Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has told Dominicans that the level of poverty could drop to zero as long as his party is in government.
Skerrit told parliament this week that a survey conducted on living conditions here has indicated a decrease in poverty on the island.
“The report came out and said that the poverty rate has decreased from 39 to 28% and I believe it should be lower,” he noted.
He said the Opposition is now questioning the validity of the report.
“We have to fight poverty in every corner in Dominica and I give the commitment that the percentage will decrease as long as the government is in office. I don’t think that report took into consideration the Yes We Care Programme because government removed overnight 255 individuals from poverty,” he said.
Skerrit says his party has shown commitment to the people of Dominica in the area of development.
“In truth and in fact, the DLP [Dominica Labour Party] cares for people. That DLP has always been at the helm of the protection of the lower class people,” he said.
YOU KNOW WHAT IS SAD IS WHEN PEOPLE TURN A BLIND EYE..THERE IS POVERTY EVERYWHERE AND THIS IS AN EYE OPENER FOR ME TO SEE THAT HE IS SAYING SUCH!!
I WANT BACK MY VOTE! AND FUTHERMORE,PEOPLE WHO ARE COMMENTING ON OTHER PEOPLE WHO ARE LAZZY D/CA HAVE SUN,RAIN ETC,AND THEY CAN MAKE MONEY AND ALL THAT SHIT..WELL U CAN HAVE ALL THAT BUT IF YOU DON’T HAVE A WAY OUT TO SELL,GROW,TRANSPORTATION,ALL THE TOOLS THEY NEED TO MAKE MONEY THEN WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSE TO DO BUT TO SIT DOWN ALL DAY..
THAT HAPPENS EVERYWHERE.IN THE BIG COUNTRY THEY HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TOO BUT HEY DO U THINK THAT IT IS SO EASY TO GO TO UNIVERSITY,COLLEGE,GET A JOB THERE TOO?
BEFORE U ALL JUDGE PEOPLE THINK..EVERYONE IS NOT THE SAME.SOME PEOPLE NEED GUIDANCE.BACK THEN YOU COULD GO TO THE MARKET AND GET FOOD REAL LOCAL FOOD,IT’S GETTING WORST.YOU ALL HAVE ALL THESE CHINESE DOING BIG CONTRACTS IN D/CA AND NOT GIVING US THE JOBS..SO U ALL THINK THAT POVERTY IS GETTING BETTER!! HAHAHAHAH…D/CA IS FINISH,.NOW IT’S ONLY FOR THE RICH AND THE ONES THAT HAS VISAS TO ESCAPE AND TRAVEL FREELY…LOOK AT THE SCHOOLS AND THE NEW GENERATION NOW.SEE HOW INTERESTED THEY ARE IN SCHOOL THEN TELL ME MR PM,IS POVERTY DECLINING?HELL NO..NO EDUCATION NO HOPE A NATION IS DOOMED!! THE PLACE IS DEAD.DARK,BORING NO NIGHT LIFE NOTHING POSITIVE.NOTHING, NOTHING TO DO IN D/CA.
MY PEOPLE YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT..IF U ALL CANNOT FUNCTION WITHOUT YOUR CLINIC THEN YOU NEED TO FIND A HOME REMEDY…
@ZERO: When people in the cities are starving we have a grave social dilemma; when people in the countryside are starving, they have severe mental problems.
Pal rep/Minister Austrie in the Flintstone Cabinet of Roosevelt D Skerrit Stated:” The Toothless now suck chicken breasts over Backs & necks.The minister remains neckless.
Dominica is the best. It has been blessed by God with water, sun, rain ,rich fertile soil. You name it we has it.Dominicans have brought POVERTY to Dominica because we produce TTOOO many LLAAZZYY individuals. Most of the people just want to sit on the roadside from 6am – 12pm and expect th PM to feed, cloth and shelter them. The Bible says “by the sweat of thy brow thou shall eat”. These same people when they go to other islands, they worked all day sometimes without breakfast and lunch to earn a dollar and they never complain but in Dominica, it is always thank you, thank you that will never stop. It is time that Dominicans wake up on their lazy butt to earn their own bread. If the Haitians can survive what prevent the Dominicans from doninig the same.
Well. Laborites MUSt BE Squirming… Who put The Crime Minister in Power… You did. Now you are well into the next level, 3.5 more years to see how fast you will forget AGAIN, and be brain washed by five hundred dollars. Next time try to remember when you were suffering, and then really do something about it.
Heil Hitler…. The next level, Aye Mugabe….. Viva Chavez….. Run tings pardner, run tings…. Me ah go run Grenada or Vincy as soon as get my ticket money, and i will get a job, Dominica is finished….. By the time skerrit adminstration get caught out or run out of power, Dominica WILL be in SHAMBLES, a whole heap of mess, and LOTS OF DEBT, if you think things are bad now, just wait till later.
A mess made by the people and for the people…. HAHAHAHAHAHA
You guys have no clue, no idea of what’s happening to Dominica do you? We need a hero.
@Black Nobility..Don’t come and tell us what you have seen or what you have not seen.Our message to the entire world is that our leaders in govt have crippled the country,and that there is a significant number of poor and indigent people in Dominica who can’t make ends meet.It’s only those in govt,and their cronies who hav etheir pockets filled with $ $ $ $.
So when you have your crap talking be careful,your buffoon.There are many, many educated people in Dominica that you can’t step in their shoes,so don’t believe that you are going to fool us or school us.School yourself with your own gibberish..Are you one of the cronies?
We need JOBS,JOBS in Dominica … Elimination of the high cost of living..
Utility bills are too high! Housing conditions are in deplorable states. we are in need of concessions on building materials.
Mr. PM, Dominicans are living a life of an improper fraction! Every month we have to payout more than what is coming in! We have more people grinding now than before!
Mr. PM, if that wasn’t so, there would not have been
20% of Dominicans living Guadelope.
15% living in Antigua
5% in Montserrat
Don’t count for USA, Canada and England! Every day people leave by front door and back door.
If there is very little poverty here in Dominica, why we do not have other nationals flocking here for jobs, excepting the Chineese and Haitians!
Mr. pm, the rate you are going on with us , your pocket will get a hole and you will lose all for all!
The news reads,
after a thorough survey paid for by Roosevelt Skerrit on the new dominican residence, the chinese, a vast reduction in poverty was report. The reasons for this are as follows:
1. The Chinese do not pay the customs ,social security , income tax neither do they buy any thing made in Dominica.
2. The Chinese government has set up a fund for them where commercial loans are taken at 1.5% interest per annum. in Dominica it is 13% for DOminicans
3. They get land from the government on a ‘free for it basis’ to set up their china towns
4. they take all the money to themselves in all the ongoing projects of Infrastructural definition on the country no work for the locals. so they not poor.
5. they now have liberty to bid for sea walls and other construction projects using equipment they brought in duty free….alll that was in the MOU.
To conclude the report Labourites are expected to clap and sing huray to Skerrit while they go home to eat dry fig and water. Especially in reserve the poorest in Dominica. The little kwass largent from china and venezuela is used to pay for the yes we care. so the old and the blind will say Labour power.
Not so they put nah….the next level
sometimes I wonder who are the educated ones among us in this country…
@Black Nobility: If you were in Dominica during the the 20 years you were out, you would have been singing a different song!
Zephaniah 1:12
(12) ” And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,
Who say in their heart,
‘ The LORD will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
@Anonymous:
well you cannot say what he did not say eh. He did not say as low as possible. He said to zero. capiche?
@king ghetto: The villagers of Layou and the Layou Improvement Committee have taken the initiative to engage in Eco-Tourism projects. TITIWI FEST, RIVER TUBING, HIKES TO MIRACLE LAKE and so on are all good projects to bring in some money and ease up on poverty. Those have no negative effects on their environment. Here comes the big Business foreigner with plans to build an ASPHALT PLANT in the area and close to one of Dominica’s most beautiful river. Villagers complained and begged Skerritt’s GOVT. to consider their concerns of health and Negative impacts on their Eco-Tourism projects. The poor villagers were tricked in believing that GOVT. would act in their interest. Although Planning itself indicated that the businessman had acted illegally in the first place by starting without Planning permission, Planning and GOVT. sided with the Big Man against the concerns of the poor people of Layou.and he was still given permission to build the plant. It is now belching TONS of CANCER-CAUSING TOXIC WASTE on the same people who also voted for them. The YOUTH complain of problems in breathing and the rotten smell when playing football in the area. Is that the way a PM and his GOVT. fighting poverty by increasing POLLUTION? By allowing TOXIC waste to destroy the poor villagers HEALTH? By dampening their spirits? By POLLUTING the SAME Natural Resources that could make them get away from poverty through ECO -Tourism projects? PM you can’t fool all the people all of the time.
@ryon: How do we fight poverty? By creating an institution to give handouts? there is no transparency, no one monitors or account for those handouts. That approach creates more dependence on Skerritt and more poverty. Focus on building VILLAS and amassing massive wealth at the expense of poor people, engaging in questionable land deals, selling black is white to all and sundry our Dominican passports cannot be a strategy for fighting poverty. Putting very little resources to improve production and productivity cannot be the right thing to fight poverty. Farmers displaced and bawling, employment increasing daily, no manufacturing, women facing the brunt of your assault on the poor and you talking about fighting poverty? of course, Skerritt will continue to fool Dominicans who maybe one day may see some light as their pockets become emptier and with more and bigger holes. As the majority get poorer and Dominica sliding to the abyss of increased poverty, the few Mr. PM are laughing all the way to the local and foreign banks. The National DEBT is now 1 $BILLION and rising. The DEBT has increased significantly under SKERRITT and his DLP GOVT. with productivity at its lowest. The rural folks are stifling and the rural economy has gone to grass under that GOVT. SOS. SOS FOR DOMINICA. SOS NOW NOT LATER.
@Hmmmm: Just wondering what this name mean…do you always got this in your mouth or you riding a bike or a donkey.if you know so much you should see where ah coming from.
mrs skerrit in order to fight poverty we need you to focus on giving local dominicans a better opitunity to uplif themself such as giving out more petty contract on your infastructer campian you are carring out we should use the infastructer campian as a stimilization pacage for dominicans because we have been down for to long other contries in the caribbean experiants there economy boom now we picing up or own and giving it to foring company all the briges and drain projects and defence wall we are going about giving away reconsider local dominicans make sure they have there trade license and paying tax so that we know there are legal to do the job that will pay a great deal in fighting poverty. mrs.pm in any other part of the world there native people always get the first prefence in any thing that is going on in the country. its time to give we dominican a chance because those company geting the jobs and hireing we dominicans to do it and we get little or nothing and pass like fools after they gone with the big chunk of it. please please please have a heart for we dominicans skerrit set up a office as a petty construction so we could come direct to the office act us or construction experiance give us your drawings question us on your drawing and we wil deliver it is ower chance know.
Ryon What have you planted in your life time? Ever planted or sprikled carrot seeds on a bed you made your self? You seem to be the kind who eats macaroni and corned beef. void of any agricultural ideas.
Text book BS.Get real man did n’t you read ZERO’s contribution?
Labourite, I am stealing the worthless Party’s slogan with a twist or twick. Let not your heart be troubled , lessen your fears. There are authentic labourites like me and my group of high powered friends and collegues who have stepped aside from the highbrid infiltrate of our original party to plan organize to remove and bring to justice ,these infiltrates and infidels. You’ll never have to worry when we take over.
The process/movement will absorb and use your talents in the not to distant future. The infidels will be be brought to trail for crimes against the state swiftlky. Please do not be worried by their wealth accumulation. Ever heard the word confiscate?By the power of law that can dissapear with a stroke of a pen.
All that can easily be taken care of under a revolutionary government. Under the order of law to twick their new coined phrase. This corrupt practices, betrayal ,individuals jumping ship for economic gains etc, are all reversible. Look at Cuba in 1959. Ever wondered why so many cuban opportunists of that era ( who fled to maimi) even Castro’s sister hates him? He took away their goodies and as we say in DA cramped their style. There are so many of them at present on the Commonwealth of DA to say its a shame.Low hanging fruit lacking or have difficulties with honesty.
Have no fear not UWP style, they proved to be a bunch of opportunists themselves. Look at them now? “It’s only a matter of time.”Brook Benton
255 people removed from poverty overnight??????? PLEASE!!
Dominicans (especially those that support somebody) are so gullible. People, POVERTY CAN’T AND NEVER WILL BE ELIMINATED! AS long as we have educational institutions and politics, then poverty can never be eliminated. it may appear to reduce slightly but that is just an illusion.
The top jobs are given to the more educated who will send their children to become educated. the poor cannot afford that luxury. so when you hear the politicians and educators talking about education is no longer a luxury for the poor but a privilege for all and the politicians talking about eliminating poverty, tell them MWEN MEME say come to him and let’s debate it on national TV.
@Joyful: You don’t feel the pain. you may have your big job, your house, living sweet .. so you don’t FEEL the pain of the people
how about, it is not what Dominica and the Govt can do for us but what we can do for Dominica, we need investments and US dollars in the banks, how many of you have savings accounts in Dominica Banks? even though many of you are living large in the States. The PM is trying and we should rally around Dominica, send the money, visit often, tell your friends to visit and invest.
Fly your lying kite Skerrit, God will deal with you and those who are aiding and abetting you in propagating these lies. I have lost all respect and confidence in this DLP government which I once supported.
You could fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time!
God will always bless this prime minister….We hate good things to happen in D.A anyway……Don’t know what you got till it is gone……This is a country who worship dead people…..As i always say our sister islands wish they had a man like this as there leader…..Hold strong Mr.P.M you are doing a great job.
After Being away from DA for about 20 years i’ve had the pleasure to travel to many different parts of the world, as a soldier and civilian, to hear dominicans say this is a third world country i could only shake my head in disbelief. I’ve seen third world and poverty, DA is far from both. But we do have a third world mentality.
Poverty is a result of lack of proper planning, a lack of proper investing, and a lack of ideas, any one in Dominica or as a matter of fact anywhere with the right idea to solve a national or a global problem can eradicte some the problems that may be associated with it.
question really is, what I can share, plan or invest that could make a difference. Another aspect of eradicating poverty is to invest in education, which is a bridge builder to a promising tomorrow,
another solution to eradicate poverty it to raise the enterprenual spirit with the community so that potential native business owners can be incubated with their communities to develop their naturals resources to meet demands, that incubation must be strengthened by the a great spirit of volunterism within the private sector, especially by those who are retired and want to give back some of their expertise to Dominicans, so you can see in a snap shot, some of the ways each one can contribute to make that a community reality.
@Joyful: some slaves on the plantation also used to lament “why are u fighting for freedom and sounding so ungrateful to massa? at least he giving us a some hand me downs once a year and he doesn’t beat as much as de other masters.” this administration is playing lip service to the major underlying issues as it relates to poverty. i personally think that better can be done if a serious effort is instituted on the behalf of the poor. employment opportunities and productivity across sectors such as agriculture, industry and tourism will be needed instead of “giving a man a fish” and saying you saved his life. anyone who has been on island over the years can see that our situation is worsening while a few prosper.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has told Dominicans that the level of poverty could drop to zero as long as his party is in government.
Please tell the rest of the world how this can be accomplish. Because u will put DA on the global map. dam aaaaaaaaaaaassssssssssssssssssssssssssss………
Did the Prime Minister said zero?… You must be kiddin me. someone need to define poverty to him. Red Clinic is not going to solved that problem, Dominica we care, wont do it.
It is Jobs, jobs, jobs and more jobs. Government must create the environment which will enable the condition, not hand outs, and not jobs for the boys; Rather jobs that will lift the people out of poverty. The purchasing power of a hard earn Dollar, that is what needs to be done. We need some chinses proverbs: It might help the PM understand poverty. Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day, Teach him to fish, and he will feed himself for a life time”.
I am not a betting person,however i have a gut feeling that the PM can’t give a definition of the term poverty.In this country poverty has reached an astronomical figure.In the countryside people are bawling,some don’t know where the next meal will come from,some are afraid to say anything like my good neighbour friend,because the party promised them “a rose garden”, In Roseau “is worse and too bad”.The green bananas that people use to pick up in the market,sometimes in Fond Cole near the port, is now “gold”.You can’t see that again! Former farmers who have been displaced are struggling to make ends meet..Some families can only cook “water” in their pots,because there isn’t anything.Yet still mr PM poverty has declined for you.Your ruling reminds me of Mr Mugabe in Zimbabwe.
Thing is the country has been plunged into a state of despair,hopelessness and abject poverty..I will not even mention the high cost of living.This is a topic by itself..YOU HAVE FAILED YOUR OWN COUNTRY,YOUR SUPPORTERS,THE POOR……IN THE MEANTIME YOU AND YOUR CRONIES ARE LIVING LIKE KINGS….
@Hmmmm:
“Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages.”
This is exactly my take on the matter.
@NOW: You’re a liar too, Dominica dosent need a government, we just need to remain neutral let the bush dominate, make the people plant and take boat to travel, let us rear horses and donkeys for transport and we will live good, we have too much right now we worse than the the children of israel, we dont want to see hard time we think we live in utopia.
@frank: Frank you seem to live in UTOPIA where all is good , stress free , no curruption just peace and tranquility, Skeritt is not to blame for the mass development that is happening in Dominica. All parties on Dominica are currupt, no one knows how to make Dominicans happy because we are never satisfied.
Our forefathers are the ones who killed this island, too many bad decisions in the past cripple Dominica today now, the young people are trying to turn it around. I’m asking you and others to get up from all you tooshes and go and plant crops, export and support your government.
@NOW: There are people in the other islands who have it worse than dominicans, no water , no food , shelter yes, we have all to our exposure in Dominica. Are you living in poverty? well if you are i’m not in the same boat as you.
@Hmmmm: Taken straight from my mouth, Dominicans are not poor, we are more fortunate with the basic neccesities of life and yet still we think otherwise, no one in Dominica can say they hungry or have no water nor shelter
@Red at heart:
If Obama came to Dominica and endorsed what Skerrit was saying, then you would have to shut your mouth. No one knows what he’s saying. Hes saying that he’ll try to get poverty down. You and I both know that he can’t get it to zero. That’s imposible. BUt he’s going to do what’s necessary to get it as low is it can be. Dominica isn’t rich but it’s one of the only countries recording growth in this economic recession, so you guys should appreciate this leader. He’s doing his job.
The Prime Deceiver is at it again….God, the man has no shame.
Poverty is the lack of basic human needs, such as clean water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, because of the inability to afford them. This is also referred to as absolute poverty or destitution. Relative poverty is the condition of having fewer resources or less income than others within a society or country, or compared to worldwide averages.
The government may provide and may try to eradicate absolute poverty in Dominica but relative poverty will never reach zero.I do not believe that any one government or party could eradicate poverty in any country.Many of the more developed countries of the world still have person living below the poverty line and they have money.So to make a statement such as this one ( staying with the Dominica Labour Party and poverty will be zero )is total and complete pile of crap. The Prime Minister needs to think and do a little research about any thing before he speaks to the Dominican populace.That is my take on the matter.
@Democratic Lover
You mean give thanks to fool the people forever
If you think about it, Dominica does not have poverty but a semblance of it. Dominica has a little poverty here and there but nothing to cry about. So the PM hopes to eradicate even the semblance of it. Once this is done, then that would mean there is zero poverty on the island. I am just trying to make sense of the statement and kinda have to agree that Dominica has not seen the level of poverty which the outside world has experienced. I am from Dominica and has not seen POVERTY like I do in other parts of the world. So it’s all about the operational definition of the word poverty and what we understand it to be.
What is the homeless rate? How many people eat from garbage bins? How many children die from starvation?
@Democratic lover: LOVER ? SURELY NOT DEMOCRATIC. LAST TIME I LOOKED UP THE WORD YOU DID NOT QUALIFY!
I wonder if the prime minister or some of the commentators on DNO can define poverty.
As long as the party remains in power{CUBA}poverty will be wipe out LOL
Dominica has about 10X255 people in abject abject poverty..I mean people who cannot face a supermarket to buy anything,and some people who do not know Roseau,cause they do not have the means to do so.
All liars will have their day in the lake of fire..Take lying for a joke still…and play games with the people of Dominica..Every rope has an end including yours.
Lol this man is so delusional that it seems like he actually believing what he saying.lol
PM says that there is little poverty in Dominica and all the poor people shout Amen
thanks to the PM for having supreme powers to wipe out poverty in dominica. no country in the world is without poverty but if his gorvernment stays in office they will wipe out poverty (zero poverty). he talks about 255 persons who are on yes we care program and says that they are out of poverty knowing well that is poverty that have them on yes we care program not being able to provide for them selves. mr PM think before talking. I know u mean good but dont play GOD.
That is true. Look at how the people in Dominica have more money now than they ever had before thanks to the DLP. Everyone can now live good with labor….especially the people from Portsmouth. All the businesses are making a lot of money. I dont even mind if the PM takes a million or two for himself when he signs a deal foreign.
papamet oy.
I wish to know who are the 255 people who were taken out of poverty overnight, mr pm. Please tell.
You all built some houses in the Carib Territory for instance, how many of these houses are occupied? Can someone please tell? It has already been said that is where the poorest people reside on the Island, yet you all want these poor people to pay between $80,000 and $100,000 for them houses, and they cannot even get the land.
Fight poverty? Now the investigation is on, we will see who is poor and who is rich. We are already seeing who owns Hummer and who own Tundra.
That country have too much damn corruption and poverty.
Choops man…..we are just fed up with all this crap
Mr.Skerrit, you should be ashamed of your self to write or read such a report. you do not have to step too far outside your home to see the degree of poverty on this tiny island. You and I both know of global companies with more employees than there are people on this island and their management team a far superior job running these companies than you and your team do running this island. it is really upsetting that you would make such a statement. The only way this island can begin to thrive, is to remove all of you selfish, self serving so call leaders out of office and to bring new people who have never been involved in politics into office.
We need people who are not corrupt, and who can bring fresh new innovative ideas to the table to build this island.
the headline 4 get a part….. it shold read” WE HAVE TO FIGHT POVERTY IN EVERY CORNER OF MY POCKET”
True Mr. PM? Well you must leave your office and come down to those villages andsee for yourself.
Your mouth must stay wide open! Am poorer than before mr. PM.
dominica will always get poorer when the government keep stealing and hiding money for their own personal use…
IWell said PM, but remember to give thanks to the Creator for giving you the brains and wisdom to rule the people wisely.
Wisdom does not reside in one head..One day the good lord could let you feel what the ordinary Dominican who cannot do better is feeling.This bogus survey which was probably conducted by one of your cronies probably done inside of your own home,and not in the villages all over the island.In a failing ecomomy where all the productive sectors are failing; where all the productive sectors registered decline:agriculture,tourism,manufacturing,remitances from abroad,and of course it goes by reasoning employment also.So where on earth poverty could have declined..Everything you say has to be taken with a grain of salt,because you lie on impulse and Dominicans know that.
You must let Dominica go one day. Everything is for a season my friend..My big worry is it will be a herculian task to undo the danger and wanton harm that you have done and still doin to it.
A $50.00 from a Red Clinic is not and will never be a reduction in poverty.LIES,LIES,AND MORE LIES ON IMPULSE !!!
I will continue to always divide these politicians into two groups. Those who live by what they know to be a lie, and those who live by what they believe, falsely, to be the truth. And on top of that there are really starting to believe their own lies.Lord Help us.