I refer here to your recent story dubbed “Senior Counsel goes after Edison James” which was subsequent to Mr. James calling on government to seek the help of Scotland Yard in an independent investigation into the dreadful firebombing of the home of Glenworth O.N Emmanuel. It was further suggested by Mr. James that Mr. Astaphan should be questioned since he admitted on live radio that he had seen and spoken to persons in the vicinity of the fire shortly after the act took place.
The question lingering on my mind is, why would these comments anger the Senior Counsel to that extent? It was him, not Edison James who made those comments on air. It was also him, not Edison James who said in a press conference shortly after the firebombing that he and his client are willing to cooperate with the investigations and are available to take questions anytime, anywhere.
Therefore, if Scotland Yard were to conduct an investigation, isn’t it obvious that there would be a great need to question Mr. Astaphan based on his own admissions? These are simple, basic questions that any right thinking Dominican should ask themselves irrespective of which party they support. Clearly, Mr. Astaphan has not addressed the issue at hand, but instead went into “Roseau-Market Mode” with his usual impulsive and uncontrollable outbursts that we usually hear on the “Next Level” program on Kairi FM.
I will now go further to dissect some of the amazingly hypocritical statements made by this man in an attempt at getting the readers on DNO to think critically.
Moral Authority – According to Mr. Astaphan, the call by Mr. James should be ignored because he does not have the moral authority to speak on any issue. If my memory serves me right, there isn’t anything that Mr. James has either informed or warned Dominicans about that did not come to pass. The actions, in-actions, reactions and activities on this administration over the past few years continue to vindicate Mr. Edison James.
I do not have to go into detail, the stubborn facts are well known. Moreover, Mr. James has remained in Marigot since January 31st, 2000 awaiting his summons to answer to the corruption charges which according to Mr. Astaphan, were to be presented in detail within 6 weeks after the 2000 General Elections. Approximately 620 weeks have passed and the world awaits this report promised by Mr. Astaphan who assured the voting population in 2000, that he had irrefutable evidence of corruption within the UWP administration during their 1995-1999 term in office. While the world continues await Mr. Astphan’s report, we have seen the appointment of Honorable Julius Timothy as a minister in the cabinet of the Dominica Labour Party, a man whose name was in the front and centre of allegations leveled against the United Workers Party. Nonetheless, the world patiently awaits that report.
Leadership of the UWP – According to Mr. Astaphan, one of the best things that could happen to the Dominica Labour Party now is that James would be elected Political Leader of the UWP. What a laughable and clever attempt at reverse psychology on the part of the Senior Counsel. Mr. Astaphan knows fully well that this is not what the DLP wants at this point in time. Believe it or not, Mr. Edison Chenfil James is feared by the Labour Party camp. They love the idea of Hector John being Opposition Leader in Parliament so that they can continue to ridicule his short-comings while they continue to glorify their “God”, Roosevelt M. Skerrit. These men continue to hit on Mr. James who stepped down from both party and parliament leadership after the 2005 General Elections, simple because they desperately need to discredit their most feared political opponent in the most dishonest and manipulative manner possible. Mark my words, if Mr. James is ever returned to the helm of the UWP, the “Next Level” program will run all week long ; in the morning, noon and night. The political climate in Dominica is slowly changing once again and we may live to witness a lot of interesting things.
Attempt at Corruption – Mr. Editor, did I read right? Was this really Anthony Astaphan speaking? So we have moved from irrefutable evidence of corruption in public office by the UWP, to the charge in the book of the Senior Counsel now being reduced to an “attempt” at corruption? I cannot help but wonder what goes through the minds of the thousands of innocent Dominicans who went out, rallying with these men in their mission to “keep the corrupt UWP out of office”. The appointment of Julius Timothy should have given them a lot to think about, and now this new twist from Mr. Astaphan to me is the icing on the cake. The motto of the 2000 General Election was “Ignore Performance, Vote out Corruption”. We are now learning that Dominica had a good government and was manipulated into voting them out on false allegations. Unfortunately, a few members and supporters of the Dominica Labour Party still have repeated and will continue to have the unmitigated full to repeat these baseless and unfounded allegations in their political arguments.
Dominica’s Bankruptcy in 2002 – This last statement by this Senior Counsel has led me to believe that there may be a great need for him to seek psychiatric evaluation. The United Workers Party was in office from 1995-1999. The Dominica Labour Party took over in January of 2000. After almost 3 years of governance by the DLP, the UWP was and is still being blamed by Mr. Astaphan for country’s then “bankruptcy”. Moreover, the former UWP minister who was accused of performing “voodoo economics” in Dominica was appointed by the DLP in 2007 to the ministry of ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT and Urban Renewal. Yet still, Mr. Astaphan is relentlessly repeating statements which I am 100% sure his colleague and comrade in Labour totally disagrees with. I sometimes wonder how Mr. Timothy feels, having to seat and listen to Mr. Astaphan.
In closing, as we continue to pray for the innocent juvenile supporters of this administration, I truly hope that for the sake of the future of this country that enough grown people open up their eyes to the harsh realities!
Opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Dominica News Online.
I noticed the absence of some regular bloggers from this thread. I not calling name maybe they finally found a job or are busy at work. lol
Good piece.
What this article is basically implying is that the nation is in the political state it is today because in 2000, “Dominica had a good government and was manipulated into voting them out on false allegations.” Wow!
If this is true, then in Dominica anyone can destroy anyone else by saying anything they wish without providing any evidence because Dominicans will believe anything they hear.
If this is true, then Dominicans cannot think for themselves and are easily manipulated.
Oh dear!
THE NEXT LEVEL HAS BEEN RUNNING FOR QUITE A LONG TIME NOW,HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU HEARD TIM TIM VOICE ON THAT SHOW.BETTER YET HAVE YOU EVER HEARD TONY MENTION THE NAME TIMOTHY AT ANY TIME WETHER HE IS TALKING ABOUT UWP,PAPPY OR THE LABOR PARTY.
thank you sir for such a good piece i thought i would ignore tony piece of crap that he wrote to insult Mr James but you its a very analytical piece
Interesting, interesting, interesting….
Well, I was about to say I don’t know, but I will say that it is a proven fact that persons right now are willing to trade anything for a dollar….
It’s okay to steal, cheat and lie, it is okay to put your reputation on the line to get 50 cents more to add to your tens of millions of dollars….greed…greed…greed…when will it stop?
What a wonderful piece….WOW!
Tony is not an elected minister, yet he speaks for government, as though he is prime minister
Edison is elected yet he must not speak for UWP
what a crap,
Dominicans patriots,(and i know that we still have many),should be determined to see the end to this GON Emmanuel attempted murder by means of an independent investigation at all cost…iT IS ONE OF THE NEFARIOUS ACTS, that needs to be brought to closure.
MR MORRISON,
THE TIME WHICH IT TOOK YOU TO COMPOSE THIS ARTICLE,YOU SHOULD HAVE USED IT EDUCATING YOURSELF TOWARDS TRYING TO BRING PEACE AND UNITY IN DOMINICA AND IT’S PEOPLE. FOR YOU AND OTHER POLLUTED CORRUPTED PEOPLE AS YOURSELF ARE THE POISON OF THE EARTH WHO DESTROYS THE ATTEMPTED GOOD WILLS OF DOMINICA. WHY DON’T YOU WRITE SOMETHING POSITIVE THAT WILL IN TURN BRING PEACE BETWEEN THE TWO BRANCHES OF GOVT. FOR AS WE ALL CAN SEE IT’S THE UWP WHO IMPEDES THE PERFORMANCES TO BETTER THE ISLAND.
Stand infront the mirror and read what you posted there. If you don’t laugh at yourself, I giving your 5 grand cash!
i more think your real name should have been devoted dummy in a can!
Thou fool. There can be no unity or peace without justice, fairplay, rule of law.
I’d be interested to know how you are devoted to Dominica. You think blindly supporting a government make you devoted?
I guess lemmings are also devoted.
Jude Nicholas & Soul Queen, can you point out the biasness in the piece above? I don’t know that being bias is necessarily a bad thing, but if in you small mind it is, please show as what the writer said which is not the truth.
This is like the pot calling the kettle black. You are equally hypocrite. This could have been a well written piece were it not for your biasness. Are there any honest non political persons left in Dominica???
The job is yours to show the writer where the biasness is. You must be calling the person bias because of your political view. It’s obvious the writer has his own political preference, but…can you honestly disagree with majority of what he wrote?? that’s the question you should be asking yourself
No more souls for u queen
I often wonder!Despite being anti-UWP,DLP,DFP and all these AH(s) Morrison’s article is well written even to the point of being scholartic.The problem is guys like you and all those PS’s the plastic surgery transformed DFP-ites turn UWP after gripes of the 80’s with Eugenia.I agree with Morrison analysis but Eddie, Eddie is now like Charles Saverin, Charles Maynard and Zeplin out of sink and just waiting to die.Niether the current regime( like Italy’s latest P.M) are soon to be history.Wish I had my way with these idiots.
The people who can make a difference in DA’s slide down the abyss obey :”Silence is golden”.They justify it by their children at colege and mansion loans can’t afford to lose their jobs.
like i have said many times b4… there have been no proof of corruption by the u.w.p… onl y two administrations have been involved in corrupt practices…. . the latter seems to get there name involved in questionable practices like they keep inventing new ones…. it’s a shame how dominicans defend corruption… it’s a shame bcuz u eating from a ‘criminal’ u gonna defend all the ‘ills’…. it’s a shame that most of our voting public don’t have a backbone to do what’s right… it’s a shame that these people are the ones influencing their children to support corruption at all costs… it’s a shame that mr skerrit has to be the leader at all costs until the good Lord calls him to ‘his’ home… because u may agree or not but skerrit can’t afford to lose any election… this guy will try to hold power for the rest of his life… cause he knows if the day comes when he has to relinquish his power then life won’t be sugar sweet… and while dominicans who support corrupt practices want to crucify mr fontaine… here’s what i came across h
wow admin or whoever responsible at the time for screening posts…. now tell us how would posting the link be against the policy.. indeed it’s not dominicanewsonline.com carrying the story… it’s similar to copying and pasting a link from cnn or fox…. how would you all be taken to court when again it’s not posted by d.n.o but infact it’s a link to a news site…. i think we the people have a right to know….
This is a most biased piece of gabbage which should be ignored and thrown on the gabbage bin
jude hush damn moo-moo
What u saying there nuh cabbage or do u mean “garbage”??? I wonder how u read the ballot paper…. No wonder u find the article is “gabbage”..LOL smh
@ Jude Nicholas.. Your mind is filled with garbage,so it’s no wonder,that the truth appears to you as if it’s garbage.
You feeding in the trough too.. well make sure u eat plenty becuase london bridge is coming down..
people just read the like and dislike .
Then the UWP, motto must be root out corruption, Dominica for all the people.
People of Dominica bondieu here is more evidence as to what Anthony Astaphan reputation is – this is fresh from the press in St Lucia – is not Dominicans in St Lucia that say – is not Lennox nor Matt nor Angelo that say embe look it!! let me hear them spin that one now — its all about lies and more lies and hate and more hate,,,,,read for your selves people read.
The Editor,
The United Workers Party expresses concern over the conduct of Dominican Lawyer Anthony Astaphan engaged by the St Lucia Labour Party to infect the election campaign with blatant lies calculated to deceive and insult the people of St Lucia.
Astaphan appeared on the Labour Party’s Red Zone TV programme Monday night, hours after party leader Kenny Anthony promised a clean campaign. But Dr Anthony’s imported attack dog wasted no time to plunge headlong into his campaign to malign, denigrate and destroy. The Astaphan chapter of the Labour Party’s election campaign continued today on RCI’s News Spin.
So far, he has invented “white consultants” to run the campaign of the United Workers Party in order to peddle the lie that “massa” is in charge. He has referred to supporters of the UWP as “jaundiced” and “intellectually challenged” persons suffering from ailments like “kidney failure” and “pancreatic cancer”.
In a disgraceful attempt to trivialize the Commission of Inquiry’s finding that cited Kenny Anthony for MALADMINISTRATION in the Rochamel corruption scandal. Astaphan unleashed the totally unfounded allegation that the UWP government has lost 500 acres of land at Black Bay.
As has become typical of him, the Dominican political activist is refusing to let the truth and fact spoil the lies, deception and propaganda he hopes will help get Kenny Anthony back in government so that he can benefit once again from sweetheart legal briefs that cost the people of St Lucia millions of dollars.
Citizens are no doubt observing with interest, as attorneys like Lorne Theophilus, Stanley Felix and others stand aside impotently while Kenny Anthony allows Astaphan to treat St Lucia as his family’s estate and St Lucians as his fools.
The United Workers Party calls on Astaphan to be an honest advocate for justice and accept the truth of St Lucia’s economic management successes in recent years as confirmed by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Ha! Lucians don’t skin teeth!!…he climbing a good tree there…that not the sweet banana tree called dominica….tony… carry on!! I hope those lucians take care of u NICE!
Tony is shameless. The man was paid money to do an investigation into alleged uwp corruption took the money and said there is no evidence and claim that people’s reputation are at stake. Now he is telling us that there was corruption.Tony should return the money to the treasury.
Who am I kidding- that would be an act of honesty and honesty and Tony is like oil and water- don’t mix
TONY I HOPE YOU TOOK THE TIME TO READ THIS, AND for THE MANY DOMINICAN who still haven’t seen the light read this commentary. good job Mr Morrison
Very good article highlighting the deceitful tactics of the DLP and its agents. A certain percentage of Dominicans were deceived into thinking the UWP was corrupt; hence the UWP was voted out of office. Now we have rampant blatant in your face corruption being carried out by this backward thinking government but this time Dominicans have chosen to refrain from applying the same moral yardstick to this government which was applied to the UWP. Why? Hmmmm…if anybody wants to take an advanced course in Hypocrisy 501, just check those Dominicans who continue to kill their conscience and pretend all is well(they have already obtained advanced Master Degrees in that particular course).
Great piece Mr. Morrison!!
Nice to see that DNO is appearing to be balanced, I hope they find it in their wisdom and in the iterest of the Dominican people, to pubish the Weekly Blitz article. DNO don’t you think Dominicans should know about what is reported in the article? I am sue you are aware of it, so stop short changing the Dominican people!