President of The Dominica Business Forum (DBF) Inc. , Severin McKenzie, is appealing to Dominicans to participate in the electoral reform exercise which being is undertaken in Dominica by eminent Caribbean jurist, Sir Dennis Byron.
The DBF is tomorrow, Thursday June 17th 2021, holding a consultation with Sir Dennis as part of the exercise and many people have indicated that they will not be participating because of their opposition to the manner in which Sir Dennis was selected and also because they contend that there have been enough studies done and recommendations made on what is required to effect meaningful electoral reform in Dominica.
In response, Mckenzie defended the Jurist stating that accusations cannot be made at this early stage when Sir Dennis has not yet even begun his job.
He explained there are five ways in which someone can be chosen for the electoral legislation review being undertaken by Sir Dennis – through the President of Dominica, The Electoral Commission, Parliament, the government and a people’s movement.
“To get a proper legislation done the work has to go in to prepare it. Prepare the legislation; prepare the draft with all the recommendations that we are making and submitted it so that the population can review it before it goes to parliament,” Severin stated. “The prime minister has taken up the authority and appointed Sir Byron to do it. From an ethical point of view, the prime minister and the government is a beneficiary to the whole process. It would have been better if it was left to the electoral commission or parliament.”
However, he said as far as the DBF is concerned, they have not been informed of any breach of law by the authority of the government in appointing an expert jurist.
“The DBF is appealing to all those who are bashing Mr. Byron to “let good sense prevail,” McKenzie stated, adding that the citizens of Dominica have a responsibility to let Byron know what they expect in his report and the recommendations that he will be making to the authorities.
“If he does not reflect our concerns then maybe we will be justified to condemn him,” he reasoned.
Meanwhile the DBF official has has warned all the organizations that will be taking part in Thursday’s electoral reform consultation to be respectful and well mannered.
The consultation will include participants from private sector and civil society organizations and will be streamed live on several media platforms and hosted virtually.
McKenzie said during an interview with Dominica News Online (DNO) that no political party will be attending the event and persons who attempt to throw insults or bring up any political statements will not be tolerated and will removed from the meeting.
“[All] we ask from them is to keep the contributions respectful. We are not going to allow any political party to contribute … we are not going to turn it into any type of tribal war of political parties trying to score points,” he declared. “We are not going to allow anybody to come in and send any personal insults at Sir Byron. We want the consultation to remain as respectful a possible where we can actually look at the existing electoral laws, identify what we are not satisfied with and make concrete recommendations for the enhancement of the legislation.”
McKenzie said the DBF understands that it is a political event but insists that since it is dealing with the whole political health of the nation, the meeting “will not be turned into party politics.”
He pointed out that even at this stage, private sector and civil society organizations that did not receive an invitation, can still make a presentation. He urged them to take advantage of the opportunity and send an email to [email protected] to register and make a reservation.
McKenzie continued, “We are also asking that the presentations should not be more than five minutes. We do not want any long lectures. What we’re looking for is to the point; what are your observations and the deficiencies of the existing legislation and what are your recommendations for the new one.”
The DBF president said that among the recommendations expected to be made at the consultation is that electoral reform should not be limited to just voter ID cards and cleansing of the list. It is also being proposed that the reform should also deal with campaign financing and the crossing of the floor by parliamentarians.
Remarks will be given by a representative of DBF, a representative of the electoral commission and Sir Dennis. The second segment will be allotted to the audience and in the last part of the meeting, Sir Dennis will give a summary and report.
“We hope that recommendations will be considered and reflected in the final report that Sir Byron presents to the authorities,” McKenzie said.
Sir Dennis Byron issued a press release earlier this week in which he stated that the greater the participation from organizations and the public, the better the opportunity for achieving electoral reform in the Commonwealth of Dominica.
The consultation is scheduled to take place at Conference Room of the Dominica Public Service Union (DPSU) in Roseau from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm.
We have a constitution, which prevents the government or anybody else, up to the President, from meddling in our electoral process. That same ground law also says that in case of doubt or dispute the constitution shall prevail. Roosevelt, put that in your pipe and smoke it. You are not above the constitution, no Dominican citizen is.
I feel sooooo, soooooooo strongly against Mr. Dennis Byron presence in Dominica at this time in dealing with something he has zero experience with.
Again, I repeat ad nauseam. The Commonwealth Secretariat, the OAS and CARICOM sent a joint mission to Dominica at the request of Mr. Skerrit. They even sent their most experienced, most qualified and their very best experts . ALAS! Mr. Skerrit stubbornly and puzzlingly but not surprisingly refused to implement a single one of the recommended reforms.
Mr. Skerrit is not a man of scruples, righteousness nor truth. He is one who has handcuffed himself and married to dishonesty, falsehoods, immorality and depravity.
Anyone who aligns himself or herself with this man suffers permanent reputational damage.
MALAPROP France, Can’t you write a comment without mentioning Skerrit’s name in your filthy mouth?
Are you suffering from SKERRITISIS.? It don’t seem that the medication, 18 for you to take 3 times a day, is doing you MALAPROP France well. Maybe you need a high dose to keep you quiet. 21 to take at one time with no refill.
Besides well needed electoral reforms, Dominica needs constitutional reforms even more after forty three (43) years of political independence. The present constitution is not set in stone. As it is presently, the constitution gives the Prime Minister (anyone who sits in that position, it could be Mr. Linton) much too much power.
The framers of the constitution did not envisage such a dishonest, congenital LIAR as Mr. Skerrit to sit in the seat of the prime minister. They expected their prime ministers to be honest, virtuous and men/women of steel-like integrity.
Dominicans should agitate for constitutional reforms today also. These reforms would restrict the awesome powers of any future prime minister to have a controlling influence over every crucial public decision.
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS NOW not a minute later.
It was a local pastor that once said “zore twow sort”. He is right because we too damn sort in this country. In Dominica. We have 3 matterss dealing with: 1. the Mehun Choksi abduction case which is of national, regional and international interest 2. The International Airport 3. The DBF and Sir Dennis Byron meeting. The last two don’t seem to matter to the majority of Dominicans since Skerrit has a 18/3 majority in parliament, a Police department and judiciary that is pro Skerrit, a President and cabinet that is very corrupt and will help Serrit confirm that NO law no constitution can stop him from doing what he wants. Meanwhile the Mehun Chocksi matter is of world interest and this one has Skerrit under SERIOUS pressure to the point that that Skerrit is sweating even under AC. I cannot understand why Luftus Durand would devote Wednesday and Thursday to talk about Dennis Byron and not about the Skerrit, Brown, Choksi case that has Skerrit almot in hiding. Boy I turn off Q95 wii
I will repeat for the umpteenth time because I’m so convinced of it. This exercise by Mr. Dennis Byron is a complete waste of $450 000 that could have gone to a stimulus package to help the most vulnerable in the country. Many of these people have to beg, prostitute themselves or go hungry.
That fact is this. Mr. Byron cannot offer any better recommendations than those of the highly experienced experts in this field sent by the OAS, Commonwealth and CARICOM. Mr. Byron has NEVER NEVER done this before. The man is a novice on reforming electoral systems.
Remember this my people. This man was handpicked by ‘Doctor’ Skerrit who is not known for honesty nor veracity. Anything this rogue does is painstakingly calculated for political advantageousness. Boycott, ignore, shun Mr. Byron for nothing worthy would come from this deception.
Severin, alas!, you are sounding as if you are a stranger to events which have occurred in Dominca. You sound very naive to expect a clean process from the conniving ruling cabal who engaged this man to help them in their continued efforts to stay in power almost forever. I know you have a lot, especially your reputation riding on the process and conduct of this consultation. However, to not want politics involved is not good. In light of the past behavior of Skerritt, like him deciding to take hold of the millions that Chavez had given to the Caribs or his defanging of the IPO committee must be brought to the attention of Dennis so he can be guided in the crafting of his final report. You are selling the process and the people short by your too narrow focus on a clean process. Giving birth is not a clean process but in the end we are happy when the baby is born. Dennis must hear how unhappy people are and that will help guide him in his final product.