Now that the by-election in the Soufriere constituency has concluded and the results verified, attention now turns to what's next. Our sources in the Financial Centre have revealed that Mr. Skerrit now intends to redouble his efforts to wrest the Roseau South constituency from the United Workers Party.
Earlier this year we alerted you to the maneuverings of Mr. Skerrit in the days after the sitting MP for Roseau South, Mr. Joshua Francis, was arrested on charges involving alleged inappropriate behavior with a minor. This minor is the same one who former Soufriere MP Ian Pinard is alleged to have been involved with. The allegations against Mr. Pinard, coupled with his arrest, put in motion a series of events that culminated in the recently concluded by-election in the Soufriere constituency to replace him.
In the days following the arrest of MP Francis, Mr. Skerrit was in the Roseau South constituency accompanied by his chosen candidate Jahisiah Benoit doling out cash and projects to various organisations. We told you then that this was a precursor to an attempt to regain the constituency. This is a classic Skerrit game. He deployed it in Roseau South then and he replicated it in Soufriere as well. It worked in Soufriere. We have no reason to think that Mr. Skerrit will not try to make it work in Roseau South now.
While Mr. Skerrit was in Roseau South handing out money and promising developments, he was also busy trying to convince the Roseau South MP to switch over to the Dominica Labour Party. Our sources have revealed to us that Mr. Skerrit has confirmed that he had engaged MP Francis directly and through intermediaries, including his wife Melissa and Foreign minister Francine Baron. Also notable is this; initial references to MP Francis on Kairi FM by its personalities, including the mouth rag Anthony Astaphan, were sympathetic to Mr. Francis. Mr. Skerrit and his agents went into overdrive in their efforts to drive a wedge between the MP Francis and his party. Mr. Francis appears to have resisted these efforts so far, and the effect of that resistance can be seen in the aggressive tone now being used when references to him are being made on Kairi FM lately.
With the conclusion of the by-election in the Soufriere constituency, Mr. Skerrit will now be engaging Mr. Francis again in an effort to get him to cross the aisle. Simultaneously, Mr. Skerrit will be doling out cash and other goodies in that constituency. We can expect Mr. Benoit to be doing the same. Two months ago we warned that Mr. Skerrit was moving in on Roseau South; no one must assume that he has abandoned this mission. Every effort must be put into retaining that seat.
In the meantime life goes back to normal in the Soufriere constituency. Soon the cash doled out will all have been spent and the unemployed people who fell for this ruse will still be unemployed. In the months leading into the 2014 General Elections, Mr. Skerrit and Mr. Pinard came to the people of the Soufriere constituency promising jobs and development. The unemployed of the constituency believed them and voted for the Dominica Labour Party on the strength of those promises. Eighteen months later the jobs and development are no where to be seen. But the unemployed voted the Labour Party in again based on what they knew were false promises. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. We wish the people of the Soufriere constituency the best as they continue on their uncertain journey.
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