As of December 1, 2020, the Government of Dominica has announced duty-free concessions for barrels for the Christmas Holiday.
In making the announcement, Minister of Governance, Public Service Reform, Citizen Empowerment, Social Justice, and Ecclesiastical Affairs Hon. Gretta Roberts advised that Cabinet has approved concessions on imported barrels until January 8, 2021.
On the heels of the announcement many took to social media to express their dissatisfaction with certain measures outlined in the announcement.
As a result Dominica News Online sought the public’s view on this Christmas duty free concession.
A number of persons were randomly approached, here is some of the feedback.
Dylan (Grand Bay)– “Though I welcome this initiative, I think it is a rather late announcement. By the time I call my family and ask them to full a barrel and send it down, the time given by government will already be up so I will have to pay the port fees. Good move but bad judgement in terms of the time frame.”
Mr. Burton (Kalinago Territory) -“Once again the government is showing we the people they care for us. In a time like now when the country needs all the money it can get, for the Prime Minister to say barrels are free this is a leader who puts his people before anything else. It is certainly a good move and thumbs up to you PM.”
Rossie (Marigot)– “This announcement will only benefit those people who had prior knowledge of it or those whose family were already in the process of shipping down a barrel. Such announcement should have been made in September or October so more persons could have taken advantage of this opportunity.”
Earl (Potterville)-“Instead of the putting duty free on barrel to make Dominicans get fatter on coshoni food, the PM should have considered duty free on building materials for the Christmas. See that they crying brokes, a lot of people would have taken advantage of the opportunity rather than waiting on government to give then a sheet of plywood or other materials. And I hearing Dominicans praising nonsense. We too small minded in that place.”
Agnes (Jimmit)– “I don’t understand what Dominicans crying about late announcement when the government have been doing this duty free concession for a number of years. We too like to criticize and never able to say when something good.”
Telford (Newtown) -“The government should certainly be commended for this move. In spite of the loss of economic activity in Dominica and the world by extension, our prudent Prime Minister and his Cabinet have decided to give us duty free concession. We should be appreciative of the small things.”
Esprit (Campbell)- “This is really disappointing, how can the government give us one month to shop, pack, ship and clear a barrel? This concession should be extended to Feburary so that the people can really take advantage of the offer.”
Dorianna (Canefield)– “I am in support of anything that is beneficial to the general public but in this covid era, we should also take the small businesses into consideration. As a business owner I can certainly tell you, throughout this year it has been a real struggle so I was looking forward to the Christmas sale but I guess most people will try to get their family abroad to send whatever they can. I think some duty free concession should have also been extended to the small businesses so we too can get a little relief because as I tell you this year with covid-19 has not been an easy one.
Megan (Fond Cole)– “I think instead of barrels government should put duty free concession on items persons order because no way a barrel will have time reach Dominica on such notice. Yes they giving concession every year but in this covid era we were not sure and everyone everywhere affected so we can’t just wait on family to send barrel for us we have to order our stuff so that’s where we need the concession.”
Robert (St. Joseph)– “I really hope government not just saying duty free on barrel to move away from giving us our Christmas bonus. Yes covid-19 affected us but all year round we working under trying circumstances so we certainly need more than just duty free on barrels we need a double bubble.”
I usually don’t tune in to Skerrit’s self aggrandizement show on Sunday evenings. However, I get the entire program from reading the many articles on DNO.
DNO has become an echo chamber for the PM’s falsehoods and self promotion. They parrot almost verbatim every word he says like a good and faithful servant.
Conversely, it’s extremely rare that they print anything from the main political opposition. Where is the balance? Good journalism seeks for balance, objectivity, impartiality and fairness.
Where are the articles on DNO demanding TRANSPARENCY in government; billions of CBI money being given to a foreign contractor; no real stimulus package for the thousands of unemployed resident Dominicans.
It takes Mr. Lennox Linton to do the work of these intellectually indolent local ‘journalists’ by shedding light on the many instances of corrupt and questionable practices by the Skerrit DLP led totalitarian regime.
INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM fast asleep in Dominica’
It’s nothing new is it? Xmas battles have always been duty or tax free. All they’ve done is extend it beyond xmas for a change, which is good for those looking for a post xmas sale.
What they need to do is stop adding vat to postage, that is illegal in most countries. Postage has nothing to do with the value of an item and should therefore not be added to the total cost for duty. It’s theft by the government offices.
mr burton sorry barrels are not free. You still have to pay
The news media in Dominica have failed the people horribly. If the PRESS was more proactive, more investigative, more courageous, the corruption and anomalies in government would have been exposed to the whole world and the perpetrators would have been less inclined to engage in their numerous improprieties.
The garbage bins and fertilizer scandals, the missing 1.4 billion CBI money, the $64 000 monthly fortress, the vacuuming of the airport funds were all exposed by Mr. Lennox Linton. My question is, if Mr. Linton can extract all these corrupt practices by the government by himself, why can’t the many journalists do this and more?
Here we have DNO inadvertently or willingly acting as a conduit for the dissemination of propaganda for the most corrupt government in the OECS.
The Skerrit-led regime has done the people innumerable wrongs, even teargasing a sleeping community and DNO.remains SHAMEFULLY silent to this moment. Shame on you, DNO. SPINELESS!!
ADMIN: That is your view Ibo. These are stories that were covered when they happened which is sometime ago. The topics covered in this feature tend to be recent items in the news. However, stay tuned you may like the next installment.