From 3 pm today, the Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) which comprises opposition parties and civil society organisations in Dominica will be staging their first peaceful protest in hopes of getting the Prime minister to call off the upcoming general election.
Reiterating the United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) position that they will not participate in the upcoming election, economist Dr Thomson Fontaine who addressed the media last week implored “the good people of Dominica” to exercise their constitutional rights granted under the constitution of Dominica to protest peacefully to put pressure on the government to use the remaining time of the five years to grant electoral reform to Dominica.
“We are asking every Dominican to dress in white and come out in support of the coalition forces that are here so that we can send a very strong message to prime minister Roosevelt Skerrit and to the president of Dominica that we demand- it is no longer a request- that this election be set aside and that electoral reform goes forward and that at the end of this process we will have elections,” the economist declared.
According to Fontaine, the time has come for Dominicans to send a strong message to the prime minister that Dominica does not belong to him, and instead, he is a servant to the people.
“What is the prime minister afraid of, he boasts of being popular, the boast of being loved, but what he really is, is a coward,” the public figure said.
“He is a coward, running under the guides of an election because he is afraid to face off with the Dominican people whom he knows full well are fed up with his reign, whom he knows full well are prepared to get him out of office, so the question is what do we do going forward?” Fontaine questioned
While the acting political leader of the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) Bernard Hurtault notes that the prime minister has the legal right to call an early election, he voiced concerns over the “moral authenticity” of the prime minister calling the elections without the long-awaited reform.
“There was a timeline and a timetable to rule this thing out and finally level the playing field in a manner that allows us to have elections on a fair playing field,” he said. “And at that critical moment, at that junction when the prime minister had to make a moral choice and an ethical choice as to how do we proceed as a country he chose to make the unethical choice, the twisted choice, the undemocratic choice. And that is what we are protesting and that is what we are about preventing in this country.”
According to Hurtault, this is not the end, nor do they view election day as the end of a process, but more so the beginning of what should be viewed as an emancipation of the people.
He went on to emphasize the need for citizens to conduct themselves in a composed manner in the days leading up to the election, stating, “we will walk and protest peacefully. If they need to arrest us we will be dragged into the cells peacefully.”
“We shall not hand back the moral advantage to Roosevelt Skerrit by behaving badly. We call on all our supporters to toe the line so that we maintain the moral advantage over this gentleman. Do not allow him to say these are the people who want to subvert your democracy,” Hurtault added.
Meanwhile, Interim Leader of the Opposition United Workers Party (UWP), Francisca Joseph asserted that now is the time for all Dominicans irrespective of their political preference to stand in massive numbers to send a message to the government “that enough is enough.”
“Struggling Dominicans, we are calling on you because you should be motivated by now because of all what is happening in this county,” she said.
Joseph continued, “some of you still have your roof leaking after [Hurricane] Maira. some of you are still under tarpaulin, some of you never got a stimulus package, these are the people of Dominica who are being caught over and over again under the cycle of mismanagement and because of this we are standing.”
The politicians sent out a strong appeal to the new and indeed candidates, for the sake of the country to stand with the ERC for what she dubbed as a fight to save Dominica.
For his part, executive member of the National Joint Action Movement (NJAM) Johnson Boston opined that there’s behind the calling of this snap election and as such,
“We as a country should not stand and allow this to pass.”
He stated, “our duty as a people led by these organizations involved is to ensure that we send a strong message to the prime minister, the region and the world that Dominicans will not stand to be abused and to allow people to abuse their power to do things like this.”
In light of this activity, Chief of Police Daniel Carbon has notified all police officers that their rest days have been cancelled effective today-Thursday, November 17, 2022- until after the general elections.
The Dominican dictator may soon send in his goon squad toy soldiers dressed in camouflage to harass and beat up people.
The opposition parties in Dominica always seems to be in a never ready state!!! If calling the elections on December 6 is not unconstitutional then they will protest in vain. Only the people of Dominica are their (opposition) saving grace. Go campaign!!!
That is what UWP do,the use their unsuspecting supporters as fools.The functions of the President is spelt out in the constitution or extra functions given to him by Parliament.When a bill is taken to Parliament,it is debated, read three times the I’s have it(the majority).It is then sent to the President and signed into law.The Prisident must sign,it is his duty.If he does not sign,he will be kicked out of office by a majority of the elected members of the house.Labour party 18 seats UWP 3 go figure out.
Power is corruptive. but power is given. the power that skerrit has comes from the people. the people gave him the power “to serve”. The problem is the people do not know that the power belongs to them. if the people knew their worth, and their power, we would have no need to protest. but the people need to be reminded that true power lies within their grasp.
We calling on the president Charles savarin to do the right thing and “call off” this election. Charlo… tell Skerrit “Chou poulle” and call off this election, we might just finally forgive you for may 1979…..
Carbon, you might as well cancel their rest days into 2023 and beyond. This is not going away. Trust me. No election without reform!
So Johnson Boston is general secretary of DFP and executive member of NJAM at the same time?Those people are the same people marching every Wednesday,NJAM,CCM,UWP and DFP,one commess.The police have their job to do but,we will not allow what UWP did on February 7 2017 to happen again.We have a right to defend ourselves and our property under the constitution.
I wonder how do these men believe that they are moving by the rights of the Constitution of Dominica, and the Prime Minister, who has been elected and reelected by the the people, 4 times in a row, is in error. What about the voice of the people; does that not matter?
Why are they so afraid? Election reform, this, that, and the other thing!
What will be the difference of voting through election reform, if the people will still choose whom they want to lead them socially and economically?
Why is the opposition parties, so afraid of contesting this “snap election”? Is it that they lack confidence? But victory can only come through great confidence.
If they are not ready for this election, were they ready in 2004, 2009, 2014, and 2019? And if 3 year later they are still not ready, will they be ready by the next 2 years?
These guys continue to destroy the people’s confidence in them, a shame they should acknowledge and deal with it.
Peaceful walk and all rest days for the armed forces cancelled. This is unquestionable evidence that despotic Roosevelt believes in ruling by brute force. He uses his personal militia, the courts of law, and the resources of the state to intimidate, suppress and control his critics and perceived enemies.
Resident Dominicans will always be subjected to fear, brutality, false arrest and wrongful imprisonment while this unfeeling reprobate remains in office.
Ibo I asked you this before but I forgot what your answer was. I said I like your mindset & you should be a political but you don’t you don’t want to be (or something along those lines, I forgot). What was your reason again?
Either way, IBO FRANCE FOR PRIME MINISTER!
Politician* typo
You said you don’t want to be*. Sorry for all the typos. It must be all the rum in the air
Politics is not my calling. There is too much hypocrisy, animosity, divisiveness, backstabbing, insincerity.
The backstabbing that forced Lennox Linton to resign reinforced my philosophy about politics and politicians. Politics is war without bloodshed.
Understandable. You made a very great point, especially the last sentence. I agree
What are the officers of the law afraid off?
LOL they are afraid of their fellow officers and police hierachy.
They get victimized if they don’t openly show allegiance -pretense or otherwise- to the dear leader and ruthless deputy or chief who are always fighting each other. You see, when the chief, his deputy and assistant commish all fighting to see whose nose can go deeper into the dear leader’s poom-hole
, it tells the lower rank that they better be careful.
But, I want to convey to all in the CDPF, please do not mess up your life and that of your family members by brutalizing or even killing your fellow Dcans for the mis-leadership of the CDPF or Skerro. Please remember the journey of life is very unpredictable. Put country first always even if it means dropping your guns and running away when things get too hot….which I have no doubt it will if the mis-leaders don’t back down on that election sheet.
Sound minded Dominicans how long are we willing to allow this “recalcitrant” fake Dr Dr and his political blood thirsty “mouton Batali” enablers and followers to disrespect the CCJ, Electoral Observers, Sir Dennis Byron and all those who oppose the style of governance in Dominica. Me Chief of Police select your words carefully when giving directives to the CDPF membership, the DLP will be out in force marching/protesting, so stop being selective least the wrong message is conveyed; the actions of 1979 should be a good reminder seek professional advice sir.
General Elections will be held on December 6th, 2022. You will not dictate to us when we should not and when we should hold General Election. We do everything according to law.