TT consul in Grenada: ‘Gov’t helping Trinis stranded here’

HONORARY consul for TT in Grenada Clifton Ali has denied comments made by a medical student at St George’s University and her father, who criticised the government. The two had said government had ignored TT nationals on the island, particularly students.

Ali spoke with Newsday, saying he was embarrassed by the report. He said he had the opportunity to leave Grenada before borders closed, but opted to remain with those who chose not to leave and those who could not.

The woman, who was interviewed by Newsday, asked not to be identified. She said her passport had been sent to Jamaica for a UK student application when the borders closed. She and her father Nazim Mohammed, both said they felt the government did not see the return of students in Grenada as a priority.

They said they had gone through official and personal channels to get an exemption for her to return to TT. But Ali said no families were involved in the official process, but an application was made through a collaboration between himself and Colin Dowe, the associate dean at SGU (an offshore US uiversitry whose campus is in Grenada).

“As this country’s representative for Grenada, I have never been contacted either by Mr Mohammed or his daughter,” Ali said. He said when the borders were closed, the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs mandated his consulate to register all nationals who were forced to remain in Grenada because of covid19.

To date, Ali said, 50 have done so,and Mohammed’s daughter was not among them. “All of the students were aware of the honorary consul’s efforts and initiatives,” he said. “Both the faculty and students have been in contact with each other. I have been in almost daily communication with all our nationals registered (with me) over the past three months.” He said the SGU students were aware of these efforts and initiatives. “Both the faculty and students have been in contact with each other. Yet around 13 of the total number of the 15 students chose to ignore the honorary consul’s request to register, including (unnamed student).”

Such was government’s interest in the well-being of students, he said, that the Ministry of National Security acknowledged the SGU dean’s application for exemption to enter the country on June 8, an hour after it was filed. The student claimed, in the earlier report that requests had been made since May.

But Ali said the request was made after Dowe contacted him on June 2, to ask for help in applying for an exemption. Ali said the student also failed to acknowledge that two to three weeks before the closure of borders, SGU had offered to return all TT students home at the university’s expense.

As for the other TT nationals in Grenada, he said, “I also want to commend all the others for their understanding, their support and for their patience under these very difficult times...as I have told them, it has been a privilege to represent them and I am really proud of all of them for the exemplary manner in which they have conducted themselves.”