BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – PRIME MINISTER of Dominica and leader of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) Roosevelt Skerrit has accused members of the United Workers Party (UWP) of employing the exact format used in St. Kitts and St. Vincent and the Grenadines in their political campaigns.
According to an article headlined “Prime Minister lashes out at opposition’s plans”, written by News Coordinator Edona Jno Baptiste and published by DOMINICA NEWSONLINE on Monday (Nov. 30), PM Skerrit described the opposition’s 20 pledges for the betterment of Dominica as absurd and laughable.
Last Sunday, the UWP held a Convention Rally in St. Joseph at which the party’s candidates read to thousands gathered some of the proposed plans for the country should they be re-elected to government. They guaranteed 20 pledges to be realised in two years.
However, in an address to the nation, aired on Kairi FM Radio, Skerrit accused the UWP of reciting the most absurd and inconceivable pledges that country has ever heard.
He claimed that the pledges were never discussed among senior members of the party and were handed to the candidates by European advisors hours before the Rally.
DOMINICA NEWSONLINE quoted PM Skerrit as saying, “I challenge the leadership of the United Workers Party to deny that its outlined solutions to the problems of Dominica were handed down to candidates hours before the meeting in St. Joseph. Senior members of the United Workers Party have confirmed that those measures were never debated or discussed among candidates or at any senior level of the party. Those prescriptions are not only laughable but dangerous to the economic well-being of Dominica."
Skerrit accused the UWP of employing the exact format used by two other countries in the Caribbean, noting they are identical to what was proposed to parties in St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines for their political campaigns.
“Dominicans should know that the same exact format used in St. Kitts and Nevis and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is being imported lock, stock and barrel by these European advisors all paid for by the same company which is seeking to secure an exclusive agency for the sale of Dominican passports.
“It is amazing that the same entertainer Etana was used by this group in St. Kitts two months ago, in St. Vincent one week ago, and now in Dominica. The same equipment, stage settings, props and even billboard designs that were done for those countries are being advanced here in Dominica as the opposition’s intended solutions to our problems. Persons who may not have monitored the broadcast from St. Joseph were this morning amazed to hear some of the outlandish ready-made prescriptions that the Ron Green-led United Workers Party has put forward for Dominicans,” Skerrit said.
Skerrit also questioned where the opposition party would source funds to manage the country’s affairs if it were returned to power. He pointed out that only a week ago the UWP claimed the country’s economy was in shambles, the government would not be able to pay public officers salaries by February 2010 under its present trajectory, the government is not paying its bills, and many capital projects are incomplete as a result of the ruling party’s inability to meet its obligations.
“Yet the same UWP came to this country last night after 10 days of total confusion following the confusion of the calling of general elections and told us that it would miraculously introduce what has been conservatively estimated at $3.5B in projects and services within two years of the December 18 general elections.
“The question I have for the European colonisers, and not the leadership of the UWP as they were merely reciting lines written on paper, is where would that $3.5B come from to finance these programmes?” Skerrit said.
Dominica’s general elections is constitutionally due in May 2010 but on Thursday, November 18, PM Skerrit made a surprise announcement at a public meeting in Mahaut that it would be held on Friday, December 18.
Today (Dec. 2) is Nominations Day and the four parties expected to contest the elections are the Judith Pestaina-led Dominica Freedom Party, the Ron Green-led UWP, the Progressive Democratic Movement led by Para Riviere, and the DLP led by Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
