught up in row with govt
ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada – The wife of former prime minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has found herself at the centre of a row with the Grenada government over her refusal to return a diplomatic passport given to her while her husband was in office.
Marietha Mitchell was among several persons whom official travel documents were issued to by the previous New National Party (NNP) administration but are no longer qualified to possess official or diplomatic passports and were asked to return them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs following general elections last year.
However, the government said that within the past three weeks, Mitchell, whose husband is now opposition leader, had the diplomatic passport in her possession while travelling on personal business.
She was questioned by an immigration officer because her name appeared on a list of persons who failed to return the travel documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“It is even more disturbing that Mrs Mitchell refused to surrender the document when requested to do so by the immigration officer at the Maurice Bishop International Airport on the morning of Friday November 27th 2009, citing the need to use the diplomatic passport to facilitate her return to Grenada,” a government statement issued late Tuesday, said.