Griffith: I too was called by Carmona

Given the separation of powers between Government and the State, Griffith yesterday told Newsday that on receiving the message and aware of the protocols in place, he sought the approval of then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in whose Cabinet he served. “Having been an aide de camp to a former president and a military attache to a former prime minister,” Griffith said, “I was aware that to attend any such meeting I had to have the approval of the Prime Minister.” He approached Persad-Bissessar who, he said, was not aware of any request for a meeting of a member of her cabinet with the President.

A direct invitation from the President to a minister, Griffith said, “puts the minister in a very uncomfortable position. The minister has to go the Prime Minister to make sure he or she has the requisite approval.” He added, “I asked her what I should do. She gave me the approval to meet with him.” The meeting was informal, he said. Carmona, Griffith said, spoke like any other citizen who have ideas about national security. The meeting did not deal with policy restructuring or operational security matters, Griffith said. Asked what he thought about the current scenario regarding the opposing positions taken by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Carmona on the latter’s meeting with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, on national security matters, Griffith said, “There is a saying, ‘When the elephants fight, only the grass gets trampled’.”