During the reign of the Dominica Labour Party in the 70’s, Freedom Party in the 80’s and the five-year term of the United Workers Party in the 90’s there were many Road Maintenance Gangs providing casual labour repairing, patching and weeding theses major road ways leading to various villages in Dominica.
These activities did not only provide jobs for the unskilled and unqualified citizens, but was a form of safety net, which helps alleviate poverty in communities. Many citizens who provided such labour included fisher folks (when the fishing season was slow), drop-outs from primary and secondary schools, to name a few.
Income from such employment improves the lives of many families and contributed to the general economic activity of Dominica and also contributed to the income build up of the Dominica Social Security Funds. At the end of each fortnight there was a domino effect when these workers got paid from the government treasury, since there was a budget set aside every financial year to meet the cost of road maintenance in Dominica.
Right now where is the economic activity which was generated by the contribution of such workers?
Economic activity in the local economy and the Dominica Social Security Income Fund contracted when contribution from these workers were halted, because the present Dominica Labour Party Government from the inception of there reigns to power, decided to make Public Works Department (PWD) a quasi institution and in doing so blatantly ignore the Road Maintenance Unit of the PWD.
Don’t get me wrong the reorganization of the PWD was a very good move, since there was too many wastage and mal-management of Government resources. With a proper strategic business plan making PWD a quasi entity could be a profitable venture, modeling on such recognized companies like Co Williams from Barbados and Eghill and Associates.
During the making of PWD a quasi entity, the Government should have taken into consideration the road maintenance aspect of the PWD and create a Unit or a Department in the Ministry of Public Works with annual budgetary allocations, to be responsible for the traditional road maintenance programmed of the Government. Then the state of the roads leading to villages would not have reach the poor state they are in today and the protest action such as the one that was staged in the southern communities of Soufriere, Scott’s Head and Gallion would have been avoided.
The road maintenance activity created an avenue for many workers to contribute to the Dominica Social Security Income Fund and today many of the workers are retired and are benefitting from monthly income from the social security funds and therefore are not relying on the social welfare income nor the red clinic income.
Many families went into poverty after the road maintenance aspect of the PWD was dismantled and communities which were very active economically due to incomes generated from the road maintenance unit of the PWD see businesses in these communities struggling to survive. There are other areas where economic activity was at high during the road maintenance era but time does not permit to highlight all.
I strongly recommend that the present government examine the establishment of a Special Unit or Department in the Ministry of Public Works to deal with Road Maintenance in Dominica and get the Technocrats in the Ministry of Finance, Macro Economic Planning Unit to develop a Five Year Strategic Business Plan for the New Public Works Corporation.
In summary the Road Maintenance Program did not only create employment for the unskilled, school drop outs, etc., but was a Safety Net for the Poor and the Vulnerable which created income to alleviate Poverty in the communities all over Dominica where such Road Maintenance Gangs existed.
This article was posted in its entirety as received by dominicanewsonline.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical errors within commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of dominicanewsonline.com or its advertisers.
It a disgrace to c the condition of the road from leading to the south east I can’t believe to myself that there is any representation for that constituency
Before you had to travel miles to go to the mountains today the mountains are right in the streets. What hurts the most is that the people are still saying the country is being developed. What a bunch of blind people we are
Excellent article…all I wish to add is that for cutting the grass on the roadside they select supporters who only employ a few of their relatives and friends…do a half baked job and put all the rest of the money in their pockets where as if a Village Council was given the job more people would benefit and all thefunds would go to the community and you would see the trickle down effect that the writer of the article is talking about…..time for these people to goooooo………
Greens lane needs repairs…bring back the Public Works to do the maintenance….nonsence dat going on…..
the Petite Savanne to Delices has huge potholes.It really needs to be fix.
stop it we cannot go international with the stupid continuance of the patching because well al know it looks very ugly and doesn’t help to take the country to the next level. It is better to seek propoer funds to do good lasting work instead of the OBSOLETE PATCHY DAYS OF THE WITCH AND THE LOUGAROU
Time for change. Time to form the Witikubuli Liberation Party.
I respect all the comments made and they are justified. But what is happening to Public Works employees was created by themselves when the all rallied to put this Labour Party in Power. They were dressing in red every weekend and attending every meeting, they provided dump trucks to carry people like tarish to rallies. They thought I would be the only one suffering. Nous toot ca soufier. Chabay sa!!
This is a timely contribution. The author and DNO must be congratulated. The article explains in the simplest of terms the macro-economic concept of the “Multiplier effect” –something our government seems ignorant of while it boasts of Chinese grant funding of so many capital/infrastructural projects that does not create local employment to allow the multiplier effect to function in the economy.
Government must understand that the injection of funds into the economy through increased employment benefits everyone -employees, employers, small businesses, large business, the service industry (banks, insurance companies, restaurants, entertainment, transportation etc.) and yes.. even the government coffers benefit through increased revenues from taxes, VAT, social security contributions, custom duties etc.
A change in demand has a significant impact on the level of the national income generation capacity as it creates new wealth, increases the circulation and flow of money, causes increase in spending and investment, and boasts the confidence and welfare of the nation. Well done!
All I see is the wicket ppl who elected them on more than one occasion
so they shuold not complain because they vote them in, all they working on is Roseau, them villagers were dupe
This article is an excellent one!!!!!!!
We need to put politics behind us and sat it the way it is.
Some of us are to afraid of speaking the truth simply because we support or vote for the party that’s in Government.
We need to support the Government when they do sometning good and also let them know when they do something wrong.Our Parl Reps now are just a bunch of players.They think they can use women to grant them a favor. We need real Parl Reps who stand for what is in the people best interest and politics.This Government is all about hand outs.
We need the road maintanance projects back and the JSP programme or some Technical collge for our youths.
There were about four gangs from the Soufriere, Scott’s Head and Gallion area and I can tell you on a fortnight it was like a pay day for all the small shops in the area, the workers would be paying for the debts they incurred during the cross week. The shopkeepers used to smile since not only the debts are paid but their sales would increase on a fortnight weekend. Gone a those days. Merrymen, H.Germain, Hugo and St.Hillaire, these guys and their gang were taking care of our roads and man the drains were always clear, brushes well trimmed and all over hanging trees cut and shaved, pot holes patched and sealed. Don’t talk about the gaybian basket gang (H. Germain and Co.) they were the best on the island at that time. Today what we see is neglect and the communities went straight into poverty. Both Poverty assessments in 2002/2003 and 2008/2009 reflected that St. Mark is among the poorest parish in Dominica. Both reports are on the Caribbean Development Bank web-site for ease of reference. Right now the said communities are solely dependent on Fishing.
These roads were being “patched” and as son as some rain falls it becomes “dejavu” it rains alot
in Dominica and as soon as the grass is cut, it rains and here we go again. There should be prisioners who should be able to maintain certain
areas along the road.That what use to happen before. I remember in the 70’s the prisioners use to be the ones polishing the floors and maintainance around PMH . The were supervised
by a warden. We have to be creative and innovative
growing up my parents did all they had to do to provide for heie children.Dominica belongs to us
regardless there should be no separation or division “We are Dominicans” regardles of which
party we support.
I DO NOT SOPPURT ANY PARTY……A united opposition is what missing. The LP with a big majority is complacent. The official opposition party is in disarray. So LP can take their sweet time in the confidence that they will win next election quite easily
The minister for the valley , travels in his big ride so he is not able to fill the pot holes up COCKRANE ROAD.
I remember those days when there were road gangs all over the island doing road work. Today these people have become beggars waiting for a Red Clinic dollar whenever the PM is on island. Ignorance is the bane of our existence as a nation and as black people. Even those who make it their point of duty be it through paid responsibility –like WIKILEAK for example know deep down inside that this administration has been a total failure to the people of Dominica. After 13 years in office we can only talk about a stadium, west coast road rehabilitation and two sea walls. I wish people like Lennox Honeychirch , Charles Saverin, Henry George, Heskieth Alexander and Timothy would speak out when lies are being propagated. The infrastructure work that the labor party has done in 13 years is grossly incomparable to that which was done by both the Freedom Party and the UWP in just 5 years – hands down , no question, no doubt. Apart from the word infrastructure(the same word that Reginald Austrie said we cannot eat) the Labor Party cannot lay claim to anything of significance to the development of Dominica. They boast of scholarships but Dominicans have going out on scholarships since the 70’s and as time went by more and more students got scholarships – many many students went off on scholarships in the 80’s and 90’s and as the world experiences virtual shrinkage through high speed communications more and more students will seek advance education overseas.
Arthley Aaron had nothing else to talk about so he said that the DLP developed the creole language and cultural awareness- another audacious lie. The DLP cannot talk about jobs, they cannot talk agriculture, manufacturing, nor tourism, nor education. What a waste of 13 years.
Great Article! Please empower people so that we can see development in our county. It is so comforting when people can do a little thing and know that they will receive a salary and the end of the day.
God bless a man that work hard. I am speaking to any government that is in office we need more jobs in D/ca. get rid of begging for every thing and sitting down by the side of the road.
People without jobs are drinking day and night due to frustration. Cigarettes are their toothbrush and Rum is the water or mouthwash.
that the worst condition i have seen the road condition in the villages and goodwill in my lifetime i guess that the next level soufreiere bus driver block so let we go block the all the road for it to fix so sad
Government don’t give anyone cash to build a home under the housing revolution. What they do is make an allowance at a business place for materials in certain amounts as recommended by the village so the individual can access those materials to build his or her home. The village councils are also the ones issuing the cheques to the builder for working on the home. An before all of this is done, the individual have to first get an invoice estimate from the building supply business and the contracter before any transaction takes place.
To present the idea that a cheque of $15,000.00 was given to any individual to build a home is false and misleading.
alas. fix despor and grand fond road na. I went up to despor recently, it was like going down in a grave. come on, i know the community is small but they dont deserve that.
The whole place looks abandoned. The way it is in Dominica is that we are taking one step foward and two steps backwards. Thats why every other island in the Caribbean is leaving us behind. If there is any improvements in Dominica, they are the improvements that should have happened ten yeard ago. So we are always behind time.
You know when i hear the phrase ‘other countries are leaving us behind’ and as a traveller i hear citizens of these same other countries (such as Antigua, St Lucia, St Kitts etc) crying how things are so so bad with them i sometimes wonder which part of “Advance” i missing out on…
All islands i visit when i go down to the publics i see poverty more than that in Dominica, yet persons from Dominica who only stays at the foriegn own hotels believe that these islands are more advance than us, they must walk the streets of these islands and they will get a contradicting story!!!!
You L I A R
Oh cut the crap.
Other islands are in fact 10 steps ahead of Dominica in a million ways.
First of all you are not even aware of the level of poverty in Dominica, far less for you to be able to compare to any other country’s level.
Secondly, how does walking the streets in other islands give you a logical assessment of the poverty level?
Thirdly, when people speak of other islands being ahead of us, its the total package: Level of Unemployment, SMART use of local resources, cost of living, the judicial system!, control of crime!, just to name of a few. There are many countries in the Caribbean who are way ahead of Dominica in these areas.
Fourth, Dominica is the number one place where u find blatant political ignorance, where politicians are rewarded for wrong doing. The more wrong they do, they more seats they get, UNLIKE other Caribbean countries.
So CORRECTION, u need a reality check, Dominica is in fact way behind.
UNLIKE US THE POOR HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO USE THEIR BRAINS AND HANDS. THEY HAVE BEEN TAUGHT TO FISH INSTEAD OF GOING TO A BEGGING INSTITUTION. THEY ARE MORE CONTENTED TO MAKE AND ENJOY THIER OWN DOLLARS THOUGH MATTER HOW SMALL. THEY FEEL INDEPENDANT.
you are so right..its only foreigh people appreciate our country..the people with all those negative comments need a life..they seem to think dominica should be perfect..you people need to stop complain and find some ways to form a team and do cvommunity service..everything is government..am tired of these c
ry,cry babies like spoilt brats.
you are so correct
The article in it’s simple form express the sentiments that many of us who are truly concerned about Dominica ( NOT PARTY) have expressed here on DNO. What we see here is an absolute poor performance from this government. Is this the Labor Party that told us that they were for the poor ? Is this the same party that spoke about Freedom Party Bourgeoisy when the Freedom Party insured that the little people were employed doing road maintenance? Is that the same Labor Party that deceitfully told us that the UWP government was corrupt ?
I am not sure what it is that Dominicans are seeing but I do understand that the young people only know the current administration. It is a sad feeling when some people state that this administration is the best we’ve ever had. It is understandable that even a 30 year old Dominican maybe ignorant of the work of the Freedom Party after Hurricane David and the destructive days of Patrick John and Charles Saverin. The average 30 year old cannot conceptualize the wacky and unbelievable relationship that now exist between Charles Saverin and the DOMINICA LABOR PARTY but that is for a separate discussion.
Most of my learning comes through listening and it is suffice to say that there is none so death as he who refuse to hear –I remember the days when not only were there various crew working our major roadways there were gangs working the feeder roads as well. A sometimish Labor Party supporter once told me that agricultural production is at a much higher level under the Labor Party as compared to the DFP or UWP – I had to give him the REALLY REALLY response.Growing up in Portsmouth I recall the days when the long house would be buzzing with activities. When Long house was conjested there would be ship loading activities at the old jetty and down in lagoon where the vessel like Independence , Scobby etc would be loading agricultural products for Guadeloupe . There were ships coming from Antigua , St Kitts weekly to pick up agricultural products. Come Xmas season these ships would be making two- three voyages per week. Young people in Portsmouth were employed be it on the Port, shipping agencies, loading, truck and pickup owners made a living just transporting agricultural product from the farm to the ports. Vendors upon vendors in Glanvillia were making a living. Today I look at Portsmouth and I ask myself had it not been for Ross University where would we have been? Yet the Portsmouth people who know what we had before this administration are singing LABOR POWER ! NEXT LEVEL.
Jetty Boy I have to agree with you on that – I too am from Portsmouth and you remind me of those days. Do you remember that even Ian’s father even had a vessel making those trips- the name of the ship was Lady Morina. Lady Morina rotted in the Indian River docking area. Those days there were many vessels. Merchants from all over the island would be in Portsmouth taking care of their goods at the port. The vessels would ship agricultural products and return with goods for the merchants. Today we have the Chinese in charge. Those days we also saw many capital projects all being done by Dominicans. The rehabilitation of the Portsmouth to Harten Garden Road saw many people from Portsmouth through Marigot employed on the road project. There were sea wall being built just the same. The Portsmouth to Capuchine Road rehabilitation- again done strictly by Public works and local contractors. The Rosea to layout through the Pocasse Junction was done by Nelotare – people from St Joe, Salibury , Mahaut , Rosea all employed rehabilitating this roadway. There was Rush and Tompkins building the the souther roads with strictly local craftmen. Note on all these projects truck owners and truck drivers were employed. Guys like Philsbert berty all these guys were driving Sintra’s truck. The Cruseship berth was built to gether with the deep water Harbour by a company name Misner Marine through Novaport Consutants – equipment operators, masons, carpenters, laborers- I remember guys like Ti Nom, fellas from glanvillia , Portsmouth Capuchine , Cottage , a lot of guys from Penville and Viellecase were employed on the project. The Para Bridge was built by local contractors – not Chinese or the Americans.The Portsmouth Hospital was built by Devorse from Glanvillia with local craftmen; The Portsmouth Government school which was this small flat dilapidated builing was rebuilt with hard courts by a contractor from Roseau. Chance development was started with employment for the people inth e area. The Long House Port facility was built by the people of Dominica – not Venezuelans or Chinese. The development of the cabrits into a national park brought employment to the people in the area ( Remember we used cabrits to go hunting for goats and birds- dove traps” .
Those of us with morality and a conscience should and must not allow history to be adulterated by people with special agenda – My parents told us about the days of milk and honey , the days of cocoa tea and farine. Today I tell my children about the days of my parents and what is so gratifying is the way they listen and the adjustment they make to their daily life just because of their historical back ground. The very same way the lies of the white man have and continue destroyed our heritage and history so too our own lies will destroy our little island and take away our pride and sovereignty.
Jetty Boy I have to agree with you on that – I too am from Portsmouth and you remind me of those days. Do you remember that even Ian’s father even had a vessel making those trips- the name of the ship was Lady Morina. Lady Morina rotted in the Indian River docking area. Those days there were many vessels. Merchants from all over the island would be in Portsmouth taking care of their goods at the port. The vessels would ship agricultural products and return with goods for the merchants. Today we have the Chinese in charge. Those days we also saw many capital projects all being done by Dominicans. The rehabilitation of the Portsmouth to Harten Garden Road saw many people from Portsmouth through Marigot employed on the road project. There were sea wall being built just the same. The Portsmouth to Capuchine Road rehabilitation- again done strictly by Public works and local contractors. The Roseau to layout through the Pocasse Junction was done by Nelotare – people from St Joe, Salibury , Mahaut , Rosea all employed rehabilitating this roadway. There was Rush and Tompkins building the the souther roads with strictly local craftmen. Note on all these projects truck owners and truck drivers were employed. Guys from Portsmouth were driving Sintra’s truck. The Cruise ship berth was built together with the deep water Harbor by a company name Mizner Marine through Novaport Consultants – equipment operators, masons, carpenters, laborers- I remember fellas from Glanvillia , Portsmouth Capuchine , Cottage , a lot of guys from Penville and Viellecase were employed on the project. The Para Bridge was built by local contractors – not Chinese or the Americans.The Portsmouth Hospital was built by a contractor from Glanvillia with local craftmen; The Portsmouth Government school which was this small flat dilapidated builing was rebuilt with hard courts by a contractor from Roseau. Chance development was started with employment for the people inth e area. The Long House Port facility was built by the people of Dominica – not Venezuelans or Chinese. The development of the cabrits into a national park brought employment to the people in the area ( Remember we used cabrits to go hunting for goats and birds- dove traps” .
Those of us with morality and a conscience should and must not allow history to be adulterated by people with special agenda – My parents told us about the days of milk and honey , the days of cocoa tea and farine. Today I tell my children about the days of my parents and what is so gratifying is the way they listen and the adjustment they make to their daily life just because of their historical back ground. The very same way the lies of the white man have and continue destroyed our heritage and history so too our own lies will destroy our little island and take away our pride and sovereignty.
thats the problem with you people..politics,politics..
This article is so true, I hope the government would bring that unit back.
Wait around election time and YOU WILL SE HOW WE WILL BRING THEM BACK.We will even buy them rum
I agree to this because I think too much focus is spent on politics and not enough on the country.It’s a shame.I worked with the public works department on the north back in the 80s-90s and I had a crew of over 50 men consistently taling care of the roads from Portsmouth to Concord.The looks of the roads now is not in conparison to how it look before.things are changing for better so why are the roads changing for the worst.
That’s what really hurt my hear during the Christmas on 2011. The sides of the road looked like an abandoned garden with bush.
One particular gentleman who used to be employed by public works to clean road side, is now doing nothing but drink rum and pray for a person to die so he could drink free rum. Yet a certain political leader gave him a cheque of $15,000.00 during the Chistmas of 2011, in the name of housing revolution program. When I and other concerned citizens saw that, we said, why not give him and other a contract to do road maintainance instead of dumping so much money down the drain. It is a serious problem in Dominica today as our people have been encouraged to be lazy and depend on certain programs for free money instead of working to develop the country. But you know, that’s how they take and get credit for developing DA after 57 years.
How old is the gentleman in question??
I find you insensitive, i bet the man is a pensioner with a very small income to maintain himself, the help was maybe to repair his roof are you saying he doh deserve it?
I doubt you saw the politician hand over a cheque of $15k to the man, you just mischievous!
Correction, you are right about it because I did not see the politician himself hand over the cheque. However, it was delivered by the political arms of that party…the village council on behalf of the government of Dominica.
I can also tell you that when the original idea of helping those in need was broght to the council, the then council did not put the name of this individual down as a person with need. But he threatened the party and his name as well as many others whose names were not on the original list, were included. For that reason, the original chair person resigned because everybody knows very well that 50% of those who got a christmas cheque were not people of need. those whose names were cancelled did not vote for that party. Infact as all Dominican’s including yourself know, only supporters of the party got a government cheque.
Although it was given in the name of “The housing revolution”, I can tell you that this man did not deserve it. His parents died and left him with a 3bedroom house and some cash. Ten years later he drank the money, never repaired the house, and 3years ago, that same politician built a new house for him. He does not a wife, girlfriend, let alone children and he cares less about life. So don’t call me mischievous because I spoke the truth because many supporters of his party were outraged about this because they know he did not deserve it.
It is political mischief to give money to people like that and for mischievos people like you trying to justify it.
YOU ARE ONLY LOOKING AT A NARROW PICTURE. YOU WERE NOT BORN LONG ENOUGH. YOU MUST STILL BE WEARING DIAPERS LIKE CARESSA. HE SAID IT ALL.
This article could have been better said. The road maintenance should definitely be brought back, what the Public Works Dept has to do is to manage it better and provide employment for the less fortunate instead of all the inhouse fighting at the Dept. The small village shops will benefit,local farmers can sell their produce to passer-bys and the list can go on. Providing employment for the unskilled will allow them to channel their energies into something positive and donot get in trouble with the law.
Food for thought. This article brings back memories of the good all days. There was so much life when it was a fortnight.
If you are driving on the road leading to Soufriere you can see the amount brush. The drivers are just careful that’s why there is hardly a collision. Both sides of the road are full of brush. What a shame.
true
While this article is so true, there was so much waste of money in those days, at the end of a fortnine, there would be large amount of unclaimed envelopes with cash, people who were dead and people who worked a long time and were no longer working at PWD. I think that they should bring back the programme but with better suppervision
That’s why I have a new question asking them. With all the west coast road, and other new infrastructure, is Dominica GENERALLY better off that it was 15 years ago??????
It was Austrie who told us, “people cannot eat road”
I must get the clip for Prof. Wikileaks, Anti-hate and the rest of the baafoons.