The election of Earl Williams as the leader of the United Workers Party (UWP) in 2005 may have been a move made by Edison James to keep Julius Timothy out of the party’s top post, a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks is alleging.
“James may have made a deal with certain key UWP members to keep his deputy, Julius Timothy, from moving up to the leadership role even though the close vote demonstrated considerable support for Timothy, a businessman who has been bankrolling the UWP,” the cable stated.
The cable reported that a committee of leading UWP members chose Williams in an 11 to 10 vote over Timothy, who has served continuously as Deputy Party Leader since its formation in 1988. The vote reportedly took place in December 2005.
The cable alleges that the internal elections and the defeat of Timothy, which it described as ‘treachery,’ did not appear to go down well with him. “Timothy is said to have been deeply wounded by this treachery and it is unclear what role he will continue to play in the UWP,” it stated.
Williams replaced James, a founding member of the party who served as Prime Minister from June 14, 1995 to February 3, 2000 and who led the UWP to two consecutive election defeats in 2000 and 2005.
The cable is also alleging that the move by James was made so he could maintain control of the UWP. “The change in UWP leadership appears to have been a successful move by Edison James to maintain control of the party while giving the appearance that he has stepped aside after suffering defeat in elections last year,” it said.
Timothy eventually crossed the floor in September 2006 and became a member of the Dominica Labor Party. He is now Minister of Health.
The cable was created by the US embassy in Barbados on January 12, 2006 and was released by Wikileaks on Friday August 26, 2011.
my spraggs i have info that they’re going to crook you out man runnnnnnn
my boy spraggs it would look bad but man you not ready for that so get out or stay out.. you need to do something better ma boy..
For those of u calling that stale news, its not. A few Saturdays ago on Lennox’s show, a surprise call was made for Edison James to return to the helm of the United Workers Party. Why? Lennox only took the calls, had no dialogue with the callers. (Which i found very strange for being such a brilliant investigative journalist. Imagine Peter Carbon called from wherever he was and supported the move to have Eddison james as leader. Shillingford (from salisbury) who had called earlier, tried to distance himself form that discussion, sugessting that this was not the time for that debate.
That discussion passed by silently during the weeks – neither Matt, Jerry, Carlisle, Blessings, Brian had anything to say. Their mouths were shut.
Just imagine a general and bye election just gone, the party stated to the public who its leaders were, meaning Sprags, Ron etc. In less than a year they confused as to who leads the party. The only mouthpiece is Eddison & Lennox. Is this the sort of leadership we want for our country where the leader is “in name only”
The wikileaks article is time and there is still a lot of in-fighting going on in the United Workers Party. Do you hear Ron speaking on any issue, how often have u heard Sprags John except to talk about “thriving democracy and elections reform”, when last u heard Prevost or the one from the Valley?
Sprags that an indictment on you. The guys have no confidence in you. Instead of having you take your place in the House of Assembly to develop your skills and talent, they have u sitting on the railing of the west bridge waving and smiling to everyone that pass by!
We deserve much better. Thats why it went 18-3
Open letter to Spagz John. Please get out now!!
totally disagree!! we all know how the 18-3
came about, that’s y we r scared of electoral reform!
i guess the next question matt need to ask is … why did you do it mr. james?
HAHAHAHHAHA WIKELEAKS HUH!?!?!
EBEH OUR LITTLE DOMINICA IMPORTANT PAPA…
where can I find this wikileaks info?
I hope Skerrit realize that while he tapping Lennox, Angelo and Edison, he too is being tapped…I think there is plenty more leakage to come…..wikileakes bring it on….
The publishers and Editors of DNO are doing a great job to inform and/or remind us of these stories which still impact our political climate. I am astonished that many have reacted negatively, calling the UWP treachery, “stale news” or “no news”, etc. In light of the recent Chronicle Editorial, “UWP Leadership Woes”, published by DNO on 8/25/11, this unveiling of the treachery, as viewed by the USA, is relevant.
Remember that DNO is responding to the release of US diplomatic cables by Wikileaks. Over 250 000 military and State Department cables have already been released by Wikileaks and they are now releasing more, as promised. So, why are we blaming DNO?
Is it because that particular cable unveils the treachery in the UWP? Those who condemn DNO for stale news were the same ones who condemned the PM and DLP for “selling out” on Bird Island. That was also a release
of a diplomatic cable by Wikileak. That cable made reference to a press conference held in Guyana in June, 2006 By PM Skerrit. That was public information. Yet, we all used it to bash the PM and DNO was highly praised.
What has changed? Both stories were Friday, 26th August 2011 releases of diplomatic cables by Wikileak. Are we selective in our praise and condemnation? Isn’t the UWP leadership woes just as relevant today as is the Bird Island issue? Doesn’t both involve some degree of alleged treachery? Just an observation!
After 54 comments, only Patat and c. bruce made mention of the extent to which Uncle Sam monitors our domestic politics. That’s why I wasn’t surprised that they rushed to set maritime boundaries with Venezuela, vis a vis Bird Island in July, 1978; less than four months before political independence. They were aware that the leftwing radical, Rosie Douglas was agitating for possession of Bird Island. Any oil discovered there at the time would have been theirs since they were the ones reaping the benefits in Venezuela. They didn’t forsee that a military Commander called Chavez, and who was trained by the USA, would emerge to be a thorn in their flesh like Generals Trujillo and Noriega of Panama.
Made-for-the-movies story. The intrigue is still there after all this time although some Dominicans seem to have already believed that something rather sinister went on at the UWP camp at that time in our history.
If any of this is true, then Timothy would have been an idiot to remain in the organization. One needs to know when to cut one’s losses and get out of any relationship where one is clearly not valued and may even be undermined and sabotaged in the worse way.
ALL DOMINICANS KNOW THAT SO MR LEAKS LEAKING ON THAt one ha ha,,BUT 2010/2011 SAME SCENARIO ,SAME PERSON BEHIND IT ,,,SALISBURY…SHANKS WON BUT SPRAGS CHOZEN SINCE KING JAJA CAN CONTROL HIM MORE YA YA,/,,,,,,UWP HAS THREE LEADERS EDO.,RON AND SPRAGS,,,MANY OTHERS PLAYING LEADERS IN THIER OWN WAY LIKE —ALAS THAT MOVIE HAS TOO MANY STARRING SO CANNOT BE A BLOCK-BUSTER
u mean dat is d latest from wikileaks??????? this is so outdated… who doe ho dat nuh? thats normal politics… overthrowing piero is normal politics…. we want to know bout d current situation
I hope Wikileaks reveal who crooked Roosie Douglas, and who wanted to overthrow Pierro to eventually be Pm…Remember when Pierro stretched his hand(s) to these traitors all turned their backs…CONE ON WIKILOEAKS TELL US MORE !!!
I think this was the work of the UWP….they were the ones calling Pierro Donkey
2005 is long gone
hope wen lennox talks about the 2005 election you say its long gone. when it suits u its ok. but wen it dont its not ok.
I hope Lennox talks about who wanted to overthrow Pierro…
expired news, stick to the issues of the day
There are two types of wolves.
Those that walk around in their red fur and those that kill sheep then hide in the sheep’s.
I not raising my pressure for no wolf. All wolf is wolf.
DURR
THAT NOT NEWS.
HOW IS THAT NEWS?
EVERYBODY IN DOMINICA, INCLUDING THE DEAD HAVE KNOWN THAT FOR HOW LONG NOW? 5? 6 YEARS?
EVERYBODY KNEW THAT THERE WAS BAD BLOOD BETWEEN EDISON AND TIMOTHY…EVEN BEFORE THEY LEFT OFFICE, BUT LIKE IAN DOUGLAS AND SKERRIT ARE DOING NOW, THEY WERE JUST KEEPING UP APPEARANCES.
WHAT IT DOES CONFIRM IS THAT THE AMERICANS ARE NEVER VERY FAR AWAY…NOT AS FAR AS WE MAY WANT TO THINK
INSTEAD OF ‘BUT’ I MEAN ‘MUCH’
Keep the comments coming.
Timothy had to stay faithful to the UWP while he shriveled from the hundreds of thousands in UWP loans that his name is signed to?
Who the … is E…. and his bunch of jokers, no better than the DLP bunch that even you commentators won’t even dare to vote for????? hahahahaha.
What more do you wicked people want?
Some are corrupt others are wolves in sheep’s clothing… THIS is the issue.
Shame, Shame Shame Shame Shame Shame shame shame shame
Poor Spags…… I feel sorry for him because he doesn’t even realized what’s going on. Look he might be voted out as leader without even making one presentaion in the House. What a shame.
Winkin’, Blinkin’, and Nod, one night sailed off in a wooden shoe;
Sailed off on agendae to battle each other to win the votes of a few.
“Where are you going and what do you wish?” the old moon asked the three.
“We’ve come to fish for Prime Ministership to take over this country.
Nets of rhetoric and bold are we,” said Winkin’, Blinkin’, and Nod.
We know all about that already.
This is a corrected follow up
Eddison publicly threw his support behind Earl for leadership of the party and it was nothing hidden. The 11/10 vote was also something which was in the public domain. It’s kind of funny the more you think of it that Wikileaks, world renowned interceptor/s of cable intelligence took seven (7) years to unravel this so called treacherory in a simple matter like this one to reveal what we already knew. Further there was no treachery vis a vie Eddison and Timothy, the fact is Timothy was not very supportive of Eddison between 2000 and 2005 because he figured he should have been the leader from 2000 after Eddison had served two terms as leader. As a result of Timothy’s non support Eddison felt that he could not then support Timothy as leader. I would like to see some peice of fact, a statement, an event or something to substantiate this claim and give some credibility to this story. In the absence of such like I said earlier this is just a ploy attempted at discrediting Eddison in fear that he may be the one to lead a united opposition to the current cabal
did he went in a deal to do that? thats the point. and why?
SO that’s how they trying to divert attention from the real issues at hand. What a come back it ain’t so big as what was reveal by Sean Douglas. That’s stale stale stale!
Sean Douglas told us nothing new and every thing he said, is STALE! STALE!
OH SO IS TRUE THEN?
THANKS FOR THE CONFIRMATION
The news is not stale……just because u giving credibility now. When it came from de other person’s mouth u tried to grag dem in de gutter…..DE NEWS NOT STALE……IS ONLY NOW U GIVING IT CREDIBILITY……LOSER!!!!!!
so wat make u think shawn ake news? AFFY SPOKE B4, DAVID BRUNEY SPOKE B4, BERNADETTE WILLY SPOKE B4, PARA SPOKE B4, BRUSTER SPOKE B4, FLYOD CAPITOLIER SPOKE B4, WHAT HAPPEN AFTER THEY ALL SPOKE? LABOUR AN THE PRIME MINISTER GOT 18 SEATS. SO NOW DAT SHAWN HAVE SPOKEN IM SEEING 19 SEATS COMMING. KEEP TALKING GUYS. EDISON IS THE POISON OF THE U.W.P AN U ALL CANNOT SEE THAT.
So James destroyed the UWP to keep control?
They did not want him in UWP and now he is deputy leader in labour and always acting prime minister
Depu what? You must be thinking of someone else. Are you sure you know who Timothy is?
AND THE POINT OF THIS IS TO SAY WHAT? TO SILENCE SEAN DOUGLAS OR TO SIDE TRACK THE ISSUES AT HAND. LEAVE IT TO DNO TO SHOW THEIR TRUE COLORS, MORE AND MORE YOU GUYS ARE BECOMING THE COME BACK NEWS ORG.
One person said Timothy did the right thing- what a joke. A man who was labeled the head of the corrupt UWP Dragon is welcomed at the table of the “saint party” of Roosevelt Skerrit. One can make the argument that Timothy did the right thing jumping in a acid bath in order to change his skin. in order to make Timothy whole and clean he must be indoctrinated into the skerrit foe. But interestingly Timothy is really not part of the circle of trust. Poor guy- Tim reminded me of a wounded predator on the National Geographic channel , wounded by a buffalo. Birds of a feather flock together. According to the current administration the UWP bankbut who was at the helm of the operation ? – the last time I checked it was Timothy who is sitting at the right hand of the prince of doom.
EXACTLY! “ONE LOVE”
THESE GUYS ARE JUST UP TO THEIR DIRTY LITTLE TRICKS TO DIVERT ATTENTION FROM THE REAL ISSUE…AND THE REAL ISSUE IS THAT THEY SAIS UWP WAS CURROPT, BUT NOW THEY MAKING UWP LOOK LIKE THE HOLY FAMILY COMPARED TO THE CURROPTION THATS HAPPENING NOW.
YOU CANNOT REPLACE A BAD FOR A WORSTE
I VOTED AGAINST WORKERS FOR JUST THAT
THERE’S NO WAY I AM GOING TO SUPPORT IT UNDER THIS REGIME.
CALL ME A LOT OF THINGS BUT NOT DOUBLE STANDARD
Timothy apparently has redeemed himself in an administration that had earlier accused him also of corruption. But why haven’t the Embassy investigated all the allegations of corruption in the present government and bring it out the the Dominican public? We don’t need it after this administration has gone and left behind its damage. We need those revelations now.
I always liked Timothy but after getting to know the mess he got involed in, I believe Skerrit’s style of leadership better suiots him. When you have a quatet of men like: Skerrit, Ambrose George, Savarin, and Julius Timothy together, with none trusting the other and each looking for personal gain, the DLP is the best place for Timothy. However, I wish him good luck with his comrads and Tony.
There is no honor among thieves; Mem bet mem pwel. Why must I be surprised when we all knew that this was the case. How does it feel to know that we spend so much energy defending scum bag politicians. They lie , cheat, back stab and even murder and attempted murder just to enrich themselves while pretending to care. The only reason these air heads can do so is because our people allow them to.
We knew why Edison and his gang wanted power. How can we hold these guys up on a pedestal and even mepwizey our family, friends and neighbors for such dishonest characters.
As for this present administration I need not delve into this because DNO does not have enough space to comment.
I do hope that the ongoing “wake Up “ call by the opposition is a call to wake up and smell the Kwass and buk cabwit scent on ALL those crooks not just Tony and the DLP.
Totally irrelevant at this point in time. UWP are well rid of Timothy, his modus operandi is more in keeping with the style of the present party in power.
say sah….. we waiting on d.l.p own…. cause we sure haven’t got to the bottom of pierro own…. when mr said…”he knew he knew ambrose knew” we want to know what the ‘knew’ was about… we have to get to the bottom of how skerro allegedly hijacked the leadership role in d.l.p… lol…. eddo.. we knew then that was wrong and it still is wrong even more now… power and fame u all seek… know when to let go off the power… that why young people in d.a will be pressured… the older ones don’t want to make way….. imagine for example… they enjoy all dere time in the club b4 entering massacre from the canefield airport… now they still want to control the vibes at krazy coconuts lol…. give young people a chance… and that culture among dominicans go on in every aspect in society… from job to religion… they just don’t know when to pass on power… so eddo mean he would not have been president if tim tim was leader… smh… i think he just wanted a better puppet.. but trust me earl was no puppet… just that he got an offer he’d never refused… but had earl not been in the mess he got himself… i don’t see being eddo puppet nah pal…
rubbish…and clowns
common DNO we all know what you doing why is this coming out now on the eve of sean douglas interview with lennox stop the partisan.i say its diversnary tartics.
EH!!!! SPINLESS RUBBISH . ALWAYS A COMEBACK, THANK GOD EDDISON HAD THE VISION TO STOMP ON THE SNAKE HEAD BEFORE IT BIT HIM IN TH ARSE, I HOPE THE THERS HAVE THE FORE SIGHT.
I do like Julius Timothy and I think he has given a lot of himself to the UWP. He has a natural love for his people and that is good as a politician. I just wish he had stayed and fight instead of turning to the other side.
amen to that, my old queen had so much faith in this guy. sad now that i wont vote for him as long as he is on THAT side of the floor…. with that said…. let us not use this to justify the exact, or similar behavior by any current administration but rather use it as an example of what we will not accept from our leadership no matter what color or creed.
This story is to vague and opinionated. Did the preliminary 11/10 vote disqualify Timothy for leadership? It certainly did not because the leadership of the party is determined by what transpires at delegates conferences. Remember Timothy failed to participate in that process. Timothy’s actions later showed exactly why he was not and still is not a leader. Look at him today and how is is being used by this current administration. Further, what about Ron Green replacing Earl, was this a conspiracy too, for Eddison to maintain control? This story and it’s timing is suspected to be nothing but a political strategy by detractors who are trying their best to attack Eddison’s credibility and image, fearing that the people may be calling on Eddison to lead a united opposition against the current regime. Its nothing but a fear of Eddisons James
This country is doomed to fail.You have a government is power that don’t care about the people of Dominica. Placing foreign government and people about they own and then you have this waste of time good for nothing opposition that personally need to be locked up. Its time this country get a real party, one bade up of people that actually care about the direction this country is going.
I will be the first to sign up and vote for them cause the people we have no are a bunch of traitors.
are you surprised at James actions? I’m not. Never mind his eloquence, this is just a strategy. Timothy did the right thing.
Interesting…Would like to see more of those reports on the Political treachery in Dominica created by the US Embassy in Barbadoes..
LOL no surprise there. This looks like what exists today. No one should be surprised
why is this coming out only now? why now? whats the point? you people trying to mash up the people party when it have more important things for you guys to be concerned about like creating jobs and food for the starving bellys
BATCHE if it was de other party u wouldnt mind the timing it come out, take wat u get this morning!! bunch of crooked crabs.
nothing about other party that the problem in dominica, election does not never end so country building never gets a chance to begin
interesting but we already knew that
I did not realise this was news. We knew that from the time it happened. This was the demise and ultimate failure of the UWP. People who want to dictate matters, people who do not want to relinquish power and people who always want things their way.
UWP had a constitution which said the if a person loses two consecutive general elections they would have he step down. Mr. James lost two but he just could not let go. Whatever internal problems they had with Timothy it is their big secret. But we knew, we knew, we knew. From the time the election was held, people came from that meeting flabbergasted. Mr. James had Mr. Williams had secretely campaigned within the committee to vote for Earl instead of Timothy. That coup backfired!!
Earl is not, never was and never will be leadership material. Timothy was a much better candidate for leadership of the party and he had been next in line. Well, he left and so did a few other good candidates and the UWP never recovered from that bleeding ulcer. We have known this for while but I guess we need something to distract us from current issues at the moment.
stale news AND who cares – UPDATES, UPDATES please – no stale news …. STUPES!!!!!
Big whoop!
Why don’t DNO put out the actual “Cable” and not a story made out of the “Cable” by someone who is clearly mixing their personal opinion in the story?
The key thing here is that a vote took place within the executive, it was not a hand over. Timothy got 10, Earl got 11, which means they were the front runners for the leadership role. Timothy chose not to attend the delegates conference where the vote of the delegates would decide. How does getting 45% of the executive support amount to treachery?
So Timothy wanted 100% support of the executive? Edison himself never had 100% support, however he had majority. Did he complain of treachery? or did he just agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion?
Can DNO please put out the actual CABLE for everyone to see? This story here makes no sense.
So all you Dommies in a can
was of the view all d time that is only visa d US Embassy in Barbados there for!!!
Oh I see, now all figure spying is a big part of their activities…..
US doh have to install listening devices in each and every home when they can tap the very fiber optic cable that under d sea brining in telephone, Cable TV and Internet traffic to all of us in d Region and most of the world.
So that no nothing new.
While on that DNO get the Cables where Dominican political activist self sending info to US Embassy about politicians they don’t like. I will not call names yet. Let me see how far down you go through the pile of info from Wikileaks
I happen to get the software download working finally.
No wonder the UWP cannot make any progress in present day business, cause no one is certain as to who is in charge of the “Doomed” party. I guess those still holding on to the reins are uncertain as to what their fate will be with James still around. Big up to Wikileaks!!!
ONE WORD UTTERRUBBISH.
Dat’s not one word, come on we got kids reading on here too.
I loved the caring nature of timtim…..but after such deceit by james and williams….I don’t blame him one bit for turning RED…HE could have turned pink,purple,green or orange for that matter…LOng live TIMTIM …JUST NOT WITH THE GROUP YOU’re NOW WITH
I have already told him that if he goes up as an Independent, my vote is assured. If he sticks with this corrupt group, I will abstain from voting.