On web search, names of a number of Dominica newspapers and online portals will appear. Those include The Chronicle, The Dominican, DAVIBES, and The Sun. In my opinion, The Sun is an extremely vocal newspaper, that dares to publish the truth.
On November 3rd this year, Dominica entered its 43rd year of independence. But, according to The Sun, this tiny island nation has become more divided than it has ever been since Britain severed its umbilical cord in November 1978.
In an editorial published on November 3, The Sun, “And on 3rd November 2020, as we take stock of our progress or of our inordinately inadequate development, we must realize that we have been pulling ourselves down to where we are today, the poorest nation in the Eastern Caribbean, woefully dependent on our new monocrop -the sale of passports. A small divided nation like ours will find it difficult to survive in this ultra-competitive world especially if we are constantly at war with each other.”
It further said, “Undoubtedly, the major cause of this division is our tragic brand of divisive politics in which the winner actually takes all-the free government-funded houses; the meritorious service awards presented at the anniversary of independence; the business development concessions; the passport-selling agencies.
Of course, the major cause of this division is the persistent divisive politics; reds and blues are constantly at each other’s throats every day of every week of every month; the country seems to be in perpetual election campaign mode. No country can survive this incessant battering, this energy-sapping verbal warfare on radio talk shows in particular, this constant undermining of Dominica’s good name in the international press due to our alignment with unsavory persons and groups. To save our country we must declare a truce, an end to this hemorrhaging of our country’s image. Everyone should be able to survive on the 289 square mile volcanic rock that we call home.
But realistically, political warfare will not decline or end and Dominica will not enjoy any form of a developmental ethos unless the majority of inhabitants acknowledge that in truth and in fact this, and any other, Government was elected freely and fairly; that the electoral playing field is even and relatively free from the abuse of incumbency; that no party is spending as much as one hundred million dollars on an election campaign and other parties can only muster just a few hundred thousand; that the local and regional courts are perceived to be independent and unbiased, because, according to Montesquieu: “There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice”.
This year as in past years the Government of Dominica has decided that during the observance of the nation’s 42nd year of political independence, we should celebrate our progress and development. By selecting that theme (Embracing New Opportunities) the Skerrit Administration is implying that Dominica has taken advantage of old opportunities has made exceptional progress economically and socially and therefore we should all join the independence fetes with gay abandon. But instead of gaiety, we are of the view that during this special occasion we must contemplate the future of the island that O.N. Pond, the author of our National Anthem, has described as “this gem beyond compare.”
Indeed, we have to embrace new opportunities but we cannot do so effectively unless we reduce the level of political divisiveness, unless the vast majority of Dominicans have their shoulders to the wheel of development, unless justice, according to Dr. Martin Luther King, “rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
We have not read the speech that Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is scheduled to deliver on November 3rd 2020, but we can assure you he will brag that the nation has, never in its history benefited from so many infrastructural projects over a period of five years. This is the tenor of the speech we will hear from the Prime Minister. And to make this particular prediction we claim no level of clairvoyance: he’s been saying the same thing during his independence addresses for 15 years”.
From The Sun editorial, it is learned, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has recently claimed that the island nation, “for the first time in history is enjoying the fruits of his labor – a billion-dollar economy”. But, according to national statistics does not approve Roosevelt’s claim. Instead, Former IMF Economist Dr. Thompson Fontaine in a recent critique concluded that Dominica’s economy was in very bad shape. Dr. Fontaine, now an economic consultant to the Government of South Sudan, said Prime Minister Skerrit’s figures were misleading and way off the mark.
“When the (Dominica Labour Party) took over in 2000 the Dominican economy was close to one billion dollars. It was $900.87 million,” Dr. Fountain said on Q95 FM recently.
“In 2019, under the leadership of Roosevelt Skerrit, it was 1.35 billion dollars. So in 20 years, listen to that very carefully, in 20 years, under the DLP government, Dominica’s economy grew by $451 million dollars- over 20 long years”.
Dr. Fountain, a member of the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) said comparatively, from 2000 to 2019 the economies of countries of the Eastern Caribbean (St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Antigua, and St. Kitts) doubled whereas Dominica’s economy grew by just 50 percent in 20 years.
Skerrit is the king – the dictator
On July 4, 2019, The Sun, commenting on Roosevelt Skerrit said “Maybe it was the way he said it. When Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit told trade union boss Thomas Letang in a speech that he delivered at the launching of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) candidate for the Roseau South constituency on Sunday 19 May 2019 at the New Town Savanah that “My Brother, I run things in Dominica”, the statement sounded full of arrogance, overflowing with hubris. But we understand: prime ministers in the Caribbean are all kings.
Undoubtedly, Prime Minister Skerrit has been ruling with all the pomp and power of a king, an emperor, an emir and some would say with the absolute power of a dictator in a banana republic; a big, big fish in that small, small pond that is Dominica.
But that’s how kings ruled in antiquity. King Louis XIV of France in the 18th century, for example, proclaimed, “I am the State.” He also said, “Salvation belongs to God. Everything else is my affair.”
Ezra Alleyne in an article entitled “For the Record: The Power of the Prime Minister” in Nation News in 2011 wrote: “The office of Prime Minister represents an almost direct transfer of the ancient powers of the king, circumscribed only by the fact that the Prime Minister rules under law, whereas the king did not. The prime minister is functionally more powerful than the president (of the United States)”.
Of course, Alleyne was writing about Barbados but the like-a-king prime minister of Barbados is the same as in Dominica and in all states of the Caribbean, for that matter.
Skerrit is a disciple of Castro and Chavez
In November 2016, commenting about Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Dominica’s Prime Minister Skerrit said: “I have had the occasion over an extended period of time to interact with him. I consider him to be a mentor, I consider him to be a friend. I have learned quite a bit from him in terms of his leadership and how he views world issues”.
In simple words, Roosevelt Skerrit, being a self-proclaimed disciple of Fidel Castro has learned to hate the Western nations, especially the US. He has also learned the notorious art of suppressing his people and regularly lie.
Skerrit, selling of citizenship and his corruption
As we know, Roosevelt Skerrit is selling Dominica’s citizenship to thousands of individuals from around the world against the shown amount of US$ 100k per person, no one knows how much cash he is personally making by selling diplomatic passports. It was reported in the media that almost half-a-million-dollar is needed for each of the diplomatic passports. In this case, Roosevelt Skerrit must have made hundreds of millions of dollars by illegally selling diplomatic posts and passports of Dominica, and he has set up agents in London and other cities in the world for taking care of his dirty-money and secretly deposit in his hidden bank accounts.
