Gov’t to create 1,100 jobs for those made redundant by Maria

Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, has announced that the cabinet has taken the decision to create 1,100 jobs to engage those made redundant and displaced by Hurricane Maria.

He said at a press conference on Wednesday that the jobs will be for skilled and unskilled workers and are to begin on March 1, 2018, with funds from the Citizenship By Investment Program.

“It is the government’s view, while we will be building homes, putting roofs back on our heads, building roads, building river defenses, building schools, we should not lose sight of the human aspect of development,” he stated. “And therefore we need to ensure that we can maintain the sanity and the dignity of our citizens.”

Skerrit has indicated that the exercise is going to be costly.

“But in our view it will be an investment that is worthwhile because the cost of repairing any potential damage will be more significant to the country and in the process we want to ensure that men, in particular, can maintain their respect and rightful place in their household, as head of the household because if they are unable to bring a pay packet at the end of the month, they may lose that position, a position that has been given to them by God,” Skerrit said. “It is clear in the bible and it must not only be in name, it must be in practice.”

Skerrit pointed out that if a person is “unable to bring a paycheck as a husband or boyfriend to your girlfriend or to your wife, then you have a problem.”

“While it may sound like a laughing matter, it is a serious matter,” he said. “And in very clear reflection, from the government’s standpoint, in consultation with various individuals, we’ve decided to create these 1,100 jobs, paid for by the government of Dominica with funds from the CBI to engage people who have been displaced because these people still have their mortgages, these people still have to eat, these people still have to send their children to school and on top of that they still have to find monies to fix their homes that have been destroyed by the hurricane.”

He said the Cabinet Secretary will provide details to the public next Monday on applying and registering.

“We have created a unit that will be responsible for managing this…” he noted.

Skerrit also explained that the new initiative will be separate and distinct from the National Employment Program (NEP) with a new administration to oversee it.

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44 Comments

  1. Pause
    January 18, 2018

    But where I be der nuh????

  2. Charity Begins at home
    January 18, 2018

    The emphasis of any serious government is to grow the economy and not creating jobs. If the government grows the economy, not they, but the private sector will create jobs. Skerrit will take donors money and pay 1100 of his supporters a salary be it to spray the soil with poison so that everything we grow dies or just to have them dress like farmers and go and boast about he created jobs. I don’t want government to create jobs. Serious governments take necessary steps to grow the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

  3. January 18, 2018

    “Skerrit pointed out that if a person is ‘unable to bring a paycheck as a husband or boyfriend to your girlfriend or to your wife, then you have a problem.'”

    What is this, 1950? The antiquated notion that men should be the heads of their households, rather than have adults sharing those responsibilities equally, is very disappointing to hear in this day and age.

    • UKDominican
      January 18, 2018

      My view entirely Steve. Quite frankly that attitude went out years ago in enlightened societies. The females in my family would be appalled if I insisted on playing the pater familias and rightly so. I am a male but very disappointed with our P.M.’s dated view and trust he does not treat his own wife as subservient to himself.

      • ATKINSON
        January 21, 2018

        You and Eve , i mean steve :mrgreen: dam “captain save a Ho”

  4. Praying for DA
    January 18, 2018

    ADMIN: Has the government provided the following information about the economy, post-Maria?
    – The estimated number of people who LEFT the government payroll
    – The estimated number of private sector jobs lost
    – The change in gov’t revenue since Maria

    I’d love to know what % of the total number of jobs needed is being created by this initiative. What is the budget for this and how long will the jobs be secure?

    ADMIN: As far as we are aware, this information has not been made public.

  5. zandoli
    January 18, 2018

    You are going to engage and employ them to do what?

    You don’t have to look past Trinidad to see what happened to their Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) (https://www.cepep.gov.tt/about-us/) which, over the years has morphed into a program where politicians hire supporters to do nothing.

    I think this a very bad idea.

    What the government should be doing is streamlining the process to help businesses get back on their feet to rehire their staff and get the economy moving again.

    These are the kinds of handouts that got Venezuela in the mess it is today.

    • zandoli
      January 18, 2018

      I should add, he should also look at Barbados where the government recently had to lay off over 3000 staff because there were too many people in the public service and they simply could no longer afford to carry so much dead weight.

      Skerrit and his gang don’t have a clue on how to govern a country.

  6. Bird eye view
    January 18, 2018

    This Government of one man is not really interested with a National Development Plan, as a matter of fact if he doesn’t have a plan then there is nothing to hold him accountable for instead he runs the country on a as you go basis. Maria comes we need Jobs. Carnival Cruise stop coming here, we need roads and clean up country; Gabbage all over we need trucks; Commissioner incompetent we need a deputy; Agriculture down A.I.D Bank has small loans for farmers and the list goes on and on. Dominicans how long will you make one man fool you while enriching himself and those around him while you continue to be in the same position or worse after 17 plus years.

  7. Piper
    January 18, 2018

    Papa God but Dominicans allu telling me that you all goin to put that administration back in office in the next general election???? My God you people crazy!!!

    • Jayson
      January 18, 2018

      If the Labor party administration is responsible for their terms of employment and their family’s livelihood what do you think?

      Of course they will.

      Who in their right mind would vote away their monthly salary and mortgage payments??

      I hope Dominicans can now see the environment that they have allowed to be created…

  8. January 17, 2018

    Horse manure. Plain and simple horse manure.

    • KIP
      January 18, 2018

      What are your suggestions Danny Boy so we can have a comparison of who has the biggest horse …..

  9. Laplaine Observer
    January 17, 2018

    Mr. P.M, you have been in office over 14 years and the unemployment rate has increased to 26% which is the third highest in the Caribbean. Now you are promising 1100 jobs. You can continue to fool your RED CLINIC recipients, but not intellectually savvy Dominicans. Your non-job creation record speaks for itself.

  10. Roy Williams
    January 17, 2018

    Roosevelt Skeritt never ceases to amaze me. Mr. Linton and UWP promised the people of Dominica, they could create three thousand jobs in five years, Skeritt found the promise to be ridiculous. The economy is in a tail spin, post Maria, he is trying to fool Dominicans, by telling them he going create one thousand job. What is more unbelievable, pre Maria, he could not create five hundred jobs, as a result, he had to revert to the red clinic and NEP.

    • January 18, 2018

      What are your suggestios? Didn’t hear objections when the government paid double bubble in November at a time when government revenues were close to zero and the economy had grinded to a halt. Was it because that opposition members benefited from this reckless spending that there was this loud silence. If government have reserve funds available it should not be available to a selected few as all Dominicans are hurting at this time.

      • Neverson St jean
        January 18, 2018

        Don’t bring up double bubble, that is money owed , to the workers

      • Neverson St jean
        January 18, 2018

        Revenues were close to zero because the govt. Failed to create an economy for 14yrs, instead they went selling passports and left everything else go down the drain

  11. Nah la
    January 17, 2018

    He won’t be satisfied until he’s run the country down into the ground. This cannot be right. Government employees already know that yhe really is going to be a wage freeze for the foreseeable future. How do you justify paying all the NEP workers and this additional 1100 off the public purse. The future doesn’t look so bright

    • January 18, 2018

      There should be a wage reduction starting from the top.

  12. Crap'o Hall
    January 17, 2018

    Is this George Orwell 1984? How many “ADMINISTRATIONS” do we need to govern a country of 50,000 people?

    • Praying for DA
      January 18, 2018

      The ADMINISTRATORS are part of the 1,100 jobs that had to be “created”

  13. Yampen
    January 17, 2018

    In case Dominicans have not figured it out, Dominica will soon be the new north Korea. Open your eyes and be delivered- you have been hypnotized.

  14. Unknown
    January 17, 2018

    Mr Skeritt I see you mention men keeping there place in their homes. There are women out there who do the work of mother and father, they work twice as hard and many of them are the bread winners. That statement by you Sir sends a disturbing message of how you perceive women. Are one if those men who believe men are superior to women?

  15. Trying to help
    January 17, 2018

    2018 and Mr Skerrit spouts about the Man taking the money home for the woman waiting for him.Also when has God given this as the ordained right?No wonder we struggle when the so called leader babbling on like this.
    Regarding employment,the Government should have set up a TASK force months ago to help in reconstruction.Teams of workers distributed across the island to help in re-roofing under the supervision of construction companies on island,
    Outside agencies have already seen the complete ineptitude of this government and SKERITT.No future with this man in power.

    • From the Pen of a male
      January 17, 2018

      I was not going to comment but this guy is so primitive in thoughts & deeds That I have to call him out.
      This is not fit to be a dog catcher. Backward Skerrit to think so antiquated. All over the world women are leading. Right here in DA there are a two fold sometimes 3 more girls graduating from high school & college than boys. Skerrit dotish man!

  16. Waiting on God
    January 17, 2018

    skerrit why are you bend on subjecting dominicans to this kind of dependence on you??????? is that what making you feel good about yourself?????/// do you have an inferiority complex????????? that you cannot get cure from????????

  17. Shaka Zulu
    January 17, 2018

    We are now plunging into a socialist state rapidly. Mr. Skerrit your administration has created an environment of desperation before maria. Let me remind you of the following; DCP closed, call center closed, breezemart closed, agriculture reduced to almost nothing, tourism anemic, construction projects done by foriegn companies, multy million dollar infrastructure built by foreigners and foriegn hands. The economic engine that needed to get people out of poverty independent and working never got started. Begging china and Venezuela for funds without finding markets for Dominica produce was your philosophy. Welfare was your economic policy. Now maria you want to create 1, 100 jobs useing CBI money. When will this stupidity end? If these jobs are not related to production then it is going to be unsustainable and a waste of time. Any idiot knows in a society thier are jobs that are normal cost with little or know financial returns to which most gov jobs fall under. I am sick and tired

    • Shaka Zulu
      January 17, 2018

      of these overnight schemes that plunge this country further into desperation. Your excuse is human aspect and brain dead people believe that deceptive excuse. I did not pay for an education to remain a fool, a beggar, a dependent of the state, or a blind follower. To build resilience people needed to be gainfully employed so they can afford insurance for disaster, have money in the bank, have health insurance, have good retirement plan, have investment in infrastructure and business in thier country. For 17 years non of this was your priority and you minister is thanking God Dominica poor so they resilient. If you care about the human aspect why have you not created an environment where private sector growth and business florish. Why have you not found markets for Dominica produce to encourage export in not one of these so called friendly countries? Why do you insist on keeping men begging and dependent? Why do you keep rewording these same policies that has not worked?

      • Like it was from daay Chess
        January 17, 2018

        Skerrito Is Maduro’s little brother. Papa died a few years ago. Fwd we go into Skerritismo

  18. Paul Rossnof
    January 17, 2018

    I’ve been waiting for a while now for him to come up with a gimmick like that.
    1. How can you or the government create jobs unless all these people are employed by the government itself?
    2. This has got nothing to do with creating jobs. Since the government has to pay the 1,100 they are nothing but handouts from the government because I believe that most of them will actually be working for Astaphan, Nassief and a few others.
    4. These jobs are not sustainable, at best I guess for a year if that. I would call them artificial.
    5. What is the structure gonna be like? Everybody receiving the same wages?
    6. Who is going to select the 1,100? I guess it’s going to be Skerrit.
    7. We all know now where this is going to go. Like the grants for the farmers and the grant for the small businesses it will be all kept within the red family. Now there are even more citizens indebted to the PM and we all know where this is going to end. He will call in all these favours at the next election.

  19. Frank
    January 17, 2018

    How long will these jobs last?? And how does the CBI money belongs to the gov? I thought it’s the people of Dominica money? This guy going to add another 1100 people to the NEP? How is he going to maintain paying all these people from the treasury? What type of jobs are these jobs?

    • Jose
      January 18, 2018

      I really wish those questions will be answered… Don’t ask his supporters to answer because they will curse u…

    • January 18, 2018

      CBI money belongs to the government. The government is elected by the people and is responsible for all monies collected. The bank accounts are not in the name of Roosevelt Skeritt, Lennox Linton or John Quashie, they are in the name of the Government of Dominica.

      • Me
        January 18, 2018

        Oh, and who signs the cheques?

  20. thethingswesay
    January 17, 2018

    More NEP more passport to sell to pay those NEP government workers. Best the private sector give up and go and work for government too. We will become like North Korea. The government NEEDS to assist in the creation of an enviroment that allows for development and growth of businesses. Making it verry attractive for Foreign Direct Investments to come here and hire locals. Ross is still a problem. What will happen if Clear Harbor suddenly closes like how they did in St Kitts God forbid? We keep putting all our eggs in one basket and not setting up the playing field for real growth.

    • Ambition
      January 17, 2018

      Wawwwww….its been a while since I’ve read a constructive comment on DNO.
      I totally agree and this is exactly what our country is lacking in such a time as this. Its a sad fate that the private sector has laid off so many employees, yet the public sector is unable to not only accommodate all but at least half of these workers.
      Secondly, agriculture should be thriving now and where is it? Too much politics in our nation and the government needs to stop putting pampers on adults. Stop giving men fishes, its time to teach them to fish.

      • thethingswesay
        January 18, 2018

        thats how votes are ensured. The psychology is make us think this is the norm and how things should be done. and if anyone protests these acts then they are against the government as well as against dominica and trying to prevent a fellow dominican from benefiting. indeed it is time we as people both man and woman begin fishing for ourselves and stop depending on government. Why should parents depend on a parl rep or government to provide uniforms for their children? Why must people gather at the financial center to beg for help? why arent we all working the thousands of unused acres of government land for food production and processing. We prefer to sit back and collect free money, thats why.

    • Sorry
      January 17, 2018

      Way I see it is the citizens passports and so is the citizens money. Now they need work if he can create work with the people passport money then why not nah man

      • Sorry
        January 17, 2018

        Maybe he can take some of that money and opening a canning plant for the fruits. Then send some of his beggars or go himself and beg china India and other emerging markets to buy our canned goods. The factory alone can employ a goood many people. There’s ways of getting the place going but them man need vision yo aveg

    • John Henderson
      January 17, 2018

      All good people, on this planet, knows your government is doing it’s best to help people that have lost their jobs, and the government is what none of you fools , can’t even remember what to do.

      How can anyone with sens invest in an island like Dominica , when with every words that comes from your mouth is negative. All you people who are currently criticising the priming the PM , unless you can do better, just keep your eyes open and you’ll slowly understand politics of the world.

      You think that the United workers party will do business better? You would not be able to organise a tea party.
      If you people have nothing good or constructed to say, just keep it simple, showing respect to the PM would be a start. God bless you all with good eyes, but you can’t see the good work in progress.

      I don’t support no political parties in Dominica ,but the present government is doing an excellent job with the economy, believe or not. .Most of you said he’s begging China and…

      • Me
        January 18, 2018

        Spoken like a true Henderson!

      • thethingswesay
        January 19, 2018

        Why would you think that everyone who criticizes the government is against it? PArents criticize their children. Spouses criticize each other. that doesnt mean they are against each other. And also because i comment against the governments actions, doesnt mean that i support Lennox Linton and the UWP. Im not an economist by trade. But i know that now is the time to start balancing our trade deficit, as it was already too high. But maria has made it worse. The government has an opportunity to do something LOOOOONG lasting. Not something short term.

      • Neville
        January 20, 2018

        The present government is doing an excellent job with the economy…
        Are you for real man?? Let me keep it simple for you, neither Skerrit nor one single member of his administration do even understand what ‘economy’ is. As far as they are concerned it must have something to do with climate or such like. YOU probably think so too.

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