ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Opposition Leader Jesma Paul Victor has named a registered nurse as the opposition nominee to replace outgoing President Charles Savarin, whose two-five-year term of office ends on October 1 this year.
In a statement, Victor said that she had written to the Speaker of the Parliament, Joseph Issac, informing him of her nominee, Mrs. Anette Sanford, who, like the government nominee, 58-year-old Sylvanie Burton, is from the Kaliangoo Territory, where the descendants of the country’s indigenous people, the Caribs, still resides.
Parliament met last Tuesday to discuss a replacement for President Savarin, and Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that the Dominica Constitution provides for consultation between the head of government and the Opposition Leader on the selection of a candidate.
Please reach an agreement to ensure that the election of a President will take place 14 days after Parliament has been informed of the situation.
The government nominated Mrs Burton, a member of the island’s indigenous population, to become the island’s 11th head of state since the attainment of political independence from Britain on November 3, 1978.
Skerrit said that he was disappointed that there could not have been a consensus on the appointment of Burton.
“It is unfortunate, and I see this as a repudiation of a woman and a repudiation of a Kaliango…the people who first came to our country, who defended our patrimony that we could have a Dominica to call our home.”
He said he was also disappointed that a “highly qualified” person did not meet the opposition’s approval.
In the statement, Victor said that Mrs. Sanford is a registered nurse and clinical instructor at the Dominica State College. She is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh with a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. She also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Health Care Administration from St. Lawrence College in Ontario, Canada. She is pursuing a Master’s Degree online in International Public Health at the University of Liverpool, England.
Mrs. Sanford also served as an opposition legislator between 2020-22.
“The position of President is the highest office in the land. In the execution of the duties of that office, the holder must be someone of unimpeachable integrity, impartiality, dignity, and independence and must always be prepared to defend the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
“Having thoroughly examined the life and career of our nominee over several weeks, we in the Parliamentary Opposition are convinced that Mrs. Anette Sanford possesses the qualities needed to be our Head of State at this critical juncture in our country’s development.
“It would be a significant achievement if our nominee, a woman and a Kalinago, is elected President of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Such a development would herald an excellent moment for the Kalinago people of Dominica. It would also serve as a beacon of hope for indigenous peoples worldwide <” the Opposition Leader said in the statement.
Skerrit’s Dominica Labour Party (DLP) government controls 19 of the 21 seats in the 21-member Parliament, and the government’s nominee is expected to be elected at the next parliamentary session in 14 days.
Mrs Burton has been a senior public servant since 2014 and is currently the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment, Rural Modernisation, Kalinagoo Upliftment and Constituency Empowerment.
She has been a Justice of the Peace for 25 years and holds a master’s Degree in Project Management and a Bachelor’s Degree in Rural Development.
She is married and has two children.
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