President of Dominica, Charles Savarin, has placed emphasis on the rule of law saying that it must prevail if Dominica is to develop.
He also stressed the importance of citizens acting responsibly and with restraint.
Speaking at the opening of the new Parliament on Friday the President stated that as the Dominican society develops, some traditional values and beliefs, that were once seen as sacred, are being questioned and challenged by individuals or groups who “are often inclined to adopt strong positions in asserting what they understand to be their rights.”
“While there maybe some generally accepted assumptions for the position held, there is often the tendency to set aside the fact that our society is under the rule of law,” he said.
He pointed to the importance of the law which, he stated, has its roots in the very fabric of society and which can be found in both primitive and complex societies.
“People interacting with each other are going to be at odds with one another,” Savarin said. “The earliest society, the so-called law of the jungle prevails, that is the stronger and the more dominant member win, in modern society the rule of law give equal protection to those who are weak and vulnerable…”
Hence, the president said, the rule of law is of great importance.
“If there is to be order and development in this country, then the rule of law must prevail,” he stated. “Every citizen has that responsibility to to act with restraint and respect even in circumstances when he thinks he is being treated unfairly and in such circumstances the law itself provided the mechanism for redress.”
He noted that it will do Dominica no good if citizens do “whatever they like, whenever and wherever it suits them, with complete disregard for the applicable law and the effect of their behavior on others in the society.”
He stated that Dominica’s democracy is young and the rule of law “has been a valuable compass giving direction and helping to steer the ship of state away from social disorder…”
He pointed to the dangers of ignoring, misinterpreting and the misunderstanding of the law the provides of the orderly conduct of the state.
“Such disregard, misinterpretation or misunderstanding poses a threat to the maintenance of social order,” the President said.
talk and more talk
To : Mr. Charles Savarin in the year 1977 rule of Law was not important to you, why is it important to you now? by no means that I am in disagreement with you because the Prime Minister need to be reminded constantly.
And the episode continues. a President imposed on the pYou areople. A President who, up to now has never condemned the brutal, heinous crime of firebombing of two innocent elder Dominicans in 2010 on Christmas day at that.
A President who advocated for citizens to boycott a local business, simply because the owner expressed concerns of kick-backs, corruption in Gov’t.
A President who lied to the nation, when he claimed that the culprit caught at the Barbados airport en route to Dominica, with gun and 50 rounds of ammunition. But what about that, nuh? Where is the child the President claimed the culprit was coming for in Dominica? Coming for his child with gun and bullets hidden in his suitcase? Did the Dominican Police find out the truth? Have they been in contact with Barbados Police on that serious matter? What is the status of that case (if there’s one?)
A President giving lessons on “Rule of Law?” Mr. President come again. We Dominicans know…
This is like sitting down in a church and hearing pastor BJ preaching to me about fornication, marital faithfulNess,adultery and abortion.
DNO this is what pastors preach about right?
Oh Dear, President, speaker n party in power acting like a well rehearsed script. Its a good indication that they must have been practing for the opening of parliament. Imagine, they stressing rule of law n standing orders, as if they were only addressing the opposition.
It was comical just listening to the government side, congratulating speaker… it sounded so unreal, as.if.to say, madam speaker we for you so please block de opposition. This speaker is really out of timing. Its all part of their oppressive regime. Hope mr Skerritt took note of St kitts,,, just waiting for da day when they all will begin to malfunction.
Its lent, time to fast from dis comedy.. fAst n pray
ever man, woman ,child for himself
I don’t understand why people use Charles Saverin as the only person who caused the overthrow of pj. I Say pj because oj, Luke corrette who were his ministers betrayed him. It look as if Saverin held at gun point the police, nurses, port workers, civil servants to demonstrate on that day. No mention is made of Athie,Pierre Charles, Luke Prevolst, Ron Green and others who were part of the process including the big majority of Dominicans. They wanted to do like Grenada and name dbs “radio free Dominica”. I think Saverin did a good job not to allow Dominica to go in the hands of the leftist who know themselves tried their best to make Dominica a communist state. Instead he kept things together so that the Freedom party could take over to remove Dominica in the hole it was. Instead of blaming Saverin praise him you hypocrites.
seem confusing …Savarin labour ? or Savarin Freedom or Savarin -Savarin ?
Skerritt has made him who he is —-.an operative who is now the Boss of the country and Party he once destroyed .
Bayo bwa ..obviously is as innocent as new born baby ..Savarin has been a wolf in sheep-clothing- a pseudo labour operative who wishes to confuse persons into accepting the myth of his who he really is clothing .. a Freedom Leader who reconstitutes his image to enjoy the benefit ..He more than any living Dominican should be saying thank god for Skerritt as he had reached the end of his political games and his ascendancy was a total aberration of history for except the PM there may be less than a dozen Dominicans who can understand that he who FIRST destroyed the party NOW leads the nation!
ok dno so Savarin was not the man who ran LEBLANC out of town in the 71 /73 /74 crises-? closed the country for 47 days and had PJ removed and had OJ to pay over 100% to the civil servants facing an elections after a hurricane David etc etc?
Also was there violence on 29th may 1979? was the President LARTIGUE car overturned and burnt ..JO JO karam house stoned and flossy joseph and other stores looted etc ?
Did he abandon his leadership of Freedom..to don the red shirt of labour which he had earlier destroyed ?..does this speech reflect a mea cupla for the the behavior of that era .was he called the THE Ayattolah ?
Is his position now a reflection of the smarts of a man who skillfully exploits the opportunity ? is this a message for your aspiring young people ?
It is offensive for those of us who remember August 1979 to hear a man like Charles Savarin lecture us about upholding the rule of law. One does not have to be a symphatizer of the then P.M. Patrick John to revolt at at a man, who revelled in the nickname Ayatollah, referred to followers of the Labour party as the Talliban and stood by while his supporters looted and burnt property in Roseau. Charles Savarin was only ever about Charles Savarin and Mr. Skerrit had better remember that a leopard never changes its spots.
Not one of the comments so far addressed the President’s speech.
The speech was well written and timely. Can any one objectively disagree with the speech?
If so point out your disagreement not who did what. There is a time to start.
He advised that we must respect the rule of law does anyone disagree?
He said that sometimes we misunderstand or misinterpret the law, does any one disagree?
He said we sometimes we are ignorant the law, does anyone disagree?
Then what is the fuss?
Charles savarin again please
If you live by the Rule of Law you will be happier and peaceful people. It is godliness to do so. When you do not and you criticize the President for imbedding the necessity for practicing it, you are projecting that you do not care if people practice godliness or not. By no means do you care for your country and nationals if you care not that the Law is maintained. Or is it that some of you comment for the sake of commenting just to state something and to criticize as always, a trait which is exhibited? Be careful for one day you will pay for your words.
I looked at the parliament….and was disappointed…I couldn’t believe that adults who are given mandates to rule a country was behaving like infants in a classroom; especially the group in power….I was most disappointed with Kelver….if I were from St. Joseph, I would have been very embarassed by his presentarion. Look the President in his speech called for all partiesvto put aside the political rancor; the President was slaped in his face by Kelver campaign punches to the goverment. I swear he was on the campaign trail.
But where was Savarin when Skerro said “…no constitution…….. ” we all know the rest.
Savarin, call all your Labor buddies and learn among yourselves “the rule of law” . You all are too damn hypocrite.
Everything is just for a time.
Well said Your Excellency, very good delivery. Thank you.
It seems like the rule of law applies to just a certain group of people. Those in this present administration need to set the example in the land instead of leading the country in the wrong direction. Seems like free speech is becoming a thing of the past.
ONE LOVE
If I was getting $30000 a month just to be a hypocrite with one GCE olevel i geography would give the same speech that Charles Saverin was given.
bit that is Lang Mama I have come to accept that anything could be PM or president
What HYPROCRISY!!! Do you even know the meaning of THE RULE OF LAW?
YOU AND YOUR BAND OF OUTLAWS HAVE ZERO RESPECT FOR THE RULE OF LAW.
You Make Me PUKE!!!!.
Do us all a favour and just ride out in the sunset. Just can’t STOMACH any more of the BULLCRAP!!!!
Here you all go again! smhhh . Feeling so sad for you my people. Real negative people. The rule of law is ok when it suits you all. When something happens once is not your family, they want Justice. Le the defendant be their relative, even if they wrong… The table turn… no justice.. they hate police etc. What is that I am asking. Answer me my people! Too much negativity! Can you all not appreciate and criticize in good faith by pointing out errors and you know when you point out errors, you must know the correction! Wap Wap. Not just criticizing and talking but talking the truth and not repeating what others say.
The rule of law is mostly violated by the law themselves. Thats why we don’t have equal rights and justice, is because the courts and judges deny us our rights to even speak in court. Taking sides, doing something for someone they know, not liking mister for him to come there and get something, mister riding his bike too fast doh give him no redress. These are the issues that count. A citizen knows when the rule of law is violated in their life. It now becomes the law’s responsibility to respect that citizens rights and implement it.
Is this not the same man who said words to the effect that he does not know about
Legal or illegal strike, what he knows is a successful or unsuccessful strike?
The chicken must come home to roost one day, hypocrite!
Like mother would say, BWAVO Charles Saverin.
Worst President and worst Speaker ever, in the history of the world.
Savarin, which country are you refering to.
Is there any rule of law in Dominica?
Have you forgotten or pretending to forget?
No law, no constitution,no rule can prevent the p.m. from doing what he wants to do.
Go tell him about the rule of law.
Well, DNO what was wrong with my first submission? In any event, Savarin speech is a well written one filled will with erroneous, and hypocritical comments. When he hit on global economy he made reference to falling gas prices. What he has forgotten is that Gas prices began to fall less than six months ago; even at that he should be happy because that could help Dominican motorist to saved at the pump. Furthermore, the events of 2008 which occurred devastating most global economies had nothing to do with the price of oil. The culprit was the Real Estate Market which collapsed here and rippled throughout the rest of the developed nations of Europe, and North America.
As for the rule of law he commented on, there is no such thing as rule of law in Dominica, since rule of law means justice to people such Emanuel, and others. Respect means respect for the poor also, and not just for the bourgeoisies of the country!
What a nincompoop Francisco is. Boss, you do not understand the English language. Nuff said. You are devoid on basic comprehension skills. Leave comprehension and analysis for those of use who can. You do not – never will have – the goods.
You know why I do not give anything to any cause in Dominica anymore?
It is because of idiots like you, who are ignorant, and uneducated. All you see is Skerrit, and people like Savarin who lives of the stupidity, and blood of people like you. For all I care you may be one of the suffering, who believes in a promise. What do they say about a promise? The metaphor said a promise is a fool’s pleasure!
Idiots like you, exists on the promises; Skerrit made the same promises to you all for the past fifteen years, going on twenty.
You do not even have the commonsense to realize that every five years he makes the same promise by switching words. If I was an idiot like you I would make stupid comment as you have made. I bet you anything you have never sat in a secondary school for one single day of your life. I am college, and university educated, neither you nor Skerrit, nor Savarin can say that.
Fet I diagnose the guy. e has Alzheimers in his 70’s Only explanation.
The resident needs to be in a nursing home. The guy seems to have lossed his marbles.
Skerrit you have a loco on u hand
That’s so true.The DLP has broken every rule of law.One must lead by example in oder for the rest to follow..We are now led by political deceipt, and not by the so call rule of law.
Smfh. But my comments are not fit for D.N. O.!!!!!!! Say it once say it twice, our President is the most luckiest person on Earth and he knows that!
Remember people coming from politicians 80% of what you hear is not the truth like wise 80 % of what you see are illusions – so I take Pres Saverin utterances or speech with a grain of salt.
Charles Savarin seems to have Lespwi poul. Has he forgotten the days when he was leading the Civil Servants which caused Julius Timothy his death? How convenient it is for this born again Christian to lecture Dominicans who are keen to let their dissatisfaction be heard. President Savarin let’s go back to the drawing board.
Reports of the death of Julius Timothy have been greatly exaggerated..
It was Phillip Timothy….. Poor Julie(lol)
Phillip Timothy.
not Julius Timothy
Julius Timothy or Phillip Timothy?
The German brothers Grimm are renowned for their transcending fairy tales. One of my favorites is the story of little Snow White, the evil queen and the magic mirror. “Mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of us all” said the queen everyday and the answer would satisfy her. But one day, the magic mirror threatened the peace and tranquility of the land because the queen was not satisfied with its answer. One wonders what kind of tale the Grimm brothers would have written if there had been a Constitution in their day.
Charles Savarin should be the last person to talk about Rule Of Law…….Man your reputation precedes you. Go tell that to your Supreme Leader instead…
Dominica morality, religion, politics, ideology, and philosophy is simply this.
Say one thing, do the opposite.
Talk is real cheap. So cheap in Dominica that it free and no body want it.
What a bunch of hypocrite …u all r above the law n everybody else must abide under. .equal rights n justice stands For all …What about GONE ?
I wish to thank DNO for the live streaming of parliament. I listened to the President’s address and wondered whether Mr. Savarin is a born again Politician or born again Christian.
Dominicans, Dominicans, Dominicans what an amazing set of people.
glad I change citizenship from got to sheep/ship.
We are done. Am I reading well?Is it Chares o is it Ossie speaking?
if it a Ossie would welcome it.
shame shame shame on you
I guess that’s the reason Dominica is still under devolop because the rule of law starts with the heads of government . Before giving that speech I’m saying you should look in the mirror.
Take your own advice. Can you even move on?
I find the speech was calling all of us to a higher place. Time to heal the land. If you asking, the tone for healing the nation was set in the President’s remarks to our august House. Can you even at least acknowledge this? If you can not answer in the affirmative, then we are contented to move on without your support.
The President was quite magnanimous in his praise and recognition of the historical gains of both Opposition and Government side in his comments, allowing that he was once a Labour Party operative.
Wood, very unfortunate but the election is not over. You know it, I know it and mr. Savarin knows it too, that is clear from his remarks. I wish it wasn’t so but it will continue to fester, mark my words!
If some of you obeyed “The Rule of Law”and encourage others to do likewise, D/ca would be in a better shape. It is people as you who bring D/ca down.
You expect a better country? Then you have an obligation to fulfill to your country and to fellow D/cans. God expects this of you. He does not expect you to criticize everything the President, the PM, the Speaker of the House and other D/cans who are on the side of truth, obedience, peace and unity.
Some of you, as adults, still have to learn that and respect for authority. Did you not learn this as a child, while in school and when you went to Church?
Obedience to authority is obedience to God. St. Paul said: “Obey authority.” Some of you are incapable of this. How do you expect to live in peace and when you die to obtain eternal salvation, if on earth you have an indifferent demeanor, opposite to what it takes to go to Heaven and to be in Heaven? Commence learning this. Mortal and Spiritual food for thought.
Charles Saverind did not understand the rule of law when he brought Dominica to her knees, when he used the school children and the nurses and together with the port workers they closed down Dominica so the Freedom party could gain power illegally , the same party which is now in power only in the guise of the Labour Power, rule of law where is the rule of law when the people of Dominica are being oppressed by the very government sworn to serve them, when the local farmers and street vendors are being hassled by the police from making an honest living by the road, something which si integral to the lives of our people. Rule of law used to intimidate the people,to appoint Charles the most dishonourable to power. Rule of law to suppress the freedoms of the people to a fair and democratic government. Is this a threat to the people. Has the worst form of socialism arrived in Dominica where the rule of law is to be used not to protect the people but to suppress and victimize.
well i wonder if they should reprimand him for the protests he participated in in the past that caused unrest in Dominica.. in as much as he is speaking against the very same action now… mind you I am not condemning his speech… i am just saying that we should start somewhere to right the wrongs… should we start with him
You continue to live in the past and bringing up the past which does not help the present nor the future.
What about you? You have a past too. I wonder what it was like then to the present.
Mr. President with all due respect, you cannot advocate for the rule of law only when it serves your purpose. Before the election, you and your party had no trouble bending and twisting the law to give you a political advantage. How can you now, after you won the election, try to convince people to observe the rule of law?
If you want people to respect you and what you say, you must lead by example. Sometimes that is very inconvenient, but it is absolutely necessary that you must be seen to practice what you preach. Anything short of that and your words will fall on deaf ears.
Just a word of advice.
Why did he not ask the Pm to respect the rule of law before and during the elections? These guys are too full of
…too full of hypocrisy!
Thumbs down for you. Dominica, as any country has all types, the obedient and disobedient. The latter will always disobey the Law and disrespect authority.
I wonder how many of you gave others due respect and led by example to this day?
Some of you act as if you are innocent people and never did anything wrong. Stop throwing words and stones. You are not the side of truth, obedience, peace, unity and obedience to the Rule of Law. This is why I am not impressed with comments as also yours.