Some $3.1-million has been approved for housing in the Mahaut Constituency, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Roosevelt Skerrit has announced.
He spoke at a press conference in the community last week.
“I want to say to you here the $3.1-million which you will need in the next few weeks, as Minister of Finance, I will make this $3.1-million available to the Mahaut Constituency to continue its housing programme,” he stated.
He said the money will be made available in the month of September.
“And I give you the assurance my dear friends because we recognize that housing is an important element of human life,” the Prime Minister said. “All of us, every single family in this world, one of the main things we work for is to provide shelter for our families. But the fact remains in every society in the world there is some of us who will be able to do it on our own and there are some of us who will not be able to it without the help of somebody else. And that somebody else in the case of this country is the Government of Dominica, the Labour Party government.”
The Prime Minister stated that it is the role of the government to assist its citizens, especially after Hurricane Maria.
“People are in distress, people’s home got affected, they do not know where they are going to get help from,” he noted. “There are people who worked for 40-50 years, yes they got a little gratuity, yes, they got a little pension. But if somebody retired some 25 years ago and they got a little pension, of course, that money would have finished long time. And sometimes we would have saved but one of us fell sick in the home, and what do we do? We leave the money in the bank or we try help save that family member. And therefore the government recognizes that…”
He said this is among the realities the government recognizes and understands.
“And that is why we have come to give you a helping hand,” Skerrit said.
Skerrit`s government is a fake, a failure, lack leadership and foresight and adopts corrupted (Bin Bobol, Fertilizer Bobol, Red Clinic, Abuse of vulnerable families and people) behaviour, incompetent, ignoramous. The leader and leadership of this failed Labour Party and failed and corrupt Labour government must be exposed, although they do so n a daily basis, therefore the evidence is open and clear for all to see, including denial Tony Astaphan, Bubbling Parry Bellot, the acknowledged lacksidesical attempting to promote “Productivity”, There is a circle of 18 ministers in government , who are weak, hopeless and scared to address and challenged Skerrit in his years of failure and questions of Bobol activities that we are awaiting inquiry. Skerrit Must Go…..Skerrit has to Go…Skerrit will Go…all in company with 18 worthless ministers and close denial fakes script writers.
Skerrit is spontaneous, superfluous, absent of what quality development is about, surround by some fake, irresponsible blind loyalists who wish to gain from his fling out and also appears to be taking advantage to poor people ad poor communities and villages he and his failed corrupt labour government has created. For eighteen years this hopeless failed Pm and his corrupt Labour government has failed the poor people of Domininca. What a hopeless paradigm and subsequently hurting the poor people of Domininca and the depreciation and weakness of our island.
Skerrit must go, he appears to be now running about like a an illiterate politican begging for loyalty and creating big schemes promising big money to people to where he has created poverty, begging and blind loyalty.
Dominicans, Friends, citizens Skerrit and is government are fakes, extremely dangerous, has killed the economy and decency of our island. Dominicans must stand up now and kick Skerrit and his rouge govt out of…
Here we go again. Millions of $$$$ for this and that.
Where are the sustainable jobs ?. Where are the manufacturing jobs ?. How much projected revenue is this housing scheme raise for the government ?.
A lot of expenditures, but very little in terms of projected revenue. Nothing comes free. From what I can see another cheap political gimmick to buy votes.
a year after maria, that is just showmanship and dirty politics playing with poor people lives
Nothing but cheap election propaganda from Skerrit & Co. promising more pie in the sky.
“And that somebody else in the case of this country is the Government of Dominica, the Labour Party government.” And that something is that Blackmoore is in trouble in Mahaut so bring out the big $$$$ that were given to the people of Dominica ( not the Labor Party Skerrit) to increase his chances. Please tell the truth if you can……..
At this point anything from this character is just annoying. His time is up and he knows it. No amount of money is going to save you.
The state of Dominica after 14 years of oppression by Skerrit and his DLP reminds me of the story of the widow woman and her son that were left with a small jar of oil in 2 kings 4:1- yes we are laborites and gave all we had to ensure Skerrit became PM. But little we knew, he destroyed everything we had, took our daily bread from us and like the widow woman, many are left either with nothing or a last meal. I remember clearly how life was with us before Skerrit came in office in 2004. Thanks to the good policies of the DFP and the UWP, my family was making money but 14 years later we are dead broke and without a job. Meanwhile, Skerrit had absolutely nothing. In fact he was the worse off PM that ever sat in office but we voted him because we were laborites. 14 years later he is a multi millionaire and most of us for sure have gotten far worse off. Yes when he comes with his money I will take it but trust me, I will use that same money to vote him out. We need a change and he must go!
If you broke my arms and broke my legs, what sense it makes to glory because you gave me a pair of crutches?
If you plucked out my eyes so I cannot see, what sense it makes to glory because you gave me a pair of glasses?
If you caused me to lose my income and future by allowing Ross University to run from Dominica, what sense it makes to glory because you gave me $10k to forget what you did to me? Do you understand what you have taken from me Skerrit? I had been working for Ross for 15 yrs and would take home a minimum of $2000 every month, which is roughly $24K a month and $360K that you caused me to lose. How good is your buy vote money to me? Skerrit, you and your advisors from Barbados have a job to go to and expect money to go into your accounts. Me and my family now have nothing to turn to, nothing to pay our monthly bills. My house I was able to repair because of my Ross income but that you and your friends took from me. You can never get my vote again, no NEVER
Very well spoken!! That about sums up the Skerrit regime.
Wow! This is frightening news you know boy. In 2 weeks time it will be one year since Maria destroyed Dominica and only now Skerrit giving the people of Mahaut $3.1 million dollars to fix their houses man. We not talking about Marigot or Sailsbury where UWP keeps winning but Mahaut, a DLP seat since 1999. Is this Skerrit’s way of sayingthat if it was not for the upcoming election he would not have given them no damn money? Or, is it his way of saying the Mahaut seat is in serious trouble and he has to try to buy back the people? Skerrit what if the people had to go through another storm with their houses still not fixed? Blackmoore though you are happy but it does not send a good message especially when Skerrit said in his own village all houses are covered whether dlp or uwp? Somehow I just feel it is an Ave Maria money to see if will not be able to buy some votes. But based on what I seeing on the ground, no amount of money can buy the people of Mahaut and Dominica
Skerrit’s political journey reminds me of the Death angel of Exodus 12:12-23. Less than a year after the man put his foot in the parliament all we seeing is deaths, funerals, floods, hurricane, accident, destruction and catastrophe. Rosie did not make a year as PM before he was buried; Pierro his successor could only last 3 years before he too was buried; Osborn Revier only lasted a day until he was sent home and later got burried. Then our relationship with Tiwan was killed; our banana industry was killed, our farms we’re killed, we had to bury how many after Erika and Maria, not forgetting those from Penville. Just sorrow upon sorrow since this man came in power. He destroyed our hospital. The man destroyed Ross University, destroyed sports, destroyed community spirit, destroyed the church. The man destroyed every damn thing he met! If after 18 years in office he did nothing, there would still be some hope. But he destroyed everything and turned us into a casualty. What a curse!
Skerrit is the Funeral PM and therefore he killed Dominica. He said the good Lord put him there to help people but it more looks like the bad deviil put him there to kill the country. First he started his journey by burying Rosie and Pierro. I don’t know if we got a blessing or a curse since after the two funerals he attended. Then he killed our relationship with Tiwan in favor of China. By the way China is not helping us with anything. The Tiwanese we’re on the ground helping us with our farms, fishes and other things where as the Chinese only work by themselves so we can’t learn a thing from them. Skerrit killed bananas that once contributed over 30% of our GPA, he killed plans for an International airport and today, when our neighbors like St. Lucia, St. Vincent are boasting of more international flights all we can do is try to see how we can get people here from neighboring islands. Last, he killed Ross University after 40 years here. He is like a death angel that can only kill
The truth is, Skerrit is desperate; he must remain in power not for love of country but for his personal gain and off course, the music he knows he will have to deal with the day he it out of power. So the man will do everything he can to remain in office. After 18 years in power, 14 as pm was in a very good position to help Dominica, if he wanted to especially with the amount of money he made from sale of our passports. But instead he killed our banana industry and blamed it on black sigatoka, while St. Lucia had the same problem but we’re able to control it. 4 yrs since we sold our last box of bananas. He met land, money and a serious plan in place for an international airport but instead he shipped it to St. Vincent and brought Ralph down to tell us we can’t afford it. He shipped Ross to Barbados where his advisors are from and told us is Maria. As for bird island we don’t know what deal he and Chavez did. The man destroyed everything that would make us a stronger nation.
Everyone by now knows that the money made available to Dominicans by the international community and those from the sale of our passports do not belong to Skerrit.Everyone knows that election is soon,and the DLP is struggling to survive.Really Really Struggling.If i get money i will take,but I SHALL never EVER vote for a Labour candidate No Sir!!!! Not me!!! Not under the leadership of the duncest,least competent leader that Dominica has, and will ever produce ..Which other Dominican leader would let go of Ross?A billion dollar company,? The man Skerrit is such a dullard, he delegated people to meet with high ranking officials from Ad Talem…..Was he hiding? Shame on him and his disgraceful leadership.Let us,Dominicans of good conscience kick those MISLEADERS out next election.
The good Mahaut people,who stand for Dominica will do the same .
Skerrit Must Go
Skerrit Must Go
Lazy Skerrit Must Go Now
Who is watching the money? The money should be watched by a board of Trustees of persons selected from all over the island to make sure it does not get syphoned off by nefarious crooked characters and deposited into their overseas bank accounts.
Whilst the assistance made available to various constituencies is commendable, but Roseau South appears to be neglected or ignored. Some people still affected post Hurricane Maria – their requests for help seems to be falling on deaf ears. Can the persons responsible respond?
The writing’s on the wall. Hero Politics beating Dominicans bad bad bad..we doh need no plans, we doh need no follow up nothing..Just open all you hand and take the money rebuild your houses and next election Vote for country.
It’s the duty of all governments to put structures and measures in place to assist people to empower themselves. There will always be the impoverished among us, who the government should lend a hand of assistance. These things are a given. National security, healthcare, infrastructure and the economy should be in good health if Dominicans are to prosper. All are abysmal failures under the Skerrit’s-led ill-administration. Housing, agriculture, light manufacturing, fishing, animal husbandry, every sector is equally in a deplorable state. Is there a glimmer of hope for better under this awfully performing regime? Absolutely NOT!
While the government is giving help to many in need, others who are struggling and ripped off by insurance companies are being shortchanged by being charged import duties and VAT on building supplies brought in to repair their homes. Government wants resilient housing, which increases the cost of construction, but is putting obstacles in the way. There should be no duty and no, or a reduced, VAT for 3 -5 years. First of all, what we have is not a VAT. How does an entirely finished product become subject to VAT when no value is added to the finished product? If you are to apply any tax, tax the labor cost of installation. Now, one of the best measures government can take to help homeowners is to enact legislation which will protect insureds & force insurance companies to meet their contractual obligations & force them to pay legal costs if an insured should litigate a claim and win. There has been too much insurance company unjust enrichment coming to light from the claims of Maria.
It seems you are one of those Dominicans who hate to read or you do not know anything about insurance companies. The legislation you are talking about is always there. If you can prove through your contract that the companies do not meet the obligations you can sue them and of course they will pay your legal fees. Stop talking from your donkey and read.
The “added value” also covers profit margins on finished goods, as well as import duties. Every stage of a transactiën that adds costs is regarded as “added value”and taxed accordingly at that stage. It replaces sales tax.
If this govt was not hell bent on keeping people poor they would be able to afford their own housing. Of course there will always be exceptions like older people and destitutes but generally people should be empowered by a sustainable economy so they do not have to wait for hand out. Our less educated people believe they are getting help but in the end we will end up like Venezuela. CBI will end, Petro Carib will end, Assistance from outside will end and what will we have? Ask yourself this question.