by staff writer
ROSEAU, Dominica, Mar 17, CMC—Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said Monday he had requested assistance from the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS) as his administration moves to debate electoral reform legislation in the Parliament on Wednesday.
The RSS was created in 1982 to counter threats to the stability of the region in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The signatories agreed to prepare contingency plans and assist one another, on request, in national emergencies, prevention of smuggling, search and rescue, immigration control, fishery protection, customs, and excise control, maritime policing duties, protection of off-shore installations, pollution control, national and other disasters, and threats to national security.
“This is just political mischief. A group of men are just trying to make themselves relevant when the people of Dominica have indicated that they are not relevant anymore.
“But I am saying to us that we will go to Parliament on Wednesday, God willing and those bills will be passed and I am saying to the country that I have directed the Minister of National Security (Rayburn Blackmoore) to put the regional security system on alert because anybody who believes that they are going to storm Parliament or create mischief in Dominica it will not happen,” Skerrit said during a live interview with the state-owned DBS Radio on Monday.
“You can come and demonstrate if you want, but do so peacefully. Anybody who believes they will breach the parliament wall and interfere with the democratic processes of the country, you looking for trouble for yourself,” Skerrit warned.
The Dominica government had tabled the three bills on electoral reform in the Parliament and speaking at the end-of-year news conference last December, Prime Minister Skerrit told reporters that the content of the bills, namely the Electoral Commission Bill 2024, House of Assembly (Elections) Bill 2024, and Registration of Electors Bill 2024, had been reviewed by the relevant individuals and groups since Sir Dennis Byron, the former president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), submitted his report on electoral reform on June 12, 2023.
Sir Dennis had been the sole commissioner advancing the efforts towards electoral reform, a major issue here with the opposition parties, the United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) boycotting the last general election.
The boycott led to the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) securing 19 21 seats, with the remainder going to independent candidates.
During his radio interview on Monday, Skerrit repeated the statements, adding that the government held a series of consultations with members of the public service, political parties, trade unions, business associations, youth-based organizations, sports associations, and the media, among other groups.
He said international observers from the Organization of American States (OAS), the Commonwealth, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) participated in these consultations.
But the Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) said it was disappointed that after “almost two decades of demanding electoral reform” the government is proceeding to take to Parliament the electoral reform bills “without proper public notice and scrutiny”.
The ERC said that the recommendations of the Electoral Commission were not made public to allow the population to know whether or not their demands were met and as a result, it is demanding that the Commission makes public “immediately,” the recommendations it sent to the government.
The ERC said it is encouraging constituents to persuade their parliamentary representatives to support the electoral reform process for free and fair elections and is planning a “virtual rally rally” for Saturday “to discuss the volatile situation”
In addition, the ERC said it is “strongly” urging citizens “to make their presence felt outside of Parliament on Monday …to register their concern for genuine electoral reform which will provide for free and fair elections”.
But Skerrit told radio listeners on Monday that he was disappointed that while efforts had been made to shift the goal post on electoral reform, persons were also taking to social media indicating that the legislation to be debated in Parliament did not include the issue of campaign financing.
“They are not talking about what’s in the bill and so people who want to engage themselves in any demonstration in Dominica now against going to Parliament to pass those bills, they are engaging in pure mischief and seeking to give the world the impression that there is something untoward taking place in Dominica and in the Parliament of Dominica, which is completely far from the truth.
“We went through a most aggressive, engaging, comprehensive engagement of consultations. People who wanted to share their views shared their views and it is not because you shared a view that view must be carried by the majority.
“I read what people write and it is a lot of mischief, it has a lot of misinformation, and it’s all their effort to drum up their agenda. Let us go to Parliament. You started by saying you wanted a voter ID card, you started by saying you want to cleanse the voters list…we gave you all of those things and more and now you want to bring things that were never part of the consideration,” Skerrit told the public.
“We have said the issue of campaign financing, that in principle and from a physiological and intentional manner, we are not opposed to campaign finance legislation. But what we are saying at this time, it makes no sense to hold back the three pieces of legislation where there ought to be any discord or disagreement from going to Parliament because we must engage ourselves and give the Electoral Commission the authority in law to deal with the fundamental aspects of the electoral reform agenda.
“Campaign financing was never part of the consideration,” Skerrit said, adding that it had been submitted by Sir Dennis, who had used the Jamaica legislation as a guiding light.
“You will need more time because it is a highly technical document and if you are going to pass something you need to ensure you can put infrastructure in place to oversee its implementation,” said Skerrit, who is scheduled to host a news conference later on Monday, where the matter will be further ventilated.
CMC/fg/ir/2025