![\"PM](\"http:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/dno\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/Roosevelt_Skerrit.jpg\" "\\"Roosevelt_Skerrit\\"")
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has responded to the Opposition\u2019s \u2018walk out\u2019 of parliament.<\/p>\nPrime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has responded to the Opposition\u2019s \u2018walk out\u2019 of parliament.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, for the first time since the 2009 general elections, the United Workers Party (UWP) representatives officially showed up at the House of Assembly to be sworn in and appointed. However, shortly after this formality, they walked out.<\/p>\n
In a press conference after the walk out, Opposition Leader Hector John said that the walk out was as a result of the government\u2019s refusal to address electoral reform.<\/p>\n
But Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit took the opportunity to voice his dissatisfaction with their actions during the proceedings of the House on Tuesday, which he described as “disrespectful and unfaithful”.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou come to the parliament and you take a Bible and you hold it in your right hand, and you say on the Bible that you will bear true allegiance to the parliament of the Commonwealth of Dominica; that you will do so faithfully and then just after you have done that you walk out of parliament in a … very unfaithful and disrespectful manner to the real constitution of Dominica…\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not for congratulations but for condemnation. I cannot stand in the parliament, Madam Speaker, as a respectful member of this parliament and the constitution of Dominica and of course as a Christian myself to congratulate you for that action,\u201d the prime minister stated.<\/p>\n
He is convinced that the leadership of the UWP is not effective and should be changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that the supporters and members of the Workers Party recognize that the present leadership of the … party is not leading them on the right path. That for this party to be of any real meaning to the future of Dominica they have to go through a process of internal cleansing and the cleansing must start from the top,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
The prime minister took a personal stab at one of the opposition\u2019s parliamentarians.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came into parliament at age 26\/27 thereabout, when you get to age 70,71, 72, to come back here as a senator in the house in the backbench, Madam speaker. I mean really and truly, you\u2019ve denied the young lady from Grand Bay the opportunity to come here to represent the interest of Grand Bay to assist the member of parliament from Grand Bay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve denied a number of young persons Madam Speaker, who made themselves available to the party, to the country to represent the issues to the parliament and you\u2019ve set them aside and you\u2019ve brought in an octogenarian to the parliament and then you come here and instead of making good use of the time and energy and your good health to represent the interest of\u00a0 people in parliament you come here, you take your oath on the Bible and you walk out; just to register your name in the treasury to get a salary,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
He further asked, \u201cNow how many hard working Dominicans Madam Speaker can come into their workplace clock in and clock out at the same time and get a salary Madam speaker?\u201d<\/p>\n
The prime minister suggested that legislators should advise the government as to how they can deal with the issue from a law-making stand point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey must advise the government what legislation we should put in place to deal with those issues. because in other jurisdictions, Madam Speaker if you miss one sitting… you out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only party serious about the well being of the future of Dominica is the Dominica Labour Party,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Parliamentary Representative for the Salisbury and Marigot constituencies, respectively, Hector John and Edison James and senators \u2013 Ezekiel Bazil, Claudius Sanford, Ron Green and Ronnie Isidore were the UWP members who attended parliament yesterday after a nine\u2013month boycott.<\/p>\n
Parliamentary Representative for the Roseau Central constituency Norris Prevost accused the speaker of the House of Assembly of obstructing the work of the opposition in parliament.<\/p>\n
Prevost, who spoke at a press conference\u00a0 which followed the opposition\u2019s \u2018walk out\u2019 of parliament Tuesday morning, said that several questions submitted to the speaker by the opposition were turned down based on \u201carbitrary\u201d reasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has responded to the Opposition\u2019s \u2018walk out\u2019 of parliament. On Tuesday, for the first time since the 2009 general elections, the United Workers Party (UWP) representatives officially showed up at the House of Assembly to be…","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":18615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n