Just after Hurricane Maria ravaged Dominica, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has been putting up appearances giving the impression that things are quickly getting back to normal. He has DBS Radio playing, “It is well with my soul” while the announcers are acting like it is business as usual and things are alright.
But things cannot be alright;
- When the Prime Minister can not spend more than 48 hours in Dominica since Maria, things cannot be alright;
- When some Ministers are fed up with Skerrit’s one man show but are afraid to say so in public, things cannot be alright;
- When Skerrit speaks of “Unity of Purpose” but has failed to have a dialogue with the Parliamentary Opposition, things cannot be alright;
- When the business community was savaged by looters up to 12 days after the storm, things cannot be alright;
- When Skerrit continues to fail the business community by refusing to fire Police Chief Daniel Carbon and his Deputy Davidson Valerie for their dismal leadership during and after Maria, things cannot be alright;
- When Pastor Arlington Wilson shamefully declared PM Skerrit as “the best beggar in the world” at the 39th Anniversary of Independence Ecumenical Service and Cultural Exposé, things cannot be alright;
- When the Roosevelt Skerrit Government continues to play POLITICAL FOOTBALL with relief supplies from foreign governments and organizations, just ask Kelver Darroux, things cannot be alright;
- When International Agencies cannot get simple census data from the government system, things cannot be alright;
- When Tony Astaphan has temporarily relocated to Antigua in the interest of his stepson’s education but he wants Dominican students to go back to school in deplorable conditions, things cannot be alright;
- When the Police is selective in arresting looters, things cannot be alright;
- When the people of Colihaut, Coulibistrie and Pichelin have to run to higher grounds every time there is a slight rain drizzle, things cannot be alright;
- When farmers’ farms have not been assessed and farmers given planting materials and inputs to get back into production, things cannot be alright;
- When the Tourism sector is on its knees, things cannot be alright;
- When the government have not met with the landlords who are providing service to the Professors and students of ROSS University, things cannot be alright;
- When it has been estimated that about 20,000 people have already fled Dominica since Maria, things cannot be alright;
- When the Immigration Department has ran out of passports, things cannot be alright;
- When RSS officers are still walking our streets with heavy ammunition, like we are in Baghdad, things cannot be alright;
- When the government is yet to have a memorial mass for dead and missing after Maria, things cannot be alright;
- When FLOW and DIGICEL continue to loot our DATA after Maria, things cannot be alright;
- And things certainly cannot be alright when there is MAT (Maria Added Tax) on the world’s oldest profession. Ask Donald Peters.
We can not continue to pretend that things are alright, 7 weeks after Maria destroyed the Nature Isle. We should be positive and optimistic towards the rebuilding of Dominica. But the struggle is real. When children are still troubled by the effects of Maria. There are families who lost everything and don’t know how they are going to bounce back. Our housing stock have been hammered and our infrastructure severely battered. Our health system is on life support and the new hospital is on a stand still. So no amount of dancing Mazook by PM Skerrit, no amount of greetings line on DBS radio and no amount of political ration can change the fact that things are bad in Dominica. So stop faking it, because no amount of tarpaulins can cover that fact. Ask Simeon “Sticky Fingers” Albert.
By Lizzy Drigo, on assignment in Dominica
THIS WE ALL CAN AGREE ON..."When FLOW and DIGICEL continue to loot our DATA after Maria, things cannot be alright"
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