A strong call has been issued to all parliamentarians in Dominica to uphold the duties and responsibilities that the people have entrusted to them.
Minister of Health and Social Services Cassani Laville, made this appeal this morning while speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister at a one-day workshop on parliament orientation hosted by the Dominica branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
While congratulating the newly appointed and elected members and thanking the Workshop’s organizers, Lavilled stressed to his colleague that they have tremendous work ahead of them and must be devoted to a successful outcome.
“The most important business of the land is being charged as our responsibility therefore we must be prepared and we can’t treat the most important business of this land as casual, at all so I certainly embrace this for all of us,” the member of parliament for the Mahaut Constituency stated.
The minister asserted that in light of the difficulties the nation has encountered, new viewpoints are necessary to engage and confront these difficulties in novel and imaginative ways.
“We must approach these challenges with innovations. We must embrace new thinking, we must adopt a new posture and hence the reason why the honourable prime minister has announced a reset, and it is a reset that we must take seriously. we must embody that, we must espouse it in our thoughts , in our thinking, in our attitude, in our dispensation,” Laville declared.
Additionally, he made an appeal for unity among all members of parliament, saying that now is the time for everyone to show up “seriously and maturely” and understand that their role as legislators is to enact laws that promote peace and fosters good governance.
“We must therefore build comradery as much as possible,” the minister proposed. “We must see ourselves as partners. We must learn from and build from and support one another whenever possible as far as possible.”
He went on to emphasize the need for all members to further equip themselves for the task ahead by familiarizing themselves with the Dominican Constitution, the relevant provisions, what is expected of them, and the house of Assembly’s standing orders.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the House of Assembly Joseph Issac emphasized that the workshop was designed to refresh the knowledge of more seasoned lawmakers and bring newly elected legislators up to speed with the norms and processes of parliament.
The workshop which was delivered in four parts included an overview of parliament and its role in the governance of a country; part two explored the standing orders and the responsibilities and privileges of the members of the house of assembly while parts three and four equipped members with various debating styles and techniques while debating and give members the opportunity to participate in a mock meeting.
“I hope that members will take full advantage of this opportunity by participating effectively, asking questions and giving suggestions,” he said during the opening session.
“The legislature is the representative body of the people and therefore we should always be prepared, so when we come to debate or represent we will put our best foot forward on behalf of the people,” Issac added.
For her part, opposition leader and parliamentarian for the Salisbury Constituency Jesma Paul Victor emphasized that the workshop acted as an inspiration to the many new members of parliament, including herself.
“This of course is a great initiative by the government and CPA as it will enable us to become more fluent in our speech, better debaters and disciplined or guided by the standing orders of the house of assembly,” she said.
“My colleagues and I are therefore honoured to be part of this orientation workshop as it will help broaden our knowledge in matters of governance and parliamentary procedures,” the Salisbury MP added.
In addition, it was disclosed that the post-election seminar would take place in March and that the first session of parliament would begin on February 7, 2023.
Some people think that this is just about UWP and DLP. No people. It is not. It is about our country and it’s future. Honestly, I am ashamed at the make up of our parliament. Right now this thing is joke. In a world where things are becoming more complicated and intricate we need better trained and mature people in government and parliament. Sadly, we are going to reach the point when we will regret this.
What we have in parliament, especially on the government side, is a toxic brew of reprobates, miscreants, morons, imbeciles and nincompoops. Knowing this, my expectations of this sham parliament are bottommost.
Having said that, I want to repeat this refrain – You can’t make a tasty omelette from rotten eggs
Let me make sure I get that right. So Skerrit fired his experienced ‘ Birds of a feather, corrupt ministers because according to Skerrit they were lazy and weren’t ready for his reset and yet he had some of those rejects to train his kindergarten class of 2023? Was the training geared towards teaching them how to cheat, how to lie and how to defend Satan and sing the devils song, even if they know God know the songs of Zion and the truth?