An Island at E's: Education, Enforcement, the Economy and

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SUBJECT: An Island at E's: Education, Enforcement, the Economy and
the Environment Challenge Grenadian Leaders

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1.(SBU) SUMMARY. In the Charg????'s initial courtesy calls on
senior
Grenadians officials and politicians, interlocutors were in broad
agreement that the education system and youth behavior were the
priority issues for most Grenadians. The government and police
welcomed U.S. engagement on security issues and recognized the need
to do more to address narcotics and gun smuggling. Officials
appeared resigned to toughing out the global recession, which has
left Grenada with a weak economy, while the opposition sharpened
its argument that the government deepened the crisis by frightening
off foreign investment. Although the Prime Minister took seriously
his role in promoting the interests of small island states in the
global climate change debate, he appeared to have no particular
national climate change strategy beyond an interest in renewable
energy. Instead, the government focused on re-balancing
biodiversity protection and development as it reversed legislation
that permitted the prior government to sell national parks,
scrutinized the investments that benefited from such sales, and
looked to heal damaged coral reefs. END SUMMARY.

2.(SBU) The Charg????'s introductory calls with senior Grenadian
politicians and officials highlighted a broad consensus among
senior government politicians, civil servants and the opposition on
the nation's priorities. All contacts expressed concern that
Grenada's youth were abandoning the education system without the
skills needed to hold jobs. Government and police shared an
appreciation for U.S. assistance to Grenada's security forces, but
flagged the challenge of maintaining control over Grenada's
maritime zone with its current limited assets. While opposition
and government were both concerned about the weak state of
Grenada's economy, the government attributed the slowed economy to
the global recession, while the opposition pointed to the
government's poor handling of foreign investment. Although Prime
Minister Tillman Thomas took seriously his role on the world stage
representing small island states in climate change negotiations, at
home he showed particular concern over the health of Grenada's
reefs, still recovering from the 2004 and 2005 hurricanes.



Is Education Failing Youth?

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3.(SBU) Political leaders, government and opposition, shared a
deep-seated concern over the state of Grenada's youth. The
Grenadian public commonly faulted off-island pop culture,
particularly that of the U.S., or the influence of deportees and
other returnees to Grenada for the deterioration of youth mores.
Contacts across the political spectrum, however, focused on whether
the education system is meeting the needs of its students.
Governor General Sir Carlyle Glean, a former Minister of Education,
cited a growing disinterest among young men for education. In his
view, young men, outperformed by young women, frequently dismissed
education as a women's field of endeavor, dropped out of school
into an inhospitable employment market, and ended up living off the
women in their lives. By contrast, women presently form a majority
of those seeking higher education and increasingly dominate the
professions -- 17 of Grenada's 19 permanent secretaries, for
example, are women.

4.(SBU) Opposition leader and former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell
noted that Grenada's British-inspired education system selected
candidates for higher education but provided little opportunity for
those interested in woodshop, mechanics or other technical careers.
Commissioner of Police James Clarkson flagged the poor quality of
the police's recruiting pool, with many candidates either
functionally illiterate or lacking in basic skills. Contacts are
reconsidering the value of single-sex education and the usefulness
of expanded technical instruction in the schools. Members of the
Prime Minister's staff also pointed to the re-establishment of the
Cadet Corps, whose military-like standards provide structure for
its members, as an opportunity for influencing youth culture.

5.(U) Members of the Prime Minister's staff were concerned about
teenagers caught up in the prison system. Juveniles are housed in


the same facility as adults and therefore are exposed to patterns
of adult criminality. Plans for a separate facility remain stalled
due to lack of funds.



Security on a Shoestring

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6.(SBU) Government contacts acknowledged widespread concern about
crime, which they nevertheless recognized was less prevalent in
Grenada than on neighboring islands. Thomas, his aides, and
Clarkson appreciated the wide range of security-related cooperation
between the U.S. and Grenada. The Prime Minister and his staff
recognized that Grenada needed to assert greater control over its
sea space to discourage the drug trade, and urged further
assistance to upgrade the Royal Grenada Police's marine capacity.
Clarkson acknowledged the problem of maintaining core marine
expertise in the face of the rotation schedule dictated by his
force's small size. He also recognized that the risks of
narcotics-related money laundering grew with the development of
Grenada's financial sector. However, he concluded that the chief
challenge is not whether international banking standards would be
adopted by Grenada, but rather how to ensure the honesty of the
team entrusted with oversight.

7.(SBU) Clarkson commented on two other areas involving
coordination with the U.S. He was disappointed with e-TRACE,
which helped pinpoint the provenance of arms seized on the island
but contributed little to building a courtroom-worthy case.
Clarkson concluded that Grenada's e-TRACE inquiries likely provided
more investigative data to U.S. authorities than it did to Grenada.
In his view, e-TRACE would be more useful if it included, for
example, the weapon's history, information on its owners, or data
on crimes in which the weapon was used. By contrast, Clarkson
looked favorably on cooperation among immigration in authorities in
conjunction with international cricket matches and hoped to see
that particular mechanism reactivated.



Recession and Reconstruction

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8.(SBU) The Prime Minister and his aides briefly referred to the
difficult conditions posed by the current recession, which
contributed to a scarcity of resources preventing the rebuilding of
key historic public buildings. The PM pointed to the
reconstruction of York House, the legislative seat, as a
particularly glaring need, while Foreign Minister Peter David
lamented the lack of British assistance for rebuilding the Governor
General's residence. Mitchell said that Grenada' recession cost it
between 8 and 10 percent of the economy- an impact he described as
comparable to that of Hurricane Ivan. Mitchell attributed the
island's weak economy to uncertainty generated by the investigation
or cancellation of major development projects entered into by
Mitchell's government, which scared off other foreign investors.



Climate Change and Biodiversity

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9.(SBU) Enthusiastic about environmental issues, Thomas attended
the 15th Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen buoyed by his role
as chair for the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and
pleased by the support provided to AOSIS by Commonwealth countries.
At Copenhagen, Thomas was unhappy with the role played by the G-77
in shielding India, China and others from action, confirming for
him the need to keep AOSIS' voice distinct from the G-77.
Nevertheless, he believed that Copenhagen achieved a step forward
towards the goal of a legally binding agreement. In Thomas' view,
follow-through on the USD 30 billion Copenhagen commitment towards
developing states' efforts at mitigation and clean energy will help
maintain the momentum towards a legally-binding agreement. When
asked about Grenada's particular efforts to reduce greenhouse
gases, Thomas described the island's prospects for wind and solar
power generation.


10.(SBU) Thomas also expressed interest in AID support for
biodiversity protection on the island, especially for programs that
would help nurse back to health hurricane-damaged reefs that are
important to local fishermen. Non-governmental organization (NGO)
observers active in environmental issues welcomed the Thomas
Administration's reversal of legislation passed under the Mitchell
government that authorized the government to sell off national
parks. They expressed concern that agreements from the Mitchell
era were negotiated out of the public eye and failed to consider
the impact of development on adjacent lands and waters. The NGOs
believed that the government's decision to scrutinize these
contracts provided an opportunity to assess their environmental
consequences. They also drew particular hope from Thomas' reported
interest in promoting the concept of "Geotourism", a strategy that
builds upon notions of sustainable tourism. National Geographic is
said by NGO contacts to have signaled to the government its
interest in providing expertise in implementing the "Geotourism"
approach.

11.(U) Charg???? met with Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and his
staff
on 30 Nov and 28 Dec; Governor General Sir Carlyle Glean on 1 Dec;
Foreign Minister Peter David on 5 Dec; Leader of the Opposition
Keith Mitchell on 2 Dec; and Police Commissioner James Clarkson on
10 Dec. Charg???? also met with NGO consultants and individuals
linked to the study of the Grenada Dove on December 4, 13 and 23.



Comment

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12.(SBU) The economy and the environment could well form an
entwined line of scrimmage between the government and opposition in

2010. The government and opposition disagree over the ability of
the government to mitigate the present difficult economic climate.
The opposition has an opportunity to criticize the government for
holding up jobs, investment and infrastructure by not honoring the
development projects authorized by the prior government. The
government has an opening to revisit questions of judgment and
ethics raised by its predecessor's penchant for backroom deals to
turn Grenada's picture-perfect public lands into performing assets.

13.(SBU) Both opposition and government leaders appeared
appreciative of past American engagement with Grenada and spoke
warmly of the U.S. as a valuable partner. Ministers were
interested in drawing upon U.S. expertise and resources, holding
out particular hope that the U.S. will support the reconstruction
of the courts and other hurricane-damaged government buildings.
The favorable U.S. reputation clearly rests on AID's post-Hurricane
Ivan assistance. Contacts contrasted completed U.S. projects with
the disappointments linked to some of the efforts by other partners
- shoddy construction, "show" projects that don't meet local needs,
or, in the case of Britain, the failure to rebuild the historic
buildings housing the legislature and the residence of the Governor
General, symbols to Grenada of shared Crown government and
parliamentary tradition. End comment.
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