Fresh off her victory of having been elected as Commonwealth Secretary General Designate, Baroness Patricia Scotland of Asthal paid a visit to her country of birth, Dominica, and promptly delivered a message to detractors of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit; "suck salt".
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| PM Skerrit (l), Baroness Scotland (r) |
The Baroness was delivering a speech at the dedication of a primary school in her honour. The school, located in the village of Veille Case, which happens to be in the constituency of prime minister Skerrit, sits on the picturesque north-east coast of the island. Mr Skerrit was the Baroness' lead sponsor at the recently concluded Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Malta and this visit is somewhat of a victory lap of sorts.
The prime minister came under heavy criticism for having pushed Baroness Scotland for the post. Although she was born in Dominica, the Baroness, age 60, last resided on the island when she was 2, which makes her "dominant nationality" English, according to rules governing the selection process in the Commonwealth, a fact that should have prevented her from being elected to CSG. As fate would have it, it didn't, and Baroness Scotland, a highly accomplished woman, is now the incoming CSG.
Baroness Scotland, in delivering her remarks to the crowd gathered at the dedication ceremony, proudly emphasized her Dominican roots, speaking in alternately in both English and French Creole, both of our languages. She went on to praise prime minister Skerrit profusely and had a very "classy" message for Dominicans who oppose him; "go suck salt", then promptly gave the royal wave; ta ta!
For those unaware of local customs and parlance, when someone uses the term "suck salt" in dispensing advice, there is very little nuance in the meaning; the term means "go to hell", "stay in your misery", "get lost", "starve yourself to death", or any derivative thereof. Dominicans know what she was saying, she knew what she was saying, and it wasn't pretty.
It is worthy to point out here that Baroness Scotland, in her speeches subsequent to her having been elected as CSG-designate, made it known that one of the things on her agenda as CSG was the eradication of official corruption. Roosevelt Skerrit has been engulfed in the fog of corruption since becoming prime minister of Dominica over 10 years ago. Out of numerous instances of graft, nepotism, malfeasance and the infamous visit to the Labour Department, where he told the Labour Commissioner that "there is racketeering going on in this department (regarding the Haitian work permit scheme), fix it", there's also the unresolved Layou River Hotel project in which Skerrit conspired with his Ambassador to China David Hsiu and his business partner Grace Tung, to defraud investor Felix Chen of his US$20 million investment in that project. Skerrit personally testified in court in the British Virgin Islands in 2008 where he declared that he was on his way to Macau to borrow that US$20 million from a "Mr. Wu" in an effort to pay off Mr. Chen, who's still waiting for his money.
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| From left: Ashe, Lorenzo, Skerrit, Ng |
"Mr. Wu" is none other than Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, an accused Macau crime lord and triad member, who so happens to be now under house arrest in New York after being apprehended by the FBI in September for money laundering and tax evasion. Ng is also at the center of a massive bribery scheme at the United Nations. Ng is accused of bribing former General Assembly President John Ashe and former Ambassador Francis Lorenzo from the Dominican Republic to get the UN to steer business his way, apparently to build a huge UN center in Macau to be run by the UN Office for South-South Cooperation. Two days before Tropical Storm Erika struck Dominica on August 27th 2015, Mr. Skerrit was photographed with John Ashe, Francis Lorenzo and Ng Lap Seng signing documents, the contents of which the UN is yet to disclose, despite repeated requests. It is noteworthy that Skerrit was the only head of state at that meeting, one which was designed for lower-level officials. Why was Skerrit really there?
Furthermore, Baroness Scotland was appointed by Skerrit days after the passage of TS Erika to be the country's International Relief Coordinator, tasked with drumming up financial resources for the rebuilding effort. She is yet to deliver a report on her efforts, and neither has Skerrit. How much money did you get for us Baroness? From who? Where is it? And now you come tell us who criticize Skerrit to go suck salt? Really?
Lizzy the Blogger in Dominica coontributed to this story
This is why we will go lower than third world. Such class. They continue to feed an already ignorant people with garbage.
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