The Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) observes with much interest the political machinations of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and his Dominica Labour Party in trying to confuse and distract the people of the Commonwealth of Dominica from obtaining the much-needed electoral reform that is long overdue.
After almost fifteen years of violation of the Dominica Labour Party’s constitution, Roosevelt Skerrit has finally mustered the courage to convene a delegates’ conference on November
10th at Vielle Case and sends signals of the possibility of another snap general election before the end of the year.
The people of the Commonwealth of Dominica have tolerated Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s abuse by allowing him to escape with a snap general election in 2022 disregarding the promises made to the nation after the general election of 2019 when he appointed Sir Dennis Byron to review the electoral legislation of the country. The sham elections gave Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit a 19 to 2 parliamentary majority with a new breed of inexperienced, incompetent, and immature parliamentarians, none suitable for the task of governance.
The actions of Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit of failing to bring consensus legislation before parliament for debate, passage, and eventual assent by Dominica’s President has led to the immediate past Chief Elections Officer vacating the position due to his having attained the constitutional retirement age of 55. This unfortunate situation could have been avoided had Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit taken consensus draft legislation to parliament that would increase the retirement age of the Chief Elections Officer to sixty-five (65) years as recommended by Sir Dennis Byron within his submitted Report on Electoral Reform which cost the Taxpayers of Dominica more than seven hundred thousand dollars ($700,000.00).
The public revelations made by two Commissioners on the Electoral Commission, which spoke of the behavior of the chairman and two other commission members are cause for concern. It appears that Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and the three other Members of the Electoral Commission, who are registered and accredited Citizenship Selling Agents under Dominica’s Citizenship by Investment Programme seem hell-bent on denying the people of Dominica the much-fought for electoral reform.
The Prime Minister seems unwilling to legislate the barest reforms that have been reduced to the cleansing of the voter’s list, voter identification cards with facial recognition and fingerprints, campaign finance reform, the retirement age of the Chief Elections Officer to be raised to sixty-five (65) years, the
nomination and appointment of a new Electoral Commission, all of this being the recommendations of
Sir Dennis Byron. These recommendations have all been jettisoned by the Prime Minister to the detriment of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Dominica as well as the strengthening of the Democratic process that would contribute to Free and Fair- Elections.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit with his blatant contempt for the people of Dominica can only call another snap election without electoral reform if he is allowed to. There is no justification for the people of Dominica to be subjected to yet another snap general election two (2) years after the 2022 snap election without electoral reform. All these machinations of the Prime Minister in this direction must be resisted.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is obsessed with power, entangled in dirty and divisive politics which is affecting the stability of the nation instead of putting a people’s oriented plan in place to rescue the collapsing CBI programme, to remove corruption in the CBI programme and elsewhere, create jobs opportunities for the people, particularly the young people, put Dominicans first and to take hold of the rapid decline of the various sectors of the Dominican economy, he has failed badly in these areas and as a result, placed him in a state of desperation.
It is important to note that the Prime Ministers of Grenada and St. Lucia both are enjoying proper electoral systems in their countries which enables them to win elections and become the leaders of government in their respective country are being advertised as guest speakers at Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit DLP Delegates’ Conference. Because these two Prime Ministers have ignored correspondence, from the ERC, informing them of Prime Minister Skerrit’s refusal to adhere to basic democratic principles, they must be informed that their presence at this event will be an insult to the Dominican people, unless they can assure the population in a public statement that they have advised or continue to advise Prime Minister Skerrit to do the Honourable thing and accept Sir Dennis Byron’s
recommendations as a mere minimum.
The Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) is appealing to all Dominicans, at home and abroad, to take note of the failing state of our beloved nation, and as a matter of urgency, all patriots must unite under one common banner to rescue the Commonwealth of Dominica.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit must not be allowed to continue to frustrate the electoral reform process, and any attempt to subject the nation to another snap election must be resisted by all available legal means necessary. The ERC calls on Prime Minister Skerrit to respect the nation’s democratic process and to adhere to a commonsense governance approach beneficial to all Dominicans at home and abroad. The ERC cautioned that any decision to the contrary must be considered as a declaration of war on the country and the people must be prepared to face the challenge.