STATEMENT BY HON. DENISE CHARLES-PEMBERTON, ACTING PRIME MINISTER
Update on Government’s Response to Roof Collapse at Dominica Grammar School Construction Site
The Government of Dominica views the collapse of the concrete roof at the Dominica Grammar School construction site on Monday, June 16, 2025 as a matter of grave concern and is addressing it with the highest level of urgency and seriousness. We are thankful that the incident caused no injuries.
On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, the Cabinet decided on the following measures to ensure a thorough and transparent response, with the safety of students and staff as our top priority.
Ø An independent investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the structural failure. An engineering firm will be engaged to carry out a comprehensive assessment and submit a detailed report to the Government.
Ø All other structures currently under construction at the site will be thoroughly inspected to assess their structural integrity and ensure compliance with safety standards.
Ø Construction activities have been ordered suspended with immediate effect while the investigation is ongoing.
Ø A joint team from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Public Works has been tasked with overseeing the process and ensuring that all necessary corrective actions are implemented.
The well-being of the students, teachers and staff of the Dominica Grammar School is the Government’s paramount concern, and we will make no compromise in ensuring their safety and protection.
The Government of Dominica will provide further updates as the investigation progresses and additional information becomes available.
Mr. ds: or as you claimed you said the initials “ds” abbreviates dog shi.: or indeed dog feces. I hate to do this, but I must, because I don’t believe people should rattle telling stories, or lies perhaps accidently when they don’t know what they are talking about.
So, note this:
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.
Now I doh know if you and Roosevelt Skerrit built a Harvard University in Washington DC recently, and perhaps that’s where you and Roosevelt graduated, with all dem degrees in kleptomaniacs, and lies: I doh know; I doubt that you are even living on American soil; I hear alyou go on social media writing crap pretending to people as alyou living in America eh, and so unless you are confused, how can you tell people Harvard is in Washington?
The DGS auditorium roof collapse isn’t the only life-threatening engineering blunder that needs independently investigating. The ongoing catastrophe at Antrim is another.
SERIOUSNESS!!?? A through and TRANSPARENT response??
Yet the engineering company can’t be named??!! What role, if any, did the planning division have in the autorisation of this project ? Now you want to inspect all other structures?
When we rubbish quality assurance standards, and laws, this is the result.
The Education Act of 1997 stipulates how Education reforms are to be done but as usual the One Man Army decides he will do as he likes.
I repeat : those who can’t hear will feel and misery likes company. The chickens are coming home to roost.
The DLP Cabal is the ROOT CAUSE of all our issues on island. From captain down to cook must go forth-with! Wake up Dcans!
That’s very scary regardless of what the government tries to say. As we go forward with the investigation there are some serious questions to be asked here:
1. Who is the contractor and who gave them the contract?
2.Was our local planning division involved in every step of this construction and if yes, did they inspect the site during the steel work and pouring of concrete?
3. How involved is the planning department in the construction of all government buildings in progress now, like the international airport, the Calibishie primary school, the Thibaud primary school, the Goodwill school, the DGS and all others? I am asking because I am hearing from villagers that at no time do they seen planning division on any government sites including back walls and bridges that are sinking less than a year after construction. What happened to DGS is very scary not just for students and faculty but also for other government buildings built by Chinese with no local professionals involved
4.
Ø Construction activities have been ordered suspended with immediate effect while the investigation is ongoing
There was no construction at that site – be real!!
that school has been being built for over 5 years and like everything else in Dominica, no progress can be seen.
What did we expect? It appears that the primary qualifications for contractors in this place are strong political ties and a willingness to wear different shades of scarlet. There are allegations of contracts being awarded to individuals with no relevant experience – bakers are supposedly building bridges, fishermen are building schools, and the pattern continues. Go figure!
To all and sundry – what has happened at the construction site of the Dominica Grammar School is no fault of the Prime Minister. A contractor was assigned to the construction of the School and if the auditorium ceiling or roof collapsed, the contractors and the engineers are to be blamed for the failure. Consequent to that failure, an engineering firm should be hired by the Government to determine what caused the failure. Not pointing fingers at the Prime Minister. It sounds so stupid by the UWP cabal.
@ds
Are you the person called the clown?
When someone like you are the mouth piece of such a regime, you can see why this country is in the mess that it is.
Some years ago back in the early nineties in Washington, DC, Howard University, an HBCU and a prestigious black University, had contracted a well-known company to build a new business school on campus adjacent to the older building. Well, they did. Guess what? after everything was said and done, just before classes had begun, the roof of the new building collapsed. Nobody blamed the President of Howard, nobody blamed the Mayor. It was all the construction company’s fault. They had to do it again and this time everything went well. But the UWP CABAL of Dominica sees it fit to pass blame on the Skerrit regime. Good try.
“ds:” How many Harvard Universities are in the United Stats of America? Are you positive with the comments you make? Be careful, because; there is a Harvard University that is primarily located in a place called Cambridge Massachusetts, with other facilities in Boston. Unless I am wrong and not concentrating properly; the main campus that is known as Harvard Yard is in Cambridge whereas Harvard Medical School if my memory serves me correctly is situated in the Longwood Medical area of Boston.
For your information Harvard also has faculties in Allston near Boston located Southwest of the main Campus across the Charles River. As far as we know Harvard is a private institution; so I don’t see if a building on campus collapsed what that would have to do with the mayor of a city, or the governor of a State.
Roosevelt must carry the blame for everything such as that disaster, whereas politics takes precedence over qualification in Dominica, remember we dealing with a corrupt system!
I said Howard not Harvard. Your stupid fool from Wesley.
It’s not stupid of UWP at all!!
This is what you get when the whole DLP platform is built around the Prime Minister. Remember he was at the site a few months ago and promised that the school with be finished within a few months. Coud it be that corners were cut? I hope not.
And to steal from PRO’s comment, what construction was taking place there anyway?
“He who knows not, and know that he knows not, and pretend that he know is jahh-kass!
ds, no one is pointing fingers at the PM. Your suggestion that an engineering firm be used to determine the cause of the collapse is sensible ; nonetheless, do you think they will do so pro bono ? It’s an ADDITIONAL cost to Dominica!!!
Had things been done properly and according to LAW, this could/would have been AVOIDED.
You see ds, this administration has demonstrated a worrying propensity to do as it wishes. It thinks it has a monopoly of best practices.
I hope you can appreciate that ” past is prologue “.
since when all u does investigate…..there is a building in Largon in Roseau…Jenny where house…..with one entrance and exit…have any one seen this..but planning gave permission to build..right……blind bats….if it was at all…no planning permission would be granted….government with wooden speakacles for some
“Stranger than strange! Well, surprisingly something like that could happen in Dominica, which is the first and only resilient country on planet earth; where Roosevelt all but disclosed there is a technology used only in Dominica to build resilient houses; the construction of roads, and even in the cultivation of agricultural products.
This incident proves that Roosevelt theory, of a resilient Dominica, and everything within is simply an image of what he possessed in his delusional mind.
What is Roosevelt hypothesis, which leads to a theory, and what scientific method did he used to come to some conclusion that, he has a scientific, technical formula that can be presented to the rest of World, hence proving ; that Dominica is the only place where damage structures, and incidents as in this case in new construction; will, return to its original form, without human intervention which is the definition of the term “resilient!”
If all the measures stated by the Acting PM are undertaken, that”s good. However, we need to keep the government’s feet to the furnace for the truth is not their strongest suit.
Because of the shoddy construction without frequent inspection, I am skeptical about the integrity of the airport. We have not seen any Environmental Impact Assessment study on this monumental development. It is shrouded in darkness.
In Dominica, everyday there are mishaps caused by human error. The ship of state has gone awry. The passengers seem stuck on this sinking ship. Lives are at stake.
To the DNO news release titled “Contractors set June 2025 finish date for Dominica Grammar School project.” I commented:
Scaffolding is always a good indication of a contractor’s competence.
Photographs illustrating the news item showed makeshift scaffolding that would never have passed a Health and Safety inspection.