Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said while addressing parliament on Wednesday, that the election of Mrs. Sylvanie Burton to the office of President of Dominica should have been an opportunity to rally around one candidate.
Burton, a nominee of the Roosevelt-Skerrit-led administration was duly elected as the first female President of the Commonwealth of Dominica by 20 members during the Fifth Meeting of the First Session of the Eleventh Parliament.
Her opponent, Mrs. Anette Sanford, who is also of Kalinago descent, received five votes. Burton will replace outgoing President, His Excellency Charles Angelo Savarin, as his second five-year term comes to an end on October 1, 2023.
“The election of Mrs. Sylvanie Burton to the office of President of Dominica should have really been an opportunity for us to rally around one candidate and show the world that on some things there can be unity of purpose,” Prime Minister Skerrit said.
He continued,” There should really not have been any reason for there not to have been one candidate, but that’s the democratic process and everybody has a right to determine how they do things and when they do things.”
Nonetheless, Mr. Skerrit indicated that this has not robbed the country of making history.
“It has not robbed women of an opportunity to be grateful and that a woman, the first time in the history of our country has been recognized and elevated to this high office,” he noted. “It will not rob the Kalinago people, the first people of our country to have an opportunity that was lost in terms of the process, but not the outcome of having the first Kalinago person elected to the highest office.”
He said focus should be placed on the positive side of this rather than the negative. He believes that every woman in Dominica and the world should be celebrating today. Furthermore, Mr. Skerrit told the young people of Dominica that their future should not be determined by his or her circumstances, “especially if you are in or have been in a difficult circumstance.”
“Challenges must be an opportunity for us to dig deeper into our God-given talents and purpose in life and to say to ourselves that notwithstanding the odds we are facing that we can overcome,” he stated.
Parliamentary Representative for the Salybia Constituency, Cozier Frederick congratulated Mrs. Burton.
“She has made us proud, I think our ancestors are proud to know that we have the Kalinago who despite many years of discrimination can be highlighted across the spectrum,” he said.
He went on to state that deep down he is saddened that the country lost a unique opportunity to show the rest of the region and the world that, “while we are building a climate resilient country we can also continue to build a resilient people who can join forces at a certain point in our history to ensure that we have unity across the spectrum.”
Meanwhile, Parliamentary Representative for the Castle Bruce Constituency Octavia Alfred said as the District Development Officer, Mrs. Burton’s work brought the realization of several development projects within that constituency.
She thanked the Prime Minister for presenting this nominee.
“This is proof that women in Dominica are granted equal and full voice, participation, and leadership everywhere and in every aspect and for making the case that we need the essential role of women of courage in the vision of the achievement of sustainable development, peace, and security,” Alfred stated.
She said Mrs. Burton has demonstrated through her life and work and her leadership in governance, diplomacy, and women’s empowerment that women make a difference, “not just a small difference, but a big and crucial one.”
“She is an incredible role model for our women and girls and men and boys too,” Alfred said.
Mrs. Burton will be sworn in as the new President on Monday, October 2, 2023.
M Nicholls
I want to congratulate my Kalinago sister for accepting the job. I know Mrs Sylvanie Burton will work hard to make Dominica and the people proud.
Are the Caribs coming to reclaim Roseau? That would be nice. I’m tired of seeing our ladies with long false hair. I like the real long thing.
We do not say “Carib” anymore. We say “Kalinago.” Thank you.
Carib my brother. the Caribbean region was named after them.
Yea, I know…..some of you love to wear your ignorance as a badge of honour.
So, why do we really need a president for the government to function? The up-keeping of the mansion alone could pay 100 government office workers. This is just a waste of money. Looking back into history: All the nations around Israel 🇮🇱 had kings, but God the Almighty Father was the King of Israel. Then the Israelites wanted to be as their neighbors and so they requested to have their king as well. This thing displeased God. Without getting into details Samuel the prophet anointed Saul king of Israel. But God said that the king would tax the people and burden them; and so it was. Things are very expensive in Dominica because of all these unnecessary useless officials. Too big a government the people pay the cost and they suffer. Vat is 15% in Dominica which is extremely high. We are basically paying people to just show up at work then sit down. It’s crazy. Having a president in a Lowdown, corrupt, disgraced and destitute and unclean place where crimes are normalized. Makes no sense
Because accept it or not “The Crown” still manipulates stuff on the colony so they need and Ambassador on the Land,,,
Dey say president but really it’s merely a different title for Governor General,,,
I have long held the view that the Attorney General especially in the eastern speaking Caribbean should never be allowed to address Parliament as a member of the ruling party. It was with disdain when i heard the Ag refer to the nominee of the Opposition Mrs Annette Sanford “a drumstick”; was this guy born of woman, and does he have female relatives; (who the hell do you think you are Mr big stuff) what a shame and disgrace for someone who was a former police officer and is an attorney at law; brother Levi if you were in any other country you would have been dealt with in ways unimaginable; sorry my brother you are running a close second to the “star boy of stupidity” and what was more hurtful the female members of parliament on the Government clapped “stinking hypocrites”.
Ole Police, You heard this one very clearly and it was with disdain when you heard what the Ag said, but you seem to have turned a blind eye or deaf ear on when the Leader of the Opposition then, Lennox, called the women of the land Prostitute . Even went as far to spelling the word, letter by letter… P-R-O-S-T-I-T-U-T-I-N-G THEMSELVES. Why didn’t you comment then.?
I’m surprised by your reaction Kid on the block, nothing seems to offend you especially statements made by members of your Cabal or did Mr Linton’s statement hit close to home; “donkey have no right in horses race bro”.
I am just drawing to your attention how you BLUE FLIES can be so bias. You ALL see or hear things only on one side of the equation. Every one is at fault except for you ALL. Did the AG statement hit close to home? The thing with you blue belly parasites is that you ALL like to give blouse and YOU ALL can’t take blouse. When you live in glass house don’t throw stones bro.
Ole Police, that just shows how bias and one sided YOU ALL BLUE USELESS WICKED PEOPLE can be. What’s good for the goose and also good for the gander. bro; Hypocrite!
Levi Peter is an absolute clown and leach on the state. I agree that the AG should not ever be so aligned to any political party. And he definitely is. Lame mofo.
It seems like Dr. Vince Henderson, the man who dreamt of replacing Charlo and Skerro if all else failed has gone AWOL in the grand scheme of things. Looks like the DLP succession plan is in shambles and that’s all because of one man. They are all scared of the SOS.
When the SOS decided he would stay on as PM past the exit of Charlo as President, its alleged that he agreed with Convince that he would be President for one term at which point they would switch roles, with SOS becoming President and Vince taking over leadership of DLP. When Convince heard it was Francine that would replace Charlo he almost got a heart attack…..see how he come more meg. No one told him. He was again crooked by SOS even after the Boowick said over her dead body.
So folks, as secretly planned, Sylvannie will be a one term president unless SOS changes his mind again. There is a planned secret constitutional amendment in the cards to have an executive president within 5yrs. Now you know…
UWP supporters are just a bunch of certified aholes.They talk about constitution,none of them have read or even seen a copy of the constitution.One Jacka bray all braying..Skerrit used and read the constitution to embarrass and make Sean Douglas look like the biggest ahole in Caricom.Even the opposition leader Jesma Paul abandoned the Jacka after he made himself a complete Jacka talking about the constitution.The poor guy did not know Mrs.Sylvanie Burton had retired on September 11.The opposition said she had not discuss the subject of resignation with her team,and that the Speaker should proceed with the nomination,further burying Sean in a pit toilet.All those posting comments about constitution know nothing about constitution it’s about monkey see monkey do.
Salt,stop making UWP use you as an ahole.Lennox Linton is no longer in parliament so how is he more honourable than you?Unless you are admitting you are more dishonest than he is.It is stupid mentality like yours which keep UWP in the yard.But,again Dominica is a democratic country.
Realistically speaking what did we gain from specifically installing a “first woman kalinago” president? The lights still going off everyday for several hours. Prices still high. The country still lacking crucial development infrastructure. Nothing changed and nothing will change. This has literally zero benefit for the country.
We will not even be recognized for it because our office of president is a useless remnant of colonial times that is not recognized as an actual “president” anywhere in the world.
So Dominica will still be that poor, unknown country that people think is the Dominican Republic.
A mildly popular youtuber did more for Dominica by just visiting the country and making videos here.
Dominica and its citizens didn’t gain anything at all…, but one man did gain something. Another PUPPET and a very expensive puppet at that.
Knew better,stop making yourself a consistent Jacka.The President job is spelt out in the constitution.The President MUST sign into law what is given to her by PARLIAMENT.That is her job,if she does not do what is given to her to do by Parliament,she will be dismissed by the same parliament.Read and learn.The President is controlled by Parliament.Just like the electoral commission.Get a copy of the constitution and read it,instead of behaving like the UWP aholes ,MEME,Hello,Hmmmm,Francis co,Juanita and Ibo.
If your dad Dr Green knew he had born a president, we would have had a drink 🥃 on that.
However, he is not here to celebrate, so on his behalf, I’ll have a drink on that!
Now Mr. Prime Minister, send 5 casks of ‘pweve’ to Kalinago territory. On behalf of the good doctor!
I am not a worker but the exit of Charles Saverin means Satan has exited only to be replaced by one of their demons. But remember the Devil still runs things
Here is the trouble I see:
A head of state that violates and has no respect for the constitution
A prime minister that is on record saying publicly that he has no regard for the law and constitution
An AG that’s the attorney of those who have no respect or regard to the constitution
A house speaker who is paid to protect known violators of the constitution
A police commissioner and heads that are handpicked to protect known violators of the constitution that they are supposed to protect
A judiciary that is in place to make sure that violators of our constitution a freeway
I know it shocks some of you to know we had a double murder in Dominica and several murders and highways crimes in little Dominica. But wait nou, you have seen nothing yet because injustice just got stronger today
I read your comment, you are entitled to your opinion, but making statements based on your perception driven by your partisan political beliefs is somewhat ludicrous. All the accusations you are alluding to about The PM, The AG, The speaker of the house and
Police Commissioner are all conjecture, that’s what it is, nothing else. As to your prediction, injustice just got stronger to day, guess referring to the historic election of first female and Kalinago head of state, I wonder If you really understand what injustice is, does this historical appointment signify injustice wow, so long.
You are always talking about partisan political beliefs. Are you trying to say that YOUR political beliefs are sound? You must be joking, all you do is try to defend the indefensible on a daily basis. Is that what you call sound political beliefs? One wonders what your income is and where it originates from.
The greatest of all failures is when victories are declared due to fraudulent, deceitful and or illegal means
Case in point here with this President Elect.
This woman has no shame or integrity. How could you be guilty of violating the constitution you are going to represent? Do you even have a heart? Shame, shame shame
How did she violate the constitution?
IBO,everybody in Dominica know what corruption is.In 2000 UWP your party was kicked out of office for
(1)CORRUPTION
(2)Victimization
(3)Lies
(4)Greed
There has never been a political party as CORRUPT as UWP.Some of their supporters are even more corrupt.Case in point,these UWP people knew,and Annette knew she had not resigned,yet they not only supported her,they voted her for President.Knowing damn well they are violating the constitution.I agree with the AG a drumstick is a drumstick.Scumbags will remain scumbags.The Dominican people have no use for UWP.Annette should be Ashamed of herself for allowing UWP,not for the first time to use her and the Kalinago people as a drumstick.They could have used Matt Peltier,Lennox Linton,Simeon Joseph,Danny Lugay.Isaac Baptiste.Sheridan Gregoire,Johnson Boston,Loftus Durand and Edincort St.Valle,why didn’t they
Magnificent COVER drive to the boundary for 4. Douglas brought it well up but PM followed the LINE and smashed it to the boundary. Match over. SAKERRO, man of the match. Leading his NOMINEE to victory in Parliament – 20 to 5.
If the Senator had taken the time to check the employment status of both nominees, he could have avoided the embarrassment that he brought upon himself. He walked straight into the the PMs proverbial fist.
This lady is a replica of Charles Savarin: a lapdog of Roosevelt, sees blatant wrongs of the corrupt government and turns a blind eye, ignores the unbearable suffering and hardship of the masses.
This appointment will further set back Dominicans for generations. Every influential position in the civil service that should be apolitical, impartial, totally free of political bias, is stacked with lackeys of the most corrupt ruler in the Caribbean. What has this done to the people? It has brought the country to near social and economic collapse.
With a nakedly fraudulent administration, a population of docile inhabitants, the country is galloping for the abyss.
Ibo, I am warning you, please give it up. Your messages do not resonate on Election Day. It has become very difficult to pound into your head. It is as difficult as trying to milk a rhino to no avail. Ibo, Ibo, boy I feel sorry for you. Are you made of blood or sea water? Which one?
Yoy better watch it Mr. Honorable Linton, this lady is another Boyd in the Knight. She’ll shut you down because the Am has already lectured her. Dominica is rolling down hill like a ball struck down the boundary for 4 runs. Umpire signal “No Ball.”
Linton? But but but? Under which rock were you sleeping?
History has been made for the Kalinago people. Congratulations Madam. ( No more, anou filay to see who wins ) To Lennox, who believes he is the Leader of the Opposition and the other members of THE UWP, Your days are over. The entire World continues to see what kind of USELESS Wicked People you all are. Let’s see what next you all are going to Huff and Puff about
Kid, who beat you that you are always crying?
King Liar is in office for over 20 Long Years, yet Domimica is in the bottom of the barrel, in the Caribbean.
You should be crying about this…
King Liar does not even know if Kid on the block is alive or dead….
“History made for the kalinago people” but they will still be dependent on Bamboo and crayfish.
I want to repeat this for fog brain KID. If you had just a rudimentary understanding of what corruption, mismanagement and one man rule do to a country, you would never sound off like a braying donkey.
Ibo MALAPROP France, are you for real? Do you know it takes a thief to know a thief?
Lets hope she has a better and more positive impact on the nation than what Charles Savarin did or didnt do. Granted we know she will be a pawn, i pray they she protects the Kalinago people as i foresee them being used more for funding and use of the resources of their land, and Sylvanie will be the one to sign off on it. So lets hope she works for the betterment of the first people and the nation.
The SLP’s fanatics are ecstatic about the new president. Unfortunately, nothing new will change about their miserable lives.
I will like any one of the Labor zealot to challenge these truths:
*unemployment, poverty, crime, inflation, corruption, political polarization, nepotism, cronyism, the NATIONAL DEBT (over 100% of debt to GDP ratio) will remain stubbornly high.
*productivity, wages and salaries, living standards, electricity generation abysmally low.
Dominica’s survivability hangs in the balance right now. The frightening thing it’s getting progressively worse by the day under this most corrupt and incompetent dictatorship.
Congratulations! Mrs. President.
UWP have just shown the world how stupid they are.There is a man called Lecointe making them look more stupid.When somebody is nominated for President that person can still hold a job.The thing is when that person ACCEPTS the nomination and writes to the President accepting the nomination then that person has to resign.Mrs.Sylvanie Burton accepted the nomination and resigned.Mrs Annette Sanford accepted the nomination but did not resign.Mrs.Sanford knew she could not win the Presidency,so to resign would be a double whammy for her.She would lose her job at the college and still lose the Presidency.Members of UWP know that so they advised her not to resign.They used the poor co- dash as a booboo,and her husband is even a bigger booboo for not advising her.UWP used the lady to say shed had an audio recording of Skerrit promising her ………. to contest the CARIB seat on a DLP ticket.Up to today she cannot make the audio available to the public.Lying for UWP is like an honour.WICKED.
From where i seat in the Helen of the west, I congratulate you madam president. you, your people and us Dominicans deserve it all the way.
Well done Mrs. Burton, l personally would like to wish you all the best. Having said that, never in my life would expect to see a goat in Dominica’s parliament coming from the opposition party, that so-called senator Douglas, should be kicked out of parliament after getting a jolly good morning dressing from Dr. Pm Skerrit, well done PM you were brilliant kicking off that fool backside what a beautiful goal down his throat.
@Man nite dogs
Stupid and idiotic as usual. You are clearly having tonnes of difficulty in understanding English. Skerrit’s question to Sean was both IDIOTIC as Prime Minister, and NONSENSICAL , since he knew, or ought to have known that Mrs Sanford is NOT a public officer, since the State College is a Statutory Corporation and Mrs Sanford was not appointed by the Public Service Commission so she is not a public servant.
You are too dumb to understand those things, but stop ridiculing your own self..Its difficult for a stupid person to know that he is stupid, but you epitomise stupidity. Again with this presidency, it just shows how Skerrit violates the constitution over and over.
ADMIN: 21:2 of The Constitution of Dominica: “A person shall not be qualified to hold the office of President if he holds any other office or emolument whether in the public service or otherwise nor engage in any other occupation for reward.”
You can read the Constitution of Dominica via the following link: https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/Dominica%20Constitution%201978.pdf
“Skerrit’s question to Sean was both IDIOTIC as Prime Minister, and NONSENSICAL , since he knew, or ought to have known that Mrs Sanford is NOT a public officer, since the State College is a Statutory Corporation and Mrs Sanford was not appointed by the Public Service Commission so she is not a public servant.” This is the kind of abject stupidity that you swallow and regurgitate when you listen too long to Q95 and your experts all come from Q95 with their degrees bought off the sidewalk. Thank you DNO for enlightening this misguided MEME.
I doubt you could read what your ghost writer posted for you. Do you pay him/ her well? He has to not only write it but read it for you as well.
Even though your head is all flour and no black pepper, it’s never too old to learn. Go and take up a kindergartener’s book and learn to read and write.
Once is inclined to channel the Mighty Sparrow: You’re making yourself a pappy show Jesma, and you’ve made yourself a Pappy show Annette. You all knew beforehand that presidential bells wouldn’t chime for Ms. Sanford. Sometimes, we have to be realistic. Why did you all even bother to give this thing any semblance of normalcy?
In whose mind and eyes this is a pappy show, lol. Why don’t you
examine your mind, there you will see the pappy show. Did you listen to Q95 and hear a certain Lawyer talking about the nomination process, well that is pappy show. Pappy show does not exist on what dictates your political partisan beliefs, you are just being silly. Now we have a new President, move on, this is just another milestone in our History, when will you and your cohorts stop this endless mischievous political chaos, polarizing the Country.
It is not every time we try to bring about change we will succeed. Nothing is wrong with making an effort for change despite the tremendous odds against you. Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Sr. come to mind. Despite the enormous odds against them to bring about changes, they did not let that deter them from their gkals.
Your unfair condemnation of the opposition for trying to bring about well meaning change is flagrantly deplorable. With your sort of mindset, we should just sit on our hands keep silent, just accept and bemoan our lot in life. This submissive and defeatist attitude is precisely what has Dominicans in the precarious position they are today.
So as to prove your ignorance and jealousy.
Congratulations are in order! We know that you will serve us well. The learning curve is steep, but you are prepared for this. The Creator has got you!
How to install a Puppet President:
1. Find the puppet you can control.
2. Say how much you love the people by giving them what they want.
3. Re-emphasize what a good and great person you are.
4. Bribe constituents with a little rum beforehand.
5. Install President.
When we open our eyes to the reality of our situation in Dominica, hopefully we will begin to solve our real problem.
Juanita, if you know how to elect a president, why didn’t you advise the opposition leader then.
Juanita, all your UWP blue monkey bums’ thumbs up have no meaning on the Day of Elections. We keep defeating your bums each time around. If I were you I would wash away that 52 up 18 down from your comment. Problem solved. Your jealous old woman.