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One of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s most recent utterances has offended several coconut merchants in Dominica, who are now seeking an apology from him immediately.<\/p>\n
Endorsing the candidacy of his Castle Bruce candidate, Octavia Alfred, on November\u00a0 26, 2022, the leader of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) used the occasion to attack her opponent, Independent candidate Kelvin Cadette, by questioning his capacity to provide for his constituency given his line of work.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou cannot come here and talk about no Jelly man. Which jab jelly man you talking about? A jelly man? I mean let us get serious in Dominica. Let’s get serious in this country. A man running up and saying he is the jelly man. Jelly man what. What jelly man can do for you? What jelly man can do for you in Castle Bruce?\u201d the Prime Minister asked before an enthusiastic crowd of supporters.<\/p>\n
“Jelly man can build no house for you?” he continued. “What can jelly man do for you in Castle Bruce, maybe give you a little jelly\u2026that’s all. You pay five dollars you get a jelly\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
At least three coconut merchants, one of whom was present at the meeting, have referred to the prime minister’s remarks as an insult to their line of work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI telling you I was listening that night and I couldn’t believe that was how our PM, our own prime minister was talking about a man like me, who gets up and works hard every day to make my daily bread,\u201d stated the individual who spoke to Dominica News Online (DNO) on the condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sad thing is other man like myself who get up and go plant in their garden every day was laughing that, not realizing that the man was also insulting them too,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Another city-based coconut vendor from the east of the island has declared his intention to stop supporting the DLP if Skerrit does not issue a public apology.<\/p>\n
Estimating his sales at $90- $130 per day, he declared, \u201cWe are hardworking people and to ask what can a jell man\u00a0 can do for you is implying that we cannot take care of ourselves.”<\/p>\n
Political Leader of the United Workers Party (UWP), Dr. Thomson Fontaine, has also called on the country to denounce the statement made by the prime minister.<\/p>\n
As the son of a farmer and a man who has worked the soil, Dr. Fontaine said, “It is deeply hurtful and offensive that the prime minister of Dominica can form his nose at hard-working farmers”<\/p>\n
Fontaine asserts that the Dominican farmers’ blood and sweat, rather than those of people receiving handouts, is what made this nation.<\/p>\n
“So that was a hurtful and disturbing statement which shows that this is a prime minister who is getting out of control. Because to be so condescending to a man who is doing his work, he is not coming to beg the prime minister; he is working to take care of his family and you are crying down a hard-working man instead of lifting him”, he stated.<\/p>\n
One of the UWP administration’s main goals for reviving the economy, according to the economist, is agriculture.<\/p>\n
The newly elected UWP leader added that when they are re-elected to office, special focus will be given to tree crops such as coconut and bananas as well as all other elements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit’s most recent utterances has offended several coconut merchants in Dominica, who are now seeking an apology from him immediately. Endorsing the candidacy of his Castle Bruce candidate, Octavia Alfred, on November\u00a0 26, 2022, the…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":295207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,264,286,77,235,9,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-elections","category-governance","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news","category-politics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n