By: Staff Writer
August 2, 2024
Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell Thursday sacked his Youth and Sports Minister Jonathan LaCrette from his cabinet, saying he had lost confidence in him.
But there has been other narratives floating about why LaCrette’s firing happened, and Mitchell has not gone into any details as to why he lost confidence in LaCrette.
La Crette was appointed as a senator after he failed to win the St George’s Northwest constituency in the June 2022 General Elections. He was initially appointed as the Health Minister but in a cabinet reshuffle in January 2024 he was reassigned to serve as the Sports Minister.
News of his dismissal from the Cabinet began circulating on Wednesday. The weekly cabinet meeting was delayed to Wednesday because Grenada was hosting the 47th Regular Meeting of the Heads of Government of Caricom.
Insiders have said that LaCrette had leaked information from his ministry to the New National Party Opposition, but this has not been confirmed. This has started speculation on his suspected defection from the NDC.
If this is the case, LaCrette would not be the first to have done so to a governing National Democratic Congress government following in the pattern of Peter David, former minister in the Tillman Thomas NDC administration and then resigned in 2012 and subsequently broke ranks to join the Dr Keith Mitchell NNP where he then served as a senator and also as minister for foreign affairs when the NNP won a landslide victory in the 2013 general elections.
There was also new circulating that Prime Minister Mitchell and LaCrette had a nasty falling out, but no one has decided to discuss what the argument was about.
LaCrette has not responded to Caribbean Magazine Plus messages to his Facebook page.
LaCrette, who was also responsible for preparing the country’s athletes in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France that is currently ongoing, was hailed as vibrant and an energetic visionary for the youth and sports model Grenada was trying to enhance.