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Thursday, September 14, 2017

LAS SOUSAY NOUS LAPO RENG DENG


DCP FACILITY IN BELFAST
During the reign of the UWP government, Soca artist and Calypsonian Derick St Rose aka King Hunter sang a catchy song “They Sucking the Country they Sucking the Country Dry” At the time King Hunter was concerned about the alleged UWP corruption. Unfortunately, if we now ask King Hunter to sing the same song he will most likely become "Mighty Moo Moo"or he may have to write additional lyrics on his palm to say “King Hunter sign for building material from government IPO."  But   Mighty Moo Moo  is just a small part of the current “sucking dry" problems in Dominica. It is the hypocrisy and the avarice of  Skerrit’s apologists and hanger-ons like Yvor Nassief that we must keep our eyes on. Since King Hunter/ Mighty  Moo Moo will not sing about corruption anymore we will sing our own creole folk song about corruption- “las Sousay Mwen Lapo Reng Deng , las sousay Mwen.”

Is Yvor Nassief Now Enthusiastic About Agriculture


YVOR NASSIEF
Dominicans should never forget that it was Yvor Nassief who promoted the idea of abandoning agriculture for tourism. It was during Yvor Nassief‘s“Dollar A Year” stint as Minister of Tourism, that he said “if I had one dollar in my pocket I would invest it in tourism and NOT agriculture.” Upon the advice of Yvor Nassief, PM Roosevelt Skerrit, his cronies and apologists marketed the fallacy that an agricultural society is a third world phenomenon and that agrarian societies are doomed to fail. Since then Dominica has become a “Passportarian Society” printing and selling passports as the main source of Revenue. Yvor Nassief is an integral part of the passport selling business through his company Safe Haven Offshore Ltd.

Just when agriculture is at its lowest in Dominica ,Yvor the agriculture pessimist is suddenly optimistic about another run at DCP?  

The closure of the DCP Palmolive plant in the Belle Fast area has dealt a severe blow to the Dominican economy. The already sluggish productive sector took a nose dive and the lingering high unemployment situation has been has augmented. We are happy with the decision to resuscitate the Dominica Coconut Products (DCP) operation and the promise to restore some of the lost jobs and provide the farmers with some market opportunities. However we have every reason to question the hypocrisies of Yvor Nassief who allegedly has accepted over $2 Million dollars in loans from CBI funds for the DCP restoration project. 
DCP was started in 1965 and was built on the hard work of Elias Nassief and the farmers who provided the company with coconuts which the company converted into soaps and other body hygiene and beauty products. In 1995 and at the zenith moment of DCP, the company was sold to Colgate Palmolive allegedly for an eight figure sum.  It is safe to assume that the new DCP will again be very much dependent upon the agricultural industry for the supply of raw material- The very same industry that Yvor Nassief declared a third world concept and improbable. 


It is only logical that we question Yvor's motive- If Yvor Nassief will not invest one dollar out of his pocket for agriculture, why would he be willing to accept over $2 Million from PM Roosevelt Skerrit to invest in the revitalization of DCP- a company totally dependent on agricultural products for raw material? If so did Ivor Nassief receive an epiphany or is it just another opportunity for Yvor and his selfish motives.

We must also take note that while Ivor hands are out stretched accepting the free CBI money for the revamping of DCP, it is alleged that Yvor Nassief was very persistent about selling DCP to Colgate Palmolive. According to our anticorruption colleagues in the Caribbean region ,Yvor was interested in other investment opportunities in the Caribbean and therefore wanted nothing to do with the perpetuation of the DCP and so daddy Phillip Nassief  at the time was left with no choice but to sell off the company. 

For the sake of the marginalized farmers and the displaced former employees of DCP Colgate Palmolive, we hope that there is sincerity and a full fledge commitment in the effort to revamp the old DCP operation. We trust that the alleged $2 Million loaned  to Yvor Nassief will yield positive results and that we will not have another Coffee Factory moment in Dominica.

Douglas Simon and The Public Work Corporation 
In keeping with the sucking theme MiTC would also like to ask the PM Roosevelt Skerrit – what is the situation with the Public Works Corporation beach front property?

In 2011 PM Skerrit responded to allegations that the PWC site was sold to some Chinese interest. In responding the PM said that “the sale of the property has not been settled because the matter has not come back to the cabinet for final decision; the ministry Of Lands has been discussing with the interested party the final selling price. “ Since we have not heard anything we can assume that either the property had been sold in 2011 and as customary it was none of the people’s darn business or that the property may have been in abeyance since 2011.

We have received unconfirmed information that the PWC property on the waterfront is now owned by someone using an alias name Douglas Simon on Facebook. At this point we are not sure who Douglas Simon is however we know that this Facebook character Douglas Simon has vigorously defended corruption in the Roosevelt Skerrit regime. According to our sources Douglas Simon is a wealthy Dominican who also happen to have passport selling privileges. MiTC is actively working on more details regarding the current ownership of the PWC property but in the interim we hope that someone can unmask Douglas Simon.     

I Don't Need You

In the wake of the terrible tragedy that has befallen our neighbours as a result of the passage of Hurricane Irma, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has sought to present himself as some sort of benefactor, promising millions of dollars to go towards relief in a number of islands. While we commend his efforts at assisting our neighbours, Mr. Skerrit, however, will be known for something dastardly.

Mr. Skerrit could have taken this opportunity to extend a welcoming hand to our nationals in these islands, many of whom have been wiped out of their possessions, and encouraged them to return home to assist in the development of our country. Mr. Skerrit has lost sight of the fact that the primary reason our brothers and sisters migrated was in search of employment. Undoubtedly, a number of them will be both homeless and unemployed as a result of this catastrophe. Also true is that they maintain close ties with family members back home. Therefore, why not offer our brothers and sisters safe passage and comfort back home as well as employment? They're needed to build Dominica.

What we have instead is that Mr. Skerrit declaring to our skilled family members overseas to refrain from coming back to Dominica, and stay in the disaster zone to assist these countries redevelop themselves. In unequivocal terms, Mr. Skerrit has told Dominicans who (in their need to escape the effects of the disaster Hurricane Irma has wrought on their adopted countries) may be inclined to return home to Dominica in order to reset their lives, that they should not set foot in Dominica. That is an incredible pronouncement from the leader of this country, from any country for that matter. Isn't Dominica in need of development also? Can't we utilize the skills and know-how of our brothers and sisters in our development? Our nationals are left with nothing but the clothes on their backs; why not bring them home to be with family and at the same time, provide employment for them.

As recently as 2014 Mr. Skerrit was buying the votes of many of the same Dominicans who he's rejecting now. We're to wonder; how do they feel now that they're facing a life or death moment, Mr. Skerrit has held up his notorious "waste of time diasporans" sign in their faces? .


Saturday, September 2, 2017

IS THE COMPANY PRIMROSE DEAR TO PM SKERRIT?

International and multilateral anti-corruption agencies have identified public procurement as a major stumping ground for government corruption, favoritism, bribery and cronyism. The Dominica Labor Party government led by Roosevelt Skerrit has shown no effort in cooperating with anti-corruption initiatives and instead what we continue to see is more brazen and audacious corruption activities in the public procurement system .Instead of employing model systems with strict law enforcement measures to cleanup the cesspool in the government procurement procedures PM Roosevelt Skerrit continue to offer dog whistle and dubious leadership in the fight against corruption.We have been waiting for 15 years to hear PM Roosevelt Skerrit make a convincing statement or a simple sentence about corruption but alas we might as well ask the devil to put some holy water in his mouth.

Existing Post Office
The timid statements by PM Skerrit and the minister Catherine Daniel against the continuous fraud in the public procurement system was simply an effort to forestall public outrage against facilitated political bribery and the continuous fraud that is occurring in the local government organizations.But as we often say – the devil can’t correct sin and so the kleptocratic Prime Minister does not have the moral prerogative to be convincing and authoritative against any kind of malfeasance within his cabinet, central government, local government or any other government controlled institution.

Mr. Skerrit tactfully targeted a shady contractor who fraudulently provided used toilets on new construction project however Mr. Skerrit know very well that the problem is way deeper than just the fraudulent contractor and his used toilet scheme. The problem stems from the fact that the PM continues to show no gumption and offers no solution to combat the fraud and corruption in government while he himself lead a criminal enterprise. He barks “fix it” from behind closed doors while he continues to facilitate bribery and cronyism- he is totally responsible for the incompetent and thieving contractors.   

Unfinished Post Office
Most of us will remember the money laundering garbage bin scheme, popularly known as the Garbage Bin Bobol. Mr. Skerrit and one of his ministers were directly involved in scheming over $500,000 from the treasury ,through the procurement of overpriced and fraudulent garbage bins.

We also have the disgraceful Post Office renovation contract that Mr. Skerrit and his administration have not spoken about since 2013. It is more than four years since the Post Office building renovation project started and today the incomplete post office building remain a monstrosity on the waterfront in the city of Roseau and the contractor, one of the DLP cronies seem unaccountable for the failed post office renovation project and $3 Million of tax payers money.

In a MiTC article (Another No Bid Contract) it was reported that over $360,000 progress payment was requested by one of Mr. Skerrit’s hand selected contractor from Viellecase, for the construction of a simple road crossing box culvert in the Capuchin area. Experts estimated the true cost of the project to be about $110K-130K. It is astounding that a contract was awarded to a contractor Victor Roberts for the construction of a NEW bridge in the Castle Bruce constituency but a simple box culvert in the Capuchin area a progress bill for $360K was submitted and approved.  

There are numerous  examples of blatant corruption in Mr. Skerrit’s Public Procurement system however we would like the public to know of the company name Primrose that seem to be consistently performing government construction contracts. It is alleged that this company is owned by Hamid Leblanc- A separate gig from Hamid's concrete truck operation. We also understand that a gentleman aka “Bakes” may also be part owner of this company. Hamid Leblanc is the adopted brother and close cousin of PM Roosevelt Skerrit and Bakes an avid election campaign agent for the DLP party, also a former car rental owner and also now involved in the Layou River Sand commercial operation. We are particularly concerned about the fact that none of these gentlemen are versed in construction or qualified construction professionals.

Hamid Standing First From Left
What system does Primrose have in place to insure Quality Control?


Does Primrose employ professionals to help them deliver projects and does the government procurement system overlook the contractor prequalification procedures just to facilitate special interest companies such as Primrose – a Hamid and Bakes collaboration?


Was the Grand Fond playing field project delay due to the incompetence of Bakes and Hamid?

Does the Prime Minister have any interest in Primrose? 

BAM Procurement Questionable???
MiTC has also been concerned about the procurement system for the BAM feeder road rehabilitation projects. In May of 2016 three contracts were signed for feeder road rehabilitation and one for the rehabilitation of access road to the Londonderry Tissue Culture Weaning and Hardening Facility. The three contracts were awarded to Philippe Val  for Lot 1, Charles Daher  Lot 2 and Roland Coursil for Lot 3. The twenty million dollar project is funded by the European Union through the Banana Accompanying Measures (BAM).

We noticed that the Public Works Corporation had not been successful in winning any of these contracts even with inherent bid advantages such as a much smaller mobilization cost, familiarity with the terrain, local experience in road construction, ownership of a high tech road paving equipment and access to the asphalt concrete plant. We decided to dig into the matter and during our investigation we found out that one of the companies that was awarded a BAM contract has had a very checkered past. In fact the company resurfaced after many years of dormancy and is now operating in Dominica under two owners-allegedly one a convicted criminal and the other an ex-police officer.

Upon uncovering the information we made a few calls to our anticorruption colleagues in the region where the company originated. Our contacts were shocked that this company and its operators had resurfaced in Dominica. Without even doing a research or a follow up call our contacts immediately informed us of the company’s sordid reputation. This particular company had been involved in numerous scandals. There were numerous complains of fraudulent activities to include services that were paid for in advance and never delivered. In fact we were in contact with one victim who stated that after paying more than $8000 for material delivery the same company disappeared and went into oblivion. Even up to today the victim has not been reimbursed.

The question is- was this company and its current owners vetted during the prequalification process? We sincerely hope that the BAM officials in Barbados will take note and insure integrity and transparency during the execution of the road rehabilitation project. We certainly hope that the politicians in government did not play any part in circumventing any due diligence process that may have been required during the contractor prequalification process.

The BAM office must also insure that employees  do not operate the BAM vehicles like their personal properties. We are particularly referring to vehicle Registration # GA 597 with dark tints and is being operated by Nicholls Shanks Esprit running around and having night and weekend rendezvous. The European Union does not condone such corrupt behavior .

We are also still awaiting a response on the Brand new BAM excavator that was being used by a DLP crony for private gigs. See MiTC article “The BAM Office Tired of Corruption at MOA”

Fix Skerrit First
If Mr. Skerrit and or Catherin Daniel are serious about fixing the corrupt public procurement system and the debauchery in the local government organizations they must allow the audit and oversight institutions of government to function in ways that would allow for the best value procurement procedures. We would also like to see the empowerment of the citizens to the point that citizens demand lucidity and accountability with government spending. The wanton distribution of public funds for phantom small businesses must also be frowned upon particularly as the funds does not transmit into small business development. We are sure that Dr. John Toussaint can say amen to that since he headed an agro business development unit that reported 98% delinquency on over over $1 Million in small business loans.

If Mr. Skerrit and his cronies can account for the millions of dollars that have been schemed off the Public Procurement system then we will recommend that the Red Toilet Police Reginald Austrie arrest that disgraceful used toilet contractor that Mr. Skerrit picked on.



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