ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has downplayed suggestions that the island faces a crisis after the President said “no elected member” on the opposition bench is qualified to be sworn in as Leader of the Opposition.
Earlier this month, the Office of the President wrote to opposition Senator Delbert Paris, indicating that “unelected Senators are not empowered to canvas the President nor otherwise participate in the appointment of the leader of the Opposition, nor is the President on the appointment of the Leader of the opposition, required to take into account any views of unelected Senators.”
Following the 2022 snap general elections, which were boycotted by the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) won 19 of the 21 seats at stake. Independent candidates won the other two seats.
When she was sworn in as Opposition Leader in December 2022, Jesma Paul-Victor told reporters that she and the other elected parliamentarian, Anthony Charles, had agreed on a power-sharing arrangement for the position since neither of them could command the support of other elected members of the House to enable them to claim it.
Paul-Victor’s appointment, which lasted 18 months, was expected to end on June 19, 2024, after which Charles would take over.
Her letter of resignation marking the end of her tenure was tendered “with immediate effect” on June 20, 2024. Still, in a prompt response from the Office of the President, Paul-Victor was reminded of the procedure for filling the vacant position of Leader of the Opposition.
Charles, who has since joined the island’s newest political party, the United Progressive Party (UPP), said he has not heard from Paul-Victor about submitting a joint letter to the President indicating her support for him.
In the July 3 letter to Paris, the Office of the President noted that “the former Leader of the Opposition having resigned from that office, there is no elected member of the House who appears to her Excellency most likely to command the support of a majority of the elected members of the House who do not support the Government nor is there any elected member of the House who appears to her Excellency to command the support of the largest single group of elected members of the House who do not support the Government.
“Accordingly, Her Excellency has determined that no elected member of the House qualifies to be elected Leader of the Opposition by the provisions of Section 66 of the Constitution”.
Skerrit told reporters that while it is unfortunate, the current situation is not a crisis, pointing to similar situations in Barbados and Grenada in recent years, where the Government had won all the seats in the Parliament. Listen to audio
He said that while the Constitution makes provision for dialogue to be held with the Leader of the Opposition on certain appointments, “they are not issues that can prevent the state or the Parliament from functioning.
“It is always better and desirable for an opposition leader in office. I would like to have an opposition leader in office,” he said, “In a situation where you do not have a Leader of the Opposition. I have to advise Her Excellency the President on a matter requiring me to consult with the Opposition Leader. There being none, I have to indicate in my letter there being no Leader of the Opposition,” Skerrit said.
He blamed the opposition forces here for the situation, saying that the incumbent opposition legislators had received bad advice.
He said they needed to use their intellectual capacity, experience, and knowledge to advise the legislators.
“They advise you from a vantage point of hate,” he said, insisting that they were not using their “smart” knowledge and experience to advise.
“And so they interpret the Constitution knowing that the interpretation is wrong. But to create discord and mayhem in their minds and keep their supporters hating the Government and the country, they advise them wrongly,” Skerrit added.
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