PM Skerrit admonishes public not to discriminate against those with COVID-19

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit. Recent file photo

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has warned citizens about discriminating against those who have contracted the deadly Covid-19 on the island.

He was speaking on Kairi’s Heng Programme last week.

At present, Dominica’s confirmed cases remain at 16, with 8 patients having recovered and discharged and 8 active cases who are said to be in stable condition.

“There is no need for us to treat these people differently; it is wrong from all angles to do that,” Skerrit stated. “And I do not want people to treat communities in a different way, and I do not want our citizens to treat who contracted the virus differently.”

He continued, “When these people come back to their villages and communities they must be hailed; they must be welcomed and let them understand that we maintain empathy towards them throughout their own ordeal…because the fact is, we never know when is our turn in this thing.”

COVID-infected people, the prime minister pointed out, are not lesser human beings.

“They are human beings just like you and me and it is important for us to understand this,” he declared.

Meantime, Skerrit revealed that the Ministry of Health, Wellness and New Health Investment will make an assessment, this week, regarding the suspension of liquor licenses.

The suspension of the liquor licenses forms part of the curfew order.

“The Ministry of Health will assess things and where they need to make changes, they will make changes. For example, we had a long discussion on the liquor license suspension,” he stated.

Skerrit said following the assessment, ” if we have to reinstate the liquor licenses then we shall do that.”

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35 Comments

  1. Man bites dogs
    April 22, 2020

    I have always wondered why is it many labour supporters don’t take part as to comments on DNO maybe I was too busy and not taking much notice of the crap that is being written on that forum and I was falling into that smelly hole myself with those idiots so-called Workers boomboom flies, I have said before one good thing about Covid-19 Virus it has exposed many people none so than those Covidiots so-called Workers party and their supporters clowns, for that reason I will not be taking any part on DNO any more and I urge many Labour supporters to do the same away from
    These low low gutter so-called Workers clowns 🤡

    • viewsexpressed
      April 23, 2020

      Man Bites Dogs, Good Riddance, good bye and take care of yourself. We are sorry that you are so weak and a Bind supporter of Skerrit and his corrupt Labour government that you cannot take the heat. You see, Skerrit got us and our Dominica in a dirty situation and we never know where Skerrit came from and where the hell is he going. I hope you recall his well said message. “Go to Hell, Go To Hel, Go to Hell….none of y9ur Damn Business”. That is where Skerrit is, just to make useless talk and believes that he is helping our people and aiding or developing our suffering, poverty Stricken Dominica. It is time that this failed Skerrit “Get the Hell out of our Dominica”. Enough damage with the help of his failed, blind incompetent Skerrit. He came as this Failed “Odd Minister” and will get out as this ame “Failed Odd Minister”. We had enough of Skerrit and his failed incompetent , corrupted Labour Government. We have been asking where has the development taken place in Dominica?…

    • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
      April 24, 2020

      Man Dog, everything you wrote in that pile of trash; decaying garbage, pertains to only you!
      Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! 

      How interesting do you believe it would be if only UWP supporters wrote on DNO? 

      So, are you suggesting all the thumbs down and criticisms am getting are coming from people  that is on the same side with me?

       I knew you are the joke of the century, but you have to be kidding!

       Oh, before I forget: I saw you wrote some nonsense; rubbish talking about if anyone have scientific proof that COVID-19 came out of China.

       I told you before people who are educated by smart phone can humiliate themselves playing smart.

       When one speaks of scientific proof that it is based on or characterized by the methods and principles of science!

      You copy things that I write not knowing you are simple exposing how limited you are.

      The Chines accept  the virus first appeared in Wuhan, what does that have to do with scientific proof!

      Describe the…

  2. Nkrumah Kwame
    April 21, 2020

    Dear PM,
    All this is good thought and words which should be taken seriously and I commend you seriously.
    What bothers me is that since your statement on Kairi FM almost a year ago that you would account for the 2.2 billions you were asked about in the Honourable House by the Leader of the Opposition, and that when it was done you would make ALL Dominicans, the REGION and the WORLD see what a stupid man he (LINTON) is, I am yet to hear your explanation. In case it was said and I missed it, could you PLEASE indicate where it can be found??!!
    Or were you simply being untruthful as you sooo often do?? The International Airport is a facinatingly case in point.
    I patiently await your TRUTHFUL response.
    HOTEP!!

    • viewsexpressed
      April 22, 2020

      NK, Or were you simply being untruthful as you sooo often do?? The International Airport is a fascinatingly case in point. We patiently await your TRUTHFUL response.
      On this matter: “since your statement on Kairi FM almost a year ago that you would account for the 2.2 billions you were asked about in the Honourable House by our trusted Hon. Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Linton that when it was done you would make ALL Dominicans, the REGION and the WORLD see what a stupid man he (LINTON) is. I, we are yet to hear your explanation. In case it was said and I missed it, could you PLEASE indicate where it can be found??!!”
      Skerrit, we need answers and we need them “Now”. We detest, evil, immature, corrupted leaders around the Caribbean, the world who just abuse states funds and Protocal and insult the Opposition as a deterrent that you and your failed government continue with your deceitfulness, on going Bobol followed by lies and more lies while our people suffer. Hon. Linton is…

    • Gary
      April 22, 2020

      LOL, are you not endowed with a mind to THINK, rather than have someone do the thinking for you. If Linton tells you something or anyone tells you something, is it not your duty to ask yourself, is this true what was said or you just accept what was said. Stop being silly, THINK, as to the truth you patiently await, keep waiting, but you must always remember the truth is always there to be discovered, it requires you suspending your political partisan beliefs that’s why it is said “the truth hurts” but you as an individual have to take the initiative to discover the truth and not let Linton, a Politician who has been found by the Juridical system to be liar and a manufacture of his own facts.

  3. Unknown
    April 21, 2020

    I’m waiting for the PM to speak up against China’s current treatment of black people in China due to Corona. I’m sure he is aware of it.

    • Batibou River
      April 21, 2020

      You will have a long wait! Good luck.

    • Gary
      April 21, 2020

      When you talk about “China’s current treatment of black people in China due to Corona,” are you making reference to Chines citizens random actions or are your referring to The Government of The People’s Republic of China sanctioning such policy with the aid of it’s Citizens, there is a difference, it is foolish to condemn on the whims of what is reported or said before you verify or confirm the information as to what you were told or reported. Do think it is the duty of The PM to condemn every thing he hears in Press about China. Do you hold other leaders in the region to the same stranded. When black migrants were being mistreated in EU States did you ask the PM to condemn EU States, and yes Dominica do get aid form EU countries. Why are you using your silly political partisan politics to pick and choose who The PM should condemn, the world does not resolve around your silly political partisan agenda.

  4. Ibo France
    April 21, 2020

    What is of the essence right now is a stimulus plan that will bring some relief to the poor and all those who have lost their means of income. Too many families don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Most, if not all the other OECS countries , with the sole exception of Dominica, have put plans in place to help the helpless and stir economic activity. No surprise, presently Dominica has NONE in place! What a DYSFUNCTIONAL GROUP OF IMBECILES leading the country!!! Where there is lack of common sense, empathy, compassion, foresight, the people suffer.

  5. Peace
    April 21, 2020

    P.M., your handling of the Coronavirus and “divine” proclamations showed me your true colors. Your arbitrary decisions showed me your inability to connect with reality – a clear sign that you have been in power too long. Up until this pandemic, I was one of your biggest fans. Now I’m just disappointed.

    • Dominican
      April 21, 2020

      Please tell me what he has done wrong… I’ll wait…

    • viewsexpressed
      April 22, 2020

      Peace, well said about this failed Skerrit. “P.M., your handling of the Coronavirus and “divine” proclamations showed me your true colours. Your arbitrary decisions showed me your inability to connect with reality”.
      We all know that is a fake, immature, ridiculous, deceptive laughter matters, dump on politics and lacks decency in Public/states office, exceedingly immature and politically dump. This man Skerrit is so dumb, clueless to what government and governance is about. He`s the fake political joker ever to hold a high office in government. One day this critical clown PM will be gone and that building on top of the hill just out of Roseau, he will be welcomed up there for sometime. We need answers and accountability for the abuse of our states finances (Red Clinic, Bin & Fertilizer Bobols, deception in Office), and account for the abuse of our states funds travelling all over the place uselessly. Failed to govern our government decently & a fake PM. Skerrit must be arrested…

    • April 22, 2020

      @Peace, what is the kind of peace that you are advocating? Are you saying that for the length of time you have been a BIG fan of the Prime Minister, just that simple article was able to turn you off?

      I don’t believe in the saying that “there is a thin line between Love and hate”, knowing what Love really is. But with your kind of love, I will embrace it.

  6. ATKINSON
    April 21, 2020

    What about calling china’s ambassador Lu and president Xi and Admonish them and their people for discriminating, against black people

  7. Shaka zulu
    April 20, 2020

    Yes i must say i agree with the PM he is absolutely right. As a matter of fact most human beings have some sort of virus or bacteria than may live in them. If you ever had chicken pox you probably still have the virus. If you had some STD you probably still have virus. It may not be showing outward effect. We all have bacteria in gutt. Some benificial some not so benificial so don’t hate. In a different note i would also encourage people to not steal money that does not belong to them. I would also like persons who are in charge of other people money to give accurate account especially if they said they put money aside every month. We need updates in the form of independent audits, receipts, and accountability. I also need people to understand Dominica does not have a ki g and it is illegal to not account for money missing. People should also stop telling lies and trying to deceive others to pretend to be who they are not. All round great advice for a progressive society

  8. Josephine francis
    April 20, 2020

    Mr .p.m can you gave us mothers of children in Texas update about how they are doing please please

    • Badbaje
      April 21, 2020

      Good morning. I would like to wish you and all other mothers, fathers, student, etc involved in and affected by this matter well. However, in this world of technological advances, if you need the PM to tell you how they are doing, you are doomed. Have you ever heard of cell phones and their many ways of offering free instant contact via voice, text messaging and video, they are still working. Have you ever heard of email, that still works. Have you ever heard of social media, that still works. Contact those students and ask them how they are doing. To depend on the PM or others to tell you how they are doing or to find out how they are doing is not the way to go.
      Now if you ask the PM for an update on what if anything he or the government of Dominica or Texas are doing to assist them, that is different. Stop politicizing matters and trying to make others seem as if they are unfeeling or not doing their job. You obviously are not doing what you should be doing.

    • Bwa-Banday
      April 21, 2020

      Well if you talking about those in Wichita Falls (MSU) they there suffering under harassment for rent, no money for food or for medical visits but by the grace of god family members and friends in the US have been trying to assist them. The PM will NEVER give an update because he knows the families will never go public with what they going through because is labour family that there just like in China.

      So let them take their blows and say nothing like sheep being lead to the slaughter. They still love their PM. I myself going by Ma-Boyd Kitchen now for a plate of food and cold iced squash with crushed basilica leaf. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

  9. Ibo France
    April 20, 2020

    It’s puzzling and at the same time annoying that people will pour scorn on fellow citizens who, by no fault of their own, have contracted the Coronavirus. Having said that, Mr. Skerrit has no moral authority to speak on this issue for he has done worse. His disgusting, dehumanizing , hateful words still ring ugly in my ears. The PM excoriated outstanding, law abiding, productive sons and daughters of the soil by calling them stale soup and old buggies. He encouraged his supporters to harass the opposition at church, airport, supermarkets and everywhere else. He has lost his moral compass. His leadership qualities are abysmal.

  10. 15 million 4 Maduro
    April 20, 2020

    Don’t discriminate against Nicholas Maduro? No Maduro will be picked up by the US for charges of trafficking of illegal drugs and money laundering. Like the damsel said to Peter during the crucifixion of Jesus “you are one of them”. When Maduro is captured you too will be picked up because you all are two of a kind

  11. Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
    April 20, 2020

    Roosevelt, you need to stop talking; to this day you don’t seem to understand how deadly the COVID-19 is.

    Roosevelt, as of this very moment more than forty (40,000.00) thousand people are reported dead as a result of becoming infected with corona virus!

    I iterate forty (40, 000.00) people in the United States are dead!

    Your kingdom of Dominica contains less than forty thousand people; take head boy; because it’s not a matter of discrimination against COVID-19, infected people, it is the safety of ones self.
    You don’t put your head in a Lions mouth when you know that wild beast is going bite it off and kill you! 

    Between the time Donald Trump told America there are only fifteen (15) cases, the same as you are doing now was a few short weeks ago.

    Between now and then; more than forty thousand people in America are dead!

    We know that you are a triple doctor eh, but surely you don’t seems to understand what you are dealing with.

    • Eagle-Eyed
      April 21, 2020

      Francisco, I suppose you would be OK if white people in America (where you currently live) decide to discriminate against black people like you, since the data seem to indicate that there’s a disproportionate percentage of black people dying from the virus compared to their white counterparts. :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

      • Francisco Etienne-Dods Telemaque
        April 22, 2020

        You know discrimination in America pertains not only between black and white; it is something every ethnic grope do.

        I on more than one occasion suffered discrimination by a white person in a restaurant; however what transpired caused other white people to call police to deal with the person who acted stupid.

        That took place in El Paso Texas years ago.

        I the little nobody out of the mud in the village of Wesley; came to America, and discriminated against both black and white people.

        The first person who called me a n..ger in America is a black woman, simple because I cut my lawn, and did not vacuum the grass out of the gutter before watering, when I did the a pile of grass piled in her driveway, that caused her to go off on me.

        We been sharing boundaries for over thirty years, and have since became friends!

        Black economic status prior to the virus plays a part, poor health regarding the immune system: no space to explain.

  12. U know ur papa?
    April 20, 2020

    If you Mama didn’t tell you who your papa is and if you Mama could not tell you who your father is then check this passage to know who your father is:
    44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies John ,8:44

    • Toto
      April 21, 2020

      Man, I don’t hold with that hocus pocus. Skerrit is a bad egg and full of himself, that’s it, period. we must deal with it and all that spiritual nonsense is only distracting our focus brother.

    • Gary
      April 23, 2020

      I always say religion can do strange things to the mind of a person. When someone like you take your time to write such foolishness it says a lot about your mentality, do you think by writing such foolishness you are empowering your self. How can you just sit behind a computer and say such thing, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.” Where do you get the authority to make such judgement about a person, wow, is this judgement based on wisdom or the whims of your political partisan beliefs. You must not see people only as personalities, but souls with life missions to fulfill.

  13. dissident
    April 20, 2020

    Why don’t you address this to the situation that African Nationals now experience in China?

    Talk is just to cheap for you…… you wouldn’t even admonish your own as they are guilty of that discriminatory attitude.

    Good riddance!

  14. Who is your father?
    April 20, 2020

    JESUS SAID:

    44 “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” John 8:44 NIV

  15. Help Us Lord
    April 20, 2020

    How do I trust PM Skerrit and the Health Minister on their Covid-19 statemennts when PM,s attorney and senior counsel could go on a national radio and call on the Health Minister in his legal way, to use Covid-19 to arrest and punish Jason Fontaine? Did you all not hear Tony’s call? I hope DNO will put that audio clip on so everyone could hear Tony’s call to the health minister. Who knows who else they might pickup under the coverup of COVID-19?

  16. Bwa-Banday
    April 20, 2020

    Every time I see the so called PM this is what comes to mind….

    ““Decadence is a moral and spiritual disease, resulting from too long a period of wealth and power, producing cynicism, decline of religion, pessimism and frivolity. The citizens of such a nation will no longer make an effort to save themselves, because they are not convinced that anything in life is worth saving.” ….Quote from Lt. General Ghubb Pasha (Trans-Jordanian Army)

  17. Pipo
    April 20, 2020

    That is news to me that victims of the corona virus are discriminated in the community, I have not heard anything about that. Yes, people have said to be careful when you go to a place like Delices but that is understandable and does not mean we hate these people like Tony Astaphan apparently hates Jason Fountain who was locked up in quarantine against his will and without proof that he was infected. Corona virus victims have all my empathy and I am willing to help them without putting myself at risk because that would only spread this wicked disease even further.

    • Lin clown
      April 20, 2020

      BADAY,Skerrit sold lands to poor people at $ 1 a square foot.Today they have built 2 and 3 bedroom mansions.They have put their CERTIFICATE OF TITLE in finacial institutions and opened businesses.Skerrit brought CLEAR HARBOUR to Dominica,and,introduced YES WE CARE and NEP.In December you said the NEP was no more and Skerrit could not pay mothly salaries.You and yours have been caught LYING over and over again.

  18. Talking Blues
    April 20, 2020

    You pretty baby face and Evil Satan heart your day will soon come. I giving you until Nicolas Maduro is picked up by the US for drug trafficking and other crimes. You can’t escape it because you were very much involved. But who I talking about nou? Nobody just talking blues like Bob Marley

  19. Bwa-Banday
    April 20, 2020

    Skerrit pleaseeeeee…. talking like you are lord of all things Dcan. Why everytime you open your mouth its in a braggard/ Marzhore style like your “sheet dont steenk?” :twisted: :twisted:

    Rather than “I don’t want” it would be better to use “I would not like to see” or something like that bro. SMMFH! Hey just remember everything that goes up MUST come back down. Even Jesus he will return….yes down here at the appropriate time. 8)

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