Almost one month after Speaker of the House of Assembly Alix Boyd Knights declared the seats of Edison James, the U.W.P candidate for Marigot, and Hector John the U.W.P’s representative for Salisbury, vacant, James has led a three member delegation to the President Nicholas Liverpool.
James had been expressing concerns with the move saying Knights acted out of her powers when she made the move, and that she had a “personal battle” with the opposition.
“Very strong submissions were made by the three members to the president pointing out the main issues involved, including among others, the constitutional recognition of members who have not taken their seats, the abuse by the speaker of parliamentary conduct and procedures, the speaker’s claim to powers she does not possess, the speaker’s flawed attempt to terminate the membership of Honourable James and John.” James disclosed after meeting with President Liverpool Tuesday.
He said the issues were discussed at length, and the matter may be going to court.
“The president also expressed his views and position on the current situation and the way forward. It was agreed that the matter was of major constitutional importance for the entire nation and as such, it is in the interest of the state, that a definitive clarification by the court should be sought for, and on behalf of, the citizens of the state.
“A mechanism and procedure for pursuing this was agreed upon, and in this regard, his Excellency undertook to engage the prime minister at the earliest opportunity in order to put that mechanism in place to achieve the desired objective,” James noted.
I am sad at how persons respond to articles such as these. Let’s look at this objectively….the only reason that these two parliamentarians are out of Parliament is because their team had and have issues with the way the elections were conducted. In every country in the world and most recently Britain it is shown that when persons are unhappy with an electoral system they present their case to be heard and amended where necessary. All this bickering by the ill-informed commentators on here does not address the real issues of concern of the Opposition party and not just the UWP, the other oppositions as well and even private individuals who did not vote. All that was and is being requested is that the proper measures are put in place so that the Human Rights of every eligible voting citizen of this country is not violated. ALL this nonsense talk of the UWP staggering and fighting makes no sense. All you F…. ILli…. persons who comment look to the real picture and not the individuals. I believe they have a right to stand up and be counted and you with all your silly comments is just helping to make the sitting government look more guilty of fraud and corruption than anything else. The UWP representatives may have the wrong measures but the basic idea of their campaign is fairness to the average citizen and any Judge and Jury who goes against that don’t understand their own civil rights or worse case scenario they were/are paid to be ignorant and biased of the International Human Rights of the citizens they claim to represent.
Like the DEVIL AFRAID OF HOLY WATER. Who is scared to the bone about ELECTORAL REFORM? None of those persons bashing or trying to belittle those fighting for their rights, will ever mention, not for one moment, the issue of CHANGING THE WAY WE IN DOMINICA AND THE WIDER CARIBBEAN DO POLITICS TO IMPROVE OUR DEMOCRACY. IN EVERYTHING that we do, whether in politics, education, agriculture, tourism, local GOVT, manufacturing or ………… wouldn’t we want to look at what obtains at present and try to do things better? Is everything in all areas of our development nice and dandy and there is no need to fix anything? Give me a break, my people. Have you heard about the word EVALUATE?
Most, if not all Dominicans were so mad with the way West Indies team played the 50 over match on Sunday in Dominica, yet you are telling me that nothing should be done, neither by the cricketers themselves nor the WICB to make things better? Mechanism should not be put in place/? Just let the players continue like that or the selectors should continue to make mistakes in not picking the right guys? Should the Cricket Board continue with business as usual? Have you all destroyed your thinking caps?
All over the world, people are calling for free and fair elections and many parties have been challenging irregularities in the election process. Closer home in Antigua, the Antigua Labour Party filed petitions citing irregularities in the 2009 General Elections there. The courts ruled in favour of the ALP. Was the ALP politicians and supporters fools, suffering from LOPS? Were they mad people, power hungry, thugs or blind mice to act accordingly? Didn’t you all support the ALP in its fight to have elections conducted in a free and fair manner? So why continue with that long lasting hatred of your own fellowmen for doing the same thing in trying to get our own election process to be free and fair? And then Govt and its supporters turn around and repeat empty statements of ‘LET US COME TOGETHER TO BUILD DOMINICA.’ Do nothing to decrease or stop crimes, corruption, violence, fraud, stealing? Do nothing to address inequalities, child abuse, or violence against men and women? Is so we can build Dominica? What HYPOCRISY AND DOUBLE STANDARDS !!!!!!!!!!!!! WE are all human beings with a brain. PASS WE PASSING ON PAPA GOD WORLD. LIFE IS SO SHORT. Let’s work to make things better. ELECTORAL REFORM NOW FOR A BETTER DOMINICA AND FOR A BETTER LIFE. THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THOSE EXPRESSIONS OF DEEP HATRED TOWARDS EACH OTHER. DOMINICA IS TOO SMALL FOR THAT MY PEOPLE.
Man whats your issue? Did anyone tell the UWP to boycott? They did what they had to do, so they should faced the consequences. Stop playing with the issues. Call a spade a spade.
I AGREE. COULD’NT HAVE SAID IT BETTER.
i would like to know .is it who leave in dominica that are called dominician? what uwp is saying is that those of us that have the oppertunity to work and leave outside of dominica are not dominicain so we can’t vote in our own country .where is my civil rights
LOL
Dont you know how many Haitians, Spanish and French we have given passports and are registered to vote in Marigot and salsbury?
Easy win
easy spychology
LOLOLOLOLO :-)
dominicans should never bent and stoop to upp, they are evil, have a plague, just look at the places where blue represent, its all about confusion and destruction, take an example of the mess antigua is in today all because of this shade, its like this is the colour or the devil because these supporters are soooooooooo tormented in every island….dominicans hold your head high, do not allow our beloved country to be sold to evil, mr skerrit continue to do what you are doing
Ideally, the buck stops with the President, not PM, Speaker of the house or even just bloggers like you and I. Ideally though, Ideally.
I wish some folks on this blog would stop writing. Just because you have access to the internet does not mean you have any thing substantial to contribute to a discussion.
‘All you folks know is how to take out Mayprey’.
But then again these are our people and that’s how they deal with issues.
The President is an educated man and he has the abilty to listen, reason and disagree respectfully unlike most of the folks on this blog.
This is nothing else but three carton carracters Dumb dumber and scoubidoo three fools, after the people of Roseau Marigot and saulisbuty willingly went to the poles and voated for you three political clowns,three blind mice going to the President to do what ;you are the ones who stayed out of parliment no body held you at gun point and kept you out it is all your stupidness and dunceness that did that ,you had your right to go to parliment and represent the three constituencies and get your senators and put up a good oposition but your failure to do that cost you the seats now Roseau Marigot and salisbury are without represantation so what should the speaker do waite for you untill you are ready well fools that is not so you loose.Even Norris Prevost should be out because he only came to make us know how foolish and coward he is you all are nothing than a bunch of dunce cats and greedy for power you suffering from LOPS lost of power syndrom no court can give you right.Marigot Roseau and Salisbury need good represantation and should not vote for those foolish Monkeys again. And dont think for one minute UWP can get the Vieille Case seat not over our dead body’s R I P WUP hope you burn with plenty fire in Hell. You remember it was your party that was comunist when you held Hubert Sabroach at gut point in 1995 and throw him out of parliment nou the evil you do come back to hunt you oh FREEDOM God would punish for becoming those evil rats friend .
Is Messrs James and John really truthful about the last paragraph of this article? Knowing Mr. James that must be taken with a whole of salt.
I wasn’t there but the paragraph,“A mechanism and procedure for pursuing this was agreed upon, and in this regard, his Excellency undertook to engage the prime minister at the earliest opportunity in order to put that mechanism in place to achieve the desired objective,” James noted. These could not have come from the President, in that, the President know and the Constitution has said it also that the President acts on the advice of the Prime Minister and only in a few cases can the President act on his own deliberate judgement.
The President may have hinted he will have a discussion with the Prime Minister, but not as Messrs James and John have stated. The only recourse for the opposition Parliamentarians is to have the court decide as outlined in the Constictution, there can be no reversal and or mediation in this matter.
If anyone believes that the Speaker or anyone has a bone to pick with the opposition on this matter the one place to resolve it as of now is the High Court. There can be no reversal, mediation and reaching common ground. Any of the these action by parliament or any other person, group or institution would be an attempt to make a mockery of the Constitution.
Messrs James and John must admit that the President must have told them that, he will take no sides and will just give an ear to their concerns, and the court will decide. Will Messrs James and John kindly put their proverbial tails between their legs and get to the Court or participate in bye- election if they so desire. Surely, you’re now looking for a way out of your stupidity. You’re no doubt aware that the court will rule against you and that cash and other factors are also against you.
Pride is your biggest enemy Messrs James and John and the UWP. Just do what is right. You’ll be castigated but that’s not the end of the world as it were. Big up and man up.
”Just Astonished” is really a suitable name for the writer because what he or she writes is really unbelieavble. The writer dismisses the report of Messers James and John on what the President said as lacking credibility. Yet, most incredibly, he or she goes to say what he or she thought of what the President actually said. ”Just Astonished” was not in the room with the President. Messers James and John were there; they met and discussed with the President. Just Astonished has no credibility on this issue and should not pretend otherwise.
it’s called denial….it early still…u going to hear alot of that within a few weeks…
Where is Ron?
LABOURITES NEED TO KNOW THEY WILL NEVER WIN IN MARIGOT. Jump high jump low, they are wasting time,and resources if they think they will win in Marigot. Marigot people are still not for sale. By the way: Where is the RED CLINIC located now? What are the hours of operation? Who is elligible for assistance right now? Who can I call to give me more detailed information on the RED CLINIC? I ask all these questions because you see the people of Marigot seeing that they are not “represented” by anyone at the momnet, this might just be the perfect opportunity for all concerned to start encouraging them to get free goodies from interested parties. FREE is the operative word, because remember I said Marigot people, cannot be bought: ugly and black and all the other negative adjectives used to describe them, you cannot find a more proud people in Dominica. They Cannot be bought you know. Trust me I know some of them. They are NOT FOR SALE. MAKE SURE YOU GIVING FREE GOODIES! They hungry but they are dieing with dignity. Boy I wish people in my village were like them.
oh well we already have 18 seats we really dont need Marigot to get us any where, but if the people decides that they want representation, well thats a different story we are then willing to assist that, but truely if Marigot people want to remain with the sad situation that they call eddison and the uwp sa la vi.
Look jokes coming from two stooges. I really cannot understand what is wrong with some of us. First to begin we claim to interprete the law and yet still we are unable to quote any case law to support our argument, yet we going around talking about the court should be the one to decide who is right or wrong as it relates to abdicating the seats.
The constitution stated clearly that if one is aggrieve, he or she should take his grievance to court where there cna be a hearing, but the constitution has never once said that the court should take on its own and say look this one is right or wrong.
When the bush lawyer are coming on national radio and misleading the masses, it must be told to them by those who know better that that may brain wash a few, but not all.
In concluding, while I may not be a supporter of the UWP, but it would take nothing at all, other than just mere pride that the UWP goes in to parliament with their 3-4 seats and make a meaning contribution to our beautiful Dominica, and if in the interim they feel that they have issues with the election proceed to court to seek varification. Today they would have been in a beeter position and better respected than to be helter skelter all over the place and now crying foul.
hahahaha….YOU’RE laughable…oh god..
look something for allu to read….
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/North-East-St-Ann-MP-to-fight-ruling_7668239
if you have Skerrit on your mind when you see this article, then you have to reach closer to home since Edison James has dual citizenship and he too would be disqualified.
Stop looking at one angle.
lol lol lol lol….
and wouldnt the dominica labour party love that joke to be true for them to had filed a case in 2000, 2005 and 2009 against him?…
if you need to say that to yourself to feel comforted then that is a matter for you….but bordiay…doh embarrass yourself so in DNO..
I do not need comforting but whatever happens to skerrit the DLp will still beat you all whenever general elections are called again and even if we give you five seats you still be out of parliament.
Help you foolish pride James and John to just admit they went about the whole issue wrong and are now attending parliament.
Losers.
Poor observation here!
Read the article again!!!
If you were on the legal team of the UWP would you honestly bring that “garbage” article to a judge in the High Court of Dominica or the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court as prima face evidence?
Is the constitution of Jamaica and Dominica similar in every material respect where the relevant sections on who can be a qualified parliamentarian is concerned?
Have you compared the two constitutions?
SO SICK OF ABBOT AND CASCARLO.
I am asking the same question as the 12 years old child. WHO IS THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION at present.
The Prime Mister or Dominica is Skeritt
The speaker of the house is Boyd
The President is Liverpool
The leader is of the Opposition is —————?
oh little boys!!!! you knew just what the law says and you deliberately broke the law, now you crying like a little baby
what you need to do is get together the two side and build the international airport and develope the country
@Joe Cooker, There is not at present a leader of the opposition in parliament. The united workers party being the main oposition it would be assumed that it’s leader would be the leader of the oposition, but he would have to be declared a senator since he did not win his seat.
Thank you very much for your answer.
Thank you.
Hello everyone,
I am a 12 year old student doing some school home work and need to know…can someone inform me on who is the present Leader of the Opposition in Dominica since the 2009 election?
If you are a school child and you dont know who is your opposition leader then you should be planting fig
You missing the whole point! Guess it’s you who should go plant fig since you don’t understand sarcasm!!!
LOL @ ANONYMOUS THAT WAS A GOOD ONE.
I AGREE WITH YOU THOUGH.
Can someone tell me whats wrong with planting fig?, some of the fig planters make more money than you fools so stop it.
Thanks for your baseless answers!
Now that you two jack …. (hope my parents are not reading this post) have used up the limits of your brains, can someone who knows please inform me on who is the Leader of the Opposition in Dominica since the 2009 elections? I want to say its Mr. Green but since he lost his seat and is not in Parliament, I am confused as to whom is actually the official opposition leader. I just would like to finish this home work. Thank you.
I just wish this will all be resolved amicably so that we can all move on and concentrate on other matters(social ones being paramount). I am all for these men having their days in court. An unbiased one too. A fair treatment to their grievances.
Stupes Stupes Stupes. Im fed up with these guys. Is it possible for the news agencies to ignore them? They are giving me mal tete now…James and John your tactic is played out now. RELAX!!!
I wonder why the president invited them to meet with him.
The President didn’t invite them… they requested a meeting with the President and he was gracious enough to find time to listen to their petty, self inflected problems.
What a waste of time and effort James and John really just a couple of jokers.
u have no idea what you talking about….that’s all I will say…but carry on man…lol
Whats wrong with Eddision & co, are they stupid ?
i think you are the stupid one you cannot think for your self your love for skerrit have you blind open your eyes and think for your self please
I guess the constitution is stupid.