INTERVIEW: A conversation with former prime minister Edison James – Part II

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On an island that has long appreciated the recounting and preservation of our history (after all, one of the Caribbean’s most recognized historians and anthropologists, Dr. Lennox Honychurch, hails from our island), Mr. Edison James, one of only two Dominican former Prime Ministers still alive, the only one still living in Dominica, and now 81, is essentially an embodiment of our history, particularly our political history, post our independence from Britain. When I reached out to Mr. James earlier in the year to ask for his time during my visit to Dominica in March, it was because I was curious and excited to capture and transcribe his story and his perspective for the sake of posterity. Part 1 of the conversation was published here in April.

When I sat down to talk with Mr. James in March, this was less than a week after protest action in Roseau, and later in my village of Salisbury, primarily related to what some Dominicans consider inadequate electoral reform laws. Both protests (which took different forms) were regarded as unauthorized by the police who fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protestors in Roseau, and in Salisbury, at several points in the village after protest action had ended and while most villagers, including our young and elderly were tucked away in their homes in the early evening.

On Sunday, March 23rd, I partnered with some of the key leaders in Salisbury to hold a public community meeting on the cricket field and called on villagers and supporters across Dominica to show up in solidarity with Salisbury. This was a peaceful gathering, with messages from speakers to the police that their actions were (once again) excessive and abusive. Mr. James showed up in support. So, electoral reform was top of mind, and this is where we began Part II of our conversation.

Q: Electoral reform continues to be a weighty topic in Dominica. What exactly is the problem with how elections are run in Dominica today?

Mr. James: Elections have not been free and fair for the last twenty years. If you check the report of the Commonwealth Observer mission with respect to the 2014 elections, that is encapsulated there. It has to do with a bloated list, it has to do with the incumbency, and it has to do with where the government uses the resources of the state for electoral benefits.

In particular there are three key areas of this. One, the ruling party has been depending on and bringing in Dominicans who are non-resident in Dominica, paying their passage (you may be familiar with the story already), contrary to the constitution and the law.

Two, there is the absence of voter ID cards. So that bloated list – including at times people who have died and remain on the list, but most notably the people who have been away for many years – is a source from which they get people who are not subject to the negatives of the actions of the government and the corresponding impact. So, these people don’t have “skin in the game”.

For example, if garbage isn’t picked up at my place for five weeks – that’s something that may probably make me not want to vote for the Labor Party. DOMLEC lights are not available to me to whatever time, that may be something that may make me not want to vote for the Labour Party. And those sorts of things.

The person who is living overseas, who is resident overseas, is not affected by those things on an ongoing basis, so they come, with their travel often facilitated by the Labour Party and with promises of other incentives, they vote, and then they leave us in our jaboom.

And three, there are no campaign finance restrictions and parties can use whatever money they want for their campaigns, and this is how they fund the transportation costs of bringing people in to vote during elections.

These are the issues at the center of the electoral reform conversation. In some cases, the laws are there but they are not being implemented. For example, the laws provide for the authorities to remove the names of people who are dead, but they have not put a mechanism in place to have this done routinely.

I would say that’s where we are. So far, the government is still resisting comprehensive reforms around campaign financing. We tried to get them to recognize that they have not put in the specific legislation in place to deal with comprehensive campaign financing. There is provision in the House of Assembly for criminalizing bribery, and at the end of that section, we should add that, “for the avoidance of doubt”, paying for people to come to Dominica during elections would be considered bribery – they have refused to include that. Why would you want to resist a statement like that?

And I, like many people, feel that in the absence of those kinds of provisions and to the extent the ruling party has access to this money, it will always have this pool of people who are residents overseas and who have no concern about bad management of the country. But under the legislation, once it’s implemented, we can go a long way toward minimizing the impact of those particular aberrations on fair elections.

Q: Let’s pivot to the United Workers Party. You were critical in the establishment of the party. How did
the UWP come about?

Mr. James: Shortly after I left DBMC in 1988, a group of us – Julius Timothy, Garnet Didier, Norris Prevost – we got together to have a discussion, and that is how the party was seeded. Then a few weeks later, eleven of us had a meeting at my place in Hatton Garden and further advanced the process. So, by the time it started coming out that a new party was on the scene, the Freedom Party had a big headline in The Chronicle, “New Party: Welcome”, with a sub-heading, “It Will Make It Easier for Us.”

Q: It’s interesting to hear the origin of the UWP. I remember the very early days of the party – one of your first meetings as a new party was in Salisbury at my parents’ house; I was 10 or 11 years old and remember speakers addressing a crowd from our porch.

Mr. James: That’s exactly how we did it. Our first meeting was in Toucari, Cottage constituency, facilitated by a former Labor Party parliamentarian, Qualan Dubois. We called him and said we wanted to have a discussion with a few people and asked if he could organize it.

Q: Can you talk a bit about some of the leaders who made up your administration?

Mr. James: It was a strong group of leaders who were established hard workers. We had people like Julius Timothy who had previously led a company, Norris Prevost who had run companies, Vernice Belloney who had made her name in the field of social work, Mrs. Gertrude Roberts, who was a principal. And one of our brightest and most empathetic guys was Earl Williams who always had a lot of ideas. We also had with us Doreen Paul a former banker, relatively young, bright and enthusiastic. The list also included the wisdom and work experience of Peter Carbon, Ron Geen, Norris Charles, Julian Prevost, Romanus Bannis, François Barrie and others…. a truly formidable team.

Q: What was most memorable about serving as Prime Minister of Dominica?

Mr. James: To be able to leave the scene with a narrative about us: “yo te ka fè kachoy tou pa tou”. And that’s the most satisfying thing -that it’s recognized that we did things all around the country. To have generated that kind of stamp: “yo te ka fè kachoy tou pa tou”.

Q: And you got a whole song about it (Former Calypsonian the Brakes’ theme song “Workers”).

Mr. James: Yes, that’s it – to be the Prime Minister for all.

Q: Were there any leaders in the world past or present that inspired you or that you admired?

Mr. James: The resilience of Mandela, the endurance, and the lack of bitterness were all inspiring. Recognizing the nature of what you are involved in, the nature of politics, that there will be people who will have a different perspective and who will not want you to be in the position you’re in, who will want to get you out. As they say, the fundamental adage of the opposition role is to propose, oppose, expose and depose. So, you have to understand that’s the nature of politics and unless you can show tangible proof that somebody hates you because of you, then you have to take it that this is not about you.

There is nobody I hate as a person, nobody. I believe we should be able to always separate the politics.

The only enemy I have is the person who is standing in front of me when I am standing on my feet in parliament; just a political enemy and nothing else. I do not like when there are situations where we should drop our political guard, when we should drop our politicking and just be human beings and that doesn’t happen. Any political opponent of mine who came into my constituency would get full respect. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone in the constituency to throw barbs at them, they have to get full service and looked after as just a human being – whether they are visiting for business or pleasure. We are just two human beings in the same area of human activity and can relate to each other.

Q: What are the one to two lessons learned that you’d want to share with our political leaders?

Mr. James: My advice to our politicians would be to be a leader for everybody. Also, recognize that you will not be a leader in perpetuity. I heard someone say recently that when leaders are in positions where they can frame laws and rules and regulations, they should frame them to provide for an operational framework that they would be comfortable living in; they should have the mindset that they will not be in the leadership role for all time.

For those aspiring to be in politics, they have to prepare themselves that they may not be the leader of the country, but the leader of their party or leader of the opposition and the most difficult job in this sphere of operation is the management of a political party in opposition. You have neither carrot nor stick – and if you haven’t gone through that, don’t consider yourself a complete political person.

Q: You’re now 81, you have served Dominica in different capacities for the majority of your life, what do you want to see for the island in the next 10 years?

Mr. James: I would like to see Dominica get on a path of real prosperity and growth where there are equal opportunities to access the state resources, whether it’s physical resources, financial resources, or social resources, that everyone has equal opportunity; that nobody is going to be denied those things because they are not of a particular political persuasion. I am concerned about how we are going to sustain this country, bearing in mind that at least at this point in time, we are, as it were, on one pillar; this “construct Dominica” is on one pillar –CBI (Citizen by Investment). I believe that the base of it has been significantly eroded.

I also believe that it is counterproductive for any one leader to be Prime Minister for more than two consecutive terms. I would like to see constitutional change that does not place in the hands of one man such awesome power – or relative awesome power – and there has to be some guardrails. Now, I recognize that framers of rules and regulations and constitution and laws do that framing on the basis that the operation of those frames, those institutions, will be handled by reasonable, upright and honest men, but nobody can predict and provide for every eventuality. I hope that we can frame the structure within which we can exist in the future to minimize the opportunity for those outliers to be able to practice their trade for too long.

You can reach Gizelle at [email protected].