UWP accuses gov’t of skirting corruption issues

John and Lugay at Tuesday's press conference
John and Lugay at Tuesday’s press conference

“The Skerrit-led government is uncomfortable about participating in Caribbean and International forums dealing with the burning problems of corruption in government.”

This is an accusation being laid against the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) government by the opposition United Workers Party (UWP).

At a press conference on Tuesday, opposition leader, Hector John and senator Danny Lugay, said the government’s failure to send a representative to  the Global Organisation of Parliamentarians against Corruption (GOPAC) summit in Trinidad, is a clear indication that it is skirting around issues of corruption.

The summit is to be held on December 5 to 6.

“Government’s failure to send a representative to the GOPAC Meeting sends a telling signal from Dominica and is something that the opposition and all Dominicans must be concerned about,” Lugay said.

They said Dominica’s non representation was announced by Speaker of the House of Assembly, Alix Boyd-Knights, who, Lugay said, has been frustrating plans to attend the conference.

According to Lugay, on October 14th, 2013, the leader of the opposition received correspondence from the secretary of GOPAC addressed to the Clerk of the Parliament of Dominica.

The letter stated,“On behalf of the GOPAC Executive Committee, I wish to invite, through you, the Hon. Speaker and Hon. Leader of the Opposition of Dominica to recommend nominee(s) to attend the first meeting of GOPAC to be held within the Caribbean region on December 5th in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament.”

He pointed out that three members of the opposition were nominated to attend and their names were forwarded to the Clerk of the House. He said the clerk was also contacted via telephone on several occasions to inquire about Dominica’s participation.

Lugay went on to say that John received a phone call from the Clerk on November 20th informing him of the Speaker’s decision that Dominica would not be attending because  “the Speaker did not have time to inform the Prime Minister of the meeting  …..also if the Parliamentary Opposition would like to attend they will have to meet their expenses.”

Lugay said John requested a response in writing from the Spaeaker, however, none was forthcoming.

“The UWP sees this meeting as being very important as we continue calls for transparent, accountable and open governance of our country,” Lugay noted. “This will be an excellent platform to speak openly and boldly to our regional colleagues about all the issues of corruption in Dominica. We will also listen and learn from them on how we can effectively address this grave issue as a region.”

Opposition leader Hector John described the Speaker’s actions as deliberate.

“We see the Speaker as a facilitator to ensure that members of Parliament are given the opportunity to represent their country at any forum and this deliberate attempt by the Speaker is uncalled for and should not be accepted,” he said. “The correspondence from GOPAC made it very clear that the speaker and the leader of the opposition should come together to submit nominees.”

John added that this is not the first time that the Government of Dominica deliberately refused to attend meetings of that nature.

“We see it as a pattern. Recently there was a conference in Barbados on strengthening political parties and campaign financing reform in the region and Mr James represented the United Workers Party. Correspondence was sent to the government and no one represented them,” he said.

He indicated that the Opposition will be raising various issues of corruption at the meeting.

“We will be going to Trinidad and raising every issue of corruption from the Bin Bobol,  to the Villas, electoral reform, even the role of the Speaker in blocking and preventing us from getting information out, for example, the questions that we ask in Parliament. Also the pace at which we get our audit reports,” he stated.

DNO’s attempts to contact with Boyd-Knights on the matter on Tuesday were unsuccessful.

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28 Comments

  1. Barbara Saunders
    December 8, 2014

    DNO

    Is there a problem with the news caption of the story? It speaks about a poll predicting a UWP win. When the caption is clicked, it talks about the meeting in Trinidad. Don’t follow!

  2. bjr
    December 4, 2013

    Lugay went on to say that John received a phone call from the Clerk on November 20th informing him of the Speaker’s decision

    Lugay said John requested a response in writing from the Spaeaker, however, none was forthcoming

    I mean come on hector, stop acting like a little boy, you must understand that “word is sound is power”. and I bet if she had wrote you, then you woulda turn round and say, “she never told me”

  3. Gary
    December 4, 2013

    There is something called meaningless barking of which Politicians are known for, as in the case of the UWP. It shivers me when I hear spokesmen from Political Opposition Parties,Politicians or Leaders talking about transparency,accountability and open governance.It is said that truth is very hard to conceive. There is No Government on this Planet Earth that is open, transparent and accountable to it’s people.Why do we prescribe to such nonsense.

    Why does the UWP adhere to or believe that an NGO made up of ex Politicians, Bureaucrats, and Parliamentarians gathering at an International forum can change the way Governments operate regarding transparency and accountability to it’s people.The statement by Senator Lugay quote “This will be an excellent platform to speak openly and boldly to our regional colleagues about all the issues of corruption in Dominica” what naive statement and why would The Government send a delegation at it’s expense to a forum where by that delegation is going to accuse it of corruption.,and why would The Government want to represent it self at such forum.The UWP always bewilders me with it’s nonsensical behavior and never learning from it.

  4. help
    December 4, 2013

    Da people love evil , what are shame. That’s why it is so backward, everything’s is upside down . They hate truth and like darkness ..

    • Gary
      December 4, 2013

      Why are you so arrogant and foolish in making such a general statement referring to your fellow men. Before you make a statement like this about Dominican people,Why not get all your facts to support what you believe to be true before you make such judgment, because in the end it only shows how ignorant and ill informed you are.

  5. SiangUK
    December 4, 2013

    Interesting.

    knowing you have to pay your expense to attend.

    UWP decide to blame Government.

    Rather then note the improvement in Dominica’s ranking (58 to 41).

    UWP decides to blame Government.

    Interesting.

    • Friend
      December 4, 2013

      Read with understanding my dear – not from 58 to 41. we are still at 41 which is what we ranked last year.

      0 is the most corrupt – the closer you are to zero the more corrupt the country is … Given that Dominica is a democratic and small country – we should be in the 90’s! Not all the way down in the 40’s.

      According to the report, released on Tuesday, Dominica is ranked 41 in the world, with an index score of 58, retaining the same ranking and score of 2012

  6. geeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
    December 3, 2013

    all i can say is i am very sorry for some of u ,putting party befor country sorry sorry for some of u

  7. Fada et Papa
    December 3, 2013

    Hope there will be a psychologist at the corruption forum. Like fada like son? Find out whether the high level corruption can be inherited by the son. There is a double jeapordy there. We need to save Dominica.

  8. 4CARS
    December 3, 2013

    T&T had a big mirror showing all the corrupt people. So the guilty ones stayed away.

  9. December 3, 2013

    skiro dominica is to u let the people go :oops: :cry:

  10. FAST N FURIOUS
    December 3, 2013

    Spraggs and Lugay,Tout sot mor..All you choose to go in Parliament in T&T but all you refuse to to go to Parliament here!Well pay all you money and go.No free ride.UWP can boycot Parliament here so why can’t the Government boycot Parliament in T&T.?

    • Looking in
      December 3, 2013

      eh las…with people like you,,,Dominique fini bat

    • bjr
      December 4, 2013

      they want to go to parliarment university to get their Phd, so then they will be able to take part in parliament here

  11. No corruption
    December 3, 2013

    Why fight against Corruption, Dominicans brothers and sisters?

    Corruption is more than simply a wrong behavior. Corruption, while benefiting a few individuals is costly to society, the private sector and Govt in the long run.

    Corruption must be rooted out because it:

    1. Misallocates resources
    2. Lowers investment levels
    3. Lowers public revenue for essential goods and
    services.
    4. Increases public spending
    5. Lowers productivity and discourages innova-
    tion.
    6. Increases costs of doing business.
    7. Lowers growth levels
    8. Increases poverty and inequality.
    9. Undermines the rule of Law.
    10. Hinders democratic reforms.
    11. increases political instability.
    12. contributes to high crime rates.

    No surprise. No DLP Govt. attendance. Fear that the T&T forum would know, be privy to first-hand info of the extent of corruption in Dominica. They ‘fraid real Bad.

    Let the world know of the DLP Govt. refusal/stubbornness to carry out necessary reforms to the electoral process. Already they have forced the “independent” Electoral Commission to produce NID cards, instead of VID cards. The Commission specified funds for VID cards and to clean up the dirty Voters List. Elections that are not Free and Fair breeds more and more Corruption.

    Patriots continue to fight against that beast, Corruption, in our beloved Land, for the sake of yourselves and your children and children’s children. Tomorrow will be too late.

    • December 3, 2013

      In response to Mr or Ms No corruption, I fully agree with the 12 bullet points you have highlighted.

      However the fact remains while opposition parties in Dominica are screaming about corruptive practices, these so called corruptive practices are still going on, and will continue to go on if or when any other party is voted into government.

      I live in a country (England) where if a corrupt politician, civil servant, or anyone is caught indulging in corrupt or illegal practices; the full weight of the law will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

      If it is proven and you are found guilty, you will be condemned, publicly humiliated via the media, and you are thrown in jail for many years.You can then wave goodbye to a career that is destroyed for ever.

      That is called “being held to account for your actions”.

      How many of these politicians over the years in Dominica who has been accused of corruption or inappropriate behaviour in public office has been brought to book and held to account for their actions? I am not aware of none.

      It is not just the politicians who are corrupt. The entire system is corrupt. People in high positions are systematically colluding together to ensure that the wrongdoers get away from being sanctioned, prosecuted or to escape punishment.

      So you lot in CORRUPTIONICA can scream out loud about corruption until you turn blue, but until the system start to hold people to account for their actions, nothing will change.

      I’m afraid until these malpractices are nipped in the bud, then the beast will not be tamed.

  12. change
    December 3, 2013

    you all should pay your way to go!

  13. blue blue
    December 3, 2013

    They do not want to attend parliament here but they want to go to Trinidad to dirty people name. Go Spaggs at your own expense

    • 4CARS
      December 3, 2013

      @ blue blue. People’s names are already dirty.

  14. Ben Haynes PsyD
    December 3, 2013

    Something is either missing here, or perhaps it is not the intentions of government seeing their own faults. Well, corruption destroys trust and it is up to government to prove that it is not part of the government of D/ca’s behavior.

  15. December 3, 2013

    Is that all these politicians in Dominica can talk about? Corruption, corruption and more corruption.

    Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

    Dominica should be renamed “CORRUPTIONICA” to avoid the constant worldwide confusion and mix-up with the Dominican Republic.

    Because all you ever hear or read about coming from Dominica is yes you guessed it right again: CORRUPTION.

    The nature of the beast is whoever is in government will always be accused of corruptive practices. You just can’t get away from that.

    These politicians wake up every day thinking of ridiculous stories to bring up, just to keep themselves in the limelight and to give the masses the impression that they are doing something positive for the country

    But I’m afraid these are all diversion tactics to divert attention away from their own political shortcomings.

    If these so called small minded politicians have any meaningful ideas for the betterment of Dominica, they would not be going on constantly about corruption.

    They love throwing dirt in other people’s direction;(metaphorically)but when that same dirt is picked up and thrown back at them, they don’t like it one bit.

  16. %
    December 3, 2013

    They can do so now,DODGE AS YOU ALL WISH NOW, but it’s a matter of time! One day questions will be asked of them man, and they will have no choice but to answer.
    HOW LONG?
    NOT LONG!

  17. Nodegree
    December 3, 2013

    No wonder they continue to get richer they and their cabal whilst we the honest harworking people continue to suffer. Dear Mr.PM the walls of JERRICO are tumbling down and NOTHING formed against GOD’s children shall prosper.God has heard the cry of his people and Oh Dominica the land of beauty we shall soon be delivered. I keep on praying and praying. Good over evil all day everyday. Enough is enough! Ready to vote you out!

  18. coolcat
    December 3, 2013

    Dominica never had a government as corrupt as we do now

  19. AA
    December 3, 2013

    I want to travel, travel, but not on my money :mrgreen:

    Them man trying a Doggi technique on the Speaker – they want expensive breakfast in bed, pocket money, and to bring gifts for girlfriends duty free. wosh

    • hmmmm
      December 3, 2013

      You are a J…. Didn’t you read the rest that said they were going which means at their own expense. The main idea of the complaint is not that the Government is not paying but that they are not interested in attending or encouraging others to attend such a forum because of their alleged corrupt nature.

    • December 3, 2013

      Shame on you whoever you are. That is why Dominica is not better when we have some people with such mentality. We all pay tax and tax payers money is not for one set.

    • Possi
      December 3, 2013

      AA wat a Doggi thing to say u talk like u have no brains.

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