PM Skerrit urges CARICOM leaders to implement decisions they take

Prime Minister Skerrit. File photo

Prime Minister Skerrit has suggested that regional leaders must be prepared to divest some of their national authority in order to achieve the goals of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).

Skerrit was speaking on the last day of a two-day CARICOM Summit in Trinidad to consider the future development of the Caribbean Integration Movement. He called on CARICOM leaders to re-examine how it implements decisions.

“If we’re going to get to where we would all like to get to, in terms of the regional construct in respect to the CSME are we prepared as I’ve placed on the table before, to divest some of our national authority because the challenge we have is not in decision making. The challenge we have is implementing those decisions and what legal mechanism we can put in place to address the issue of implementing decisions.”

The prime minister said he was at a loss as to why CARICOM Heads of State would be reluctant to implement decisions which they had all agreed to.

“So we like to make reference to the European Union but we are not prepared to go the extent that the European Union has gone in respect to its governance structure. So I believe in respect to Jamaica, I believe they have an issue. We come here; we take a decision. Then everyone of us for derogation on an item;we ask for exemptions. Now, if you start with the alphabet and everyone is asking for a letter to be removed, what do you have left?,” Skerrit pointed out.

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27 Comments

  1. December 8, 2018

    My advise to the other CARICOM Heads next time you guys meet with this Double (Dr) PhD who claims that he is smarter and more qualified than you all urge him to follow your examples and and implement Electoral Reform; Issue voter ID cards; Clean the voters list; stop prostituting Caribbean Community passports and stop the Deception Lies and Propaganda which has impoverished and brought Dominica and Dominicans to the bottom of the development list. Then and only then he will realize that he is the only one who has not implemented decisions that he has taken.

  2. Karl Orndem
    December 7, 2018

    like ratifying the same Treaty you signed Skerro? why do haitains and other non Dominicans of CARICOM status still work permits and in some cases visas? Why was Tommy Lee not allowed to enter the country as a skilled performance artist who was invited to come here and work? Nonsense you talking feller

  3. Anonymous
    December 7, 2018

    I note this is a file photo of mr. Skerrit. Was he really at the Caricom meeting in Trinidad when he said this? I mean, these days we don’t know where he is and having Austrie ambarrassing the nation with his crude, uneducated talk.

  4. Joseph John
    December 6, 2018

    Its amazing that members of CARICOM, the heads of government, the Secretariat did not refute Skerrit’s statement. (But as usual opposition forces are in denial of truth.) Is CARICOM silence means agreement ? Do they meet talk hold press conference then nothing . Are decisions executed promptly, if at all ? Can CARICOM be more pro-active. The matter raised by our PM should be discussed and examined by the Heads and recommendations
    made for considerations to improve the execution of decisions.
    The fact is that CARICOM a regional organization does not have sovereign authority over its members. It has not been given such authority in any form. It exist and operates through the will of its members and it does not have the power to force compliance like the UN, through sanctions and other means.
    So the PM is implying reforms in a reasonable manner. This is not a Skerrit thing. This is the biggest problem with most Reginal Organisations. So the PM is on the right tract, again.

    • REAL!!!!
      December 6, 2018

      @ Joseph John point well taken but Tell Skerrit Charity begins at home my brother!!!!

      • viewsexpressed
        December 7, 2018

        Joseph John…..my point for real. Skerrit has no morale authority to lecture CARICOM let alone Dominicans back hoe who has been living a dilapidated, corrupt, poor, badly governed Domininca. Skerrit has been distracted by nefarious bad bedfellows for the past 18 years and the things need putting together professionally to development our island has not happened. Skerrit has failed us and a he does now is to read from a script that I bed he has not well comprehend. This is a pappyshow, PM and a Pappyshow wicked Labour corrupt government. They must Go when next elections is called. They have failed us big time. Skerrit and his failed political clowns must Go and now. We have had enough of misery and suffering from this failed Pm and his failed Labour Government. Get Out

  5. Shaka Zulu
    December 6, 2018

    Simillarly, the constitution of Dominica provides guidelines on governance of Dominica it is the Law of the land. You dont get exemptions yet you skirt in the selection of Police commisioner house speaker and anything that requires the imput of the opposition. You disrespect your own people who dont support you and get involved i petty rum shop arguments. You sow division in Dominica. Your hipocraccy is amazing. The strength and unity in Caricom begings and depends on the strength of every building block cemented together. Under your leadership Dominica is a weathered block. You words and actions are enimies.

  6. Truth Be Told
    December 6, 2018

    Do you hear laughter Dominica? Do you hear laughter PM Skerrit?

  7. Zamm
    December 6, 2018

    Look who is trying to sort out caricom…. Don’t you think caricom is aware of what’s going on in Dominica… Go and sort out messy Dominica before you deal with Caricom…
    Like an international airport….. Making sense to you…..

  8. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    December 5, 2018

    “The prime minister said he was at a loss as to why CARICOM Heads of State would be reluctant to implement decisions which they had all agreed to. ”

    For the same reason Roosevelt, all of you are liars; you are the chief and king of all liars, you make premisses which you and never keep! That is the mentality of  you all. You are famous for lying and do not adhere to your very own words, and written promises. How can you suggest that others adhere to anything a bunch of crooks agreed upon? 

    How can they implement anything a liar like you are involved into?

  9. Empty Vessel
    December 5, 2018

    It is sad that CARICOM, CCJ, LIAT, West Indies Cricket and the present state of Dominica are all in the same predicament and PM Skerrit has a say and plays a role in everyone of them if not the one in charge. So Skerrit needs to shut up because his empty words are nothing more than putting water in a basket.

  10. REAL!!!
    December 5, 2018

    Is this GOVT not owing fees to UWI and CCJ that it did agreed to pay?

    These are CARICOM entities that are established and you are not pulling your weigh on providing payments.

    How then are you lecturing them about implementing things that was agreed upon.

    Is the PM out of his MIND?

    • Channel 1
      December 5, 2018

      @REAL – Skerrit is a classic example of someone who follows the “do as I say not as I do” mantra.

      Apparently, genuine electoral reform does not seem to be one of those measures Skerrit is too concerned about implementing in earnest in Dominica as part of the wider CARICOM plan for free & fair elections in its member states. Yet he is brazen enough to go and tell CARICOM leaders about governance structure & lack of implementation of policies…….yadda, yadda.

      If one is not too familiar with that man, one could be deceived into believing that his utterances, body language theatrics & facial antics are genuine.

  11. jaded
    December 5, 2018

    I doubt that regional integration will ever happen. We Caribbean people are too set in our ways. If, after all these years, most of Caricom still refuse to leave the Privy Council and accede to the CCJ then I sincerely doubt that they will divest their national authority. I applaud Skerritt for speaking truth to power but, realistically, it will not happen.

  12. December 5, 2018

    “If we’re going to get to where we would all like to get to, in terms of the regional construct ..”

    I hope that the word “construct” in this context, does not become a regular in our vocabulary, as the word “resilience” et all have done.

  13. Midnight Hour
    December 5, 2018

    That PM Skerrit is the worse thing that ever happened to Caricom and I can tell you many don’t trust Caricom because of the likes of Skerrit. He cannot unite his own country with 60,000 people, that he himself divided , how on Earth he can unite the Caribbean? This man is a threat to Caricom and therefore Caricom leaders should use their influence to help get rid of that dictator

  14. viewsexpressed
    December 5, 2018

    My dear Dominicans ,please read and comprehend this nonsense from this failed inept Skerrit. This man reminds me of Judas in the Bible where he abandoned Jesus and his holy words of corruption and human decency, well Skerrit is spewing words and acts that are foreign to his vocabulary and indecency in the politics of Domininca. Satan cannot forgive sins and deny the 18 years of Bobol. Go repent Satan, it is not too late, all we know is that you have failed us and you are not worth being Prime Minister of our Domininca that you have stained like Judas did. Go away Skerrit, get lost.
    “Prime Minister Skerrit has suggested that regional leaders must be prepared to divest some of their national authority in order to achieve the goals of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME).
    Well, Skerrit has been advised many times by us that it is time he goes and give up this false authority he has and poverty inflicted upon Dominicans. Skerrit your house is dirty, corrupted and you must Go…

  15. %
    December 5, 2018

    Before the total implementation of the CSME,Caricom leaders should have addressed free and Fair elections… You can’t have s deceptive hypocrite addressing heads of government of states which had free and Fair elections about unity,when at home, he wants to obliterate the opposition.In fact contrary to our constitutio, the hypocrite said that Dominica does not need an opposition…Your most famous legacy will be the harm you have done to this country: mendicancy syndrome, a frittering of money resources,destruction of all institutions,etc.Thank God you will soon be kicked out and discarded by the electorate ..Wicked Leader!!!
    Skerrit Must Go
    Skerrit Must Go
    LAZY Skerrit Must Go Now

  16. World's Moistest Jheri Curl
    December 5, 2018

    Now he’s lecturing others on how to govern?

  17. Anonymous
    December 5, 2018

    Set the example bro and start with the full integration of the OECS into CARICOM so we do not have these disadvantageous arrangements, which put money into certain people’s pockets at the expense.. Open up that market expense. I am talking about things like animal feed and flour for instance. We have no industry to protect here so let Dominica be the leader and open up the market. I, and many other Dominicans would applaud you for that.

  18. Channel 1
    December 5, 2018

    “…..divest some of their national authority….”

    That there is a potentially dangerous concept & ideology. This one of the reasons why the UK voted to exit the EU because many UK citizens felt they were losing sovereign control over their own decision making and determining what’s best for themselves to the EU.

    When a nation decides to divest its national authority, to whom should it divest such authority to? 8-O 8-O 8-O

    Which organisation (consisting of persons not elected by the citizenry) should usurp itself over the governing authority of a country to call the shots on key decisions for that country? 8-O 8-O 8-O

    • viewsexpressed
      December 7, 2018

      Channel 1, as far as I am concerned I believe that your analysis of the UK living the Europeans Union is false and with no justification or facts to prove this. The vote 40% – 51% was very slim and to me this is not a mandate. There were many fears and lies from the Exit campaigners and the UK people are divided wit the Scotland and Northern Ireland wish to remain in the EU. People like a man name Farage spoke alot of BS and yet he still sits in the EU. He has just resigned from is UKIP party after years of talking BS.
      The EU has not well exceeding many other organizations. So the UK and ts citizens are al over the place divided and in a slumber. Prime Minister May has done well so far under the circustances

      • viewsexpressed
        December 8, 2018

        Correction, reference line 2, it is not 40%, IT IS 48.5%.

  19. Tony Ass McIntyre
    December 5, 2018

    If CARICOM was serious todays meeting would have been about protecting our democracy and as such they would call on Roosevelt Skerrit to resign in order for Dominica to move forward. Since they are not able to do that, I view that CARICOM thing as a plot by the smarter leaders of Caribbean countries to use our PM as their yard boy, to bring Dominica flat down.

  20. Looking
    December 5, 2018

    One can’t just blame CARICOM or any other regional body and international partners. We too as a nation have to be blamed for not doing the necessary infrastructural and constitutional changes. Have we embraced cloud computing? Have we utilized resources donated to build back a more resilient IT infrastructure? Are our leaders capable of understanding what, where and when changes are to made to reflect international standards and best practices? Take a page from the book of the OECD and the European Union and how member states can be sanctioned for for not complying. Also are our nations contributing sufficiently to support the mandate of CARICOM? We are not serious, its only talk as each member state would not like a regional body regulating or sanctioning them and pulling the rug underneath their feet.

    • Joseph John
      December 6, 2018

      Looking I agree with your presentation, I would just add that our insular attributes need to be adjusted to be able to mesh as a single entity. It is not an easy task, just look at LAFTA, but it can be done along the lines of the European Union where there is even a single currency. Look at the difficulty we have with cooperation in the ECCM , although we share the same currency pegged to the US dollar managed by the our currency authority the ECCA.
      The PM of Dominica should continue this conversation and bring it to discussion for negotiation. Expert advisers from the UN and European should be consulted or recruited for this.
      One major problem may be the difference in economic development of the ECCM members and others like Trinidad, Barbados and Jamaica and political status of the others like Monserrat. I am not sure what the position of Haiti and our French neighbor islands is. This topic is as old as the W I . Federation and Heads of Government sinse in late 60’s.

      • viewsexpressed
        December 7, 2018

        Joseph, Skerrit does not have the fortitude nor the intellectual to do as ou are suggesting. I am wondering how much ha has really, comprehend and analyse before he came up with this, or is that the script was written to him. People please follow the trend of Skerrit over the past 18 years and look down at our Domininca and tell me what you see. Poverty, lack of any develoment, no new intitaive to upgrade Dominica. Absolutely nothing in development terms. Skerrit has failed us, he must go and soon to.

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