Dr. George Walker, a seasoned politician of the New Democratic Party (NDP) out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, recently weighed in on the constitutional matter unfolding in St. Kitts and Nevis where Leader of the Opposition, the Right Honourable Dr. Denzil Douglas, is found to have been issued and travelled on a diplomatic passport which lists his nationality as Dominican.
Delivering fraternal greetings at the People’s Labour Party’s (PLP) second annual National Convention on Saturday, March 24, 2018, Dr. Walker said he clearly recalls when Former Prime Minister, Dr. Douglas launched a campaign to have People’s Action Movement (PAM) candidates Shawn Richards and Lindsay Grant disqualified from participating in the General Elections because they held dual citizenship.
In his presentation on the National Assembly Elections Amendment Bill 2009 tabled in Parliament on July 03, 2009, Dr. Douglas passionately defended the Constitution where Members of Parliament (elected and appointed), who hold dual citizenship, are disqualified from representing the people in Parliament.
“They did what was honourable, what was right; they did not hide, go into the dark; they did not shift the goal post during the football match to please or to protect themselves; they did not use legalities to shift the goal post, again they did what was honourable,” Dr. Walker said of the decision by Minister Richards and Minister Grant to renounce their American citizenship.
Years later, Dr. Douglas has now found himself entangled in a situation where it has been found that he was issued a diplomatic passport of the Commonwealth of Dominica which lists his nationality as Dominican.
The Parliamentary Representative for St. Christopher Six admitted in a sworn affidavit filed in the High Court Registry on February 21, 2018, that he filled out an application form and was issued with a diplomatic passport of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which he has used to travel.
Dr. Walker said, “When the shoe is on the other foot and one finds him or herself in that position, you realize that we move the goal post again to suit ourselves, and then it begs the question, are you a statesman or a politician when called upon?”
He added, “With this entitlement syndrome…the line becomes blurred with regards to the statesman and the politician, and like a politician watching you when he is trapped with the evidence trying to talk himself out of it, trying to maneuver himself out if it, it tells you that unlike the Deputy Prime Minister Shawn Richards who is a statesman, who stood under the light—the politician on the other hand, because he or she has lost the capacity for shame, he is unable to determine wrong from right and he hides himself behind legalities.”
The Government has now challenged the Leader of the Opposition in court regarding his eligibility to serve as a Member of Parliament while being the holder of a diplomatic passport of the Commonwealth of Dominica, which identifies his nationality as Dominican.
Dr. Douglas is next expected to appear in court on this matter on April 20, 2018.
Are the churches listening ,or reading? I am very disappointed with god’s people Of whom I am a member right now, They allow themselves to be bought for 3 pieces of silver, Now they cannot speak, exodus 23=8 , Wake up god’s people, For compromising is Sin
Unless there is an investigation to prove there was no secret money involved in the Denzil Douglas /Skerrit passport deal, I will continue to believe that there was money involved. Unlike other times Skerrit has confessed to have facilitating Denzil Douglas with a diplomatic passport as a courtesy, according to him and Skerrit’is a witness in that case. In the US we are all following the Mueller investigation into the 2016 Russia involment in the US election and the possibility of Collusion. No doubt by Skerrit’s own admission, collusion is definitely involved. In the interest of all involved I can’t understand why the president, national security minister, police commissioner and the AG did not call for an investigation in this matter. I believe this issue is very serious because and the Dominicans should demand that Skerrit’ goes on vacation so we could have a thourogh investigation to let Skerrit know that he doesn’t own our laws and Constitution.
My little take
you are right about letting Skerrit know he doesn’t own our laws and constitution ,
but what you have failed to mention is , neither does he own the ”Government of Dominica Property” or ”THE PEOPLE OF DOMINICA”.He needs to understand we the people are the ones who actually own Dominica and he must respect that .
I listened to his speech to the people of the East and i couldn’t help but notice when he said ”those of us who live here”implying that he also lives in La Plaine or Grand Fond or even Tronto .Why is he always including him self as a member of certain Communities when he is not. He did the same thing on several of his visits to Soufrierre and Scott’s Head and i thought it was because he intended taking up residence up there , how wrong was i ein , that was only a by election gimmick. I not blind anymore.
Just imagine how many more people hold our paxsports and ars trVelling zll over the globe as Dominicans.
Hhhhhh&mmmmmmmmm,hhhhhhmmmmmmmm
Boy, skerrit has to pay eh for how he has destroyed the reputation oy Dominicz an d its peop,
One of this days, may be , perhaps, eventually, hopefully, will know how many passport have been sold. When you see the amount of money generated with the CBi program we can already guess that we are not talking about a dozen of then but more like ..thousand of them. Now imagine that 20000 have been sold to Chinese people. ( Please don’t misunderstand me, I have nothing personally against the Chinese) Knowing the expensitonist policy of China, imagine that they decide to send them all to D/a. No one can t stop them , right? Imagine that as Dominican , they decide to have their own political party……and all of them are of course eligible voters….!! What will happen?? Just imagine……..
This CbI program was supposed to create ” the cherry at the top of the cake” today it has become the dough! And that is very dangerous. very! We should really analize what taking place in our country and especially on our back.
Did anyone stop to wonder why Dr. Douglas was given an Diplomatic Passport? These scoundrels of the Caribbean need to be put in the right place.
They are pirates too lol. We Have The Pirate Hook right here on island as Angelo would say. Talking bout Pirates of Land not Sea hahahahahha( a whole other story) where is he?
What I don’t understand about that whole diplomatic passport saga is, right now we have no doubt that Denzil Douglas is not a Dominican, yet he has a diplomatic passport from Dominica that has him as a citizen of Dominica. Right there it smells like something corrupt. But to make matters worse, the prime Minister of Dominica has admitted to being a witness of what smells very corrupt. Now as a witness, Pm Skerrit said in his written testimony that he gave it to Denzil Douglas as a courtesy. So now not only has he been part of it but he has confessed to facilitating a crime. In America they call this COLLUSION and unlike Trump, PM agreed to collusion. What I don’t understand though is why did the police or national security, or even the parliament investigate this matter to ensure that some secret money was involved? WHY? Why is the pm not sent on vacation so the matter could be thouroghly investigated. Right now as it stands I, believe money was involved and only an investigation…
It is high time that we take Skerrit to court, not only for this but other ‘issues’ as well.
Of all the Scandals revolving around Diplomatic passports in the last 15 years in Dominica, there is one common denominator. Dominicans are deluding themselves if they beleive Skerrit have Dominica’s best interest at heart.
On the other hand this situation really bares the tainted soul of the typical caribbean Poitician, reminiscent to the reports of corrupt practices among the Politicians in the Motherland,, the likes of Mugabe.. Apparently Black people have a hard time being honest in public office, this really undescores the need for strengthened institutional frameworks to guard against inidividual interests and shortsightedness in public office.
What they fail to realize is that this tangled web they weave keeps the countries backward and cripples progress for future generations. But, We the People need to be enlightened and be totally intolerant of these types of behaviours from the people we entrust with the future of our countries and generations to come.
We need more selfless people in roles of leadership
Don’t expect Dr. Douglas to do the honorable thing by returning the diplomatic passport as he’s a dishonorable being. This man is too proud to be in line with commoners. Mr. Skerrit should be excoriated for facilitating Dr. Douglas with this national instrument. Dominica was such a tranquil and unassuming place. Now her name is synonymous with scandals and infamy. Almost everyday is a new transgression: CBI impropriety, export to endemic birds, shady business with ship flying Dominica’s flag, unpaid debts, and the list goes on. This is a wake-up call for all right thinking Dominicans to rid the country of this Kakistocracy at the next polls.
The proverb is so right that ‘ birds of a feather flock together’. Denzil Douglas are two of the same in just about everything and no wonder, it was Skerrit that facilitated him with our passport and that same Skerrit, who was not allowed to talk about his french passport somehow is a witness in the Denzil Douglas case. Denzil Douglas should resign and Roosevelt Skerrit should be fired by all means possible! Ispeak as a labourite but like labor queen, we are fedup with Skerrit and it’s time for the man to go. He is destroying Dominica and I can’t put party before Dominica. Dominica First my friends
What is the country coming to , all kind of nationality have dominica passport ,smh no value for the country .. It seems like all dominica p’s has been sold … { people vote labour and still crying so i want to see what next election will bring }
Dominica is a free port and that’s a shame … I tired see the country name in bad news
The behavior of Denzil is that of Labour Party operatives across the subregion which is “do as I say, not as I do because I’m entitled” Shame on these little guys in big men’s clothing.If he is telling a lie to the court and he’s found out, I hope he ends up in jail too
All I will say is CROOKS!!!!!!
We have ONLY CROOKS IN governance in Dominica.
The easiest place to get a passport is Dominica just a set of crooks in the country all they looking for is there pockets and not the interest of the people of Dominica Chinese have Dominica passport they can’t speak English now it’s so hard for Dominicans to go to Canada
What the Dominican public needs to know is on what grounds was he issued a diplomatic passport. I remember when Michele Henderson was named a Good-will ambassador it was publicized. Naturally we assumed she holds a diplomatic passport. Here we have it a foreigner was issued a diplomatic and the public cannot be informed as to the reasoning…for what purpose? On what grounds? So these days all dog and cat can get diplomatic passport? Well I coming for mine!
They call themselves ‘Honourable’ but they are the opposite. Just common thieves that’s what they are.