Following the passage of Hurricane Maria the general
consensus was that in order to foster the process of rebuilding a new Dominica
the government must lead the way in insuring that things are done differently –
governance must become more transparent and that all Dominicans irrespective of
political views would become equal partners in the rebuilding process. In fact
PM Skerrit promised the international community that he would institute a
culture of transparency within his administration but so far it is just more of
the same corruption and crass partisan machinations.  |
| DR REGGIE tHOMAS |
As a first show of commitment to help Dominica’s recovery
process the World Bank provided over EC $18 Million towards the reconstruction
of the agricultural sector but instead of using the funds to really develop the
agriculture sector the PM and his cronies are using the World Bank funds to
play political games and we want the World Bank (WB) to know about the
despicable behavior of the PM and the cast of players out of his office- Reggie
Saverin,, Steve Ferrol and Kervin Stevenson. Note that Kervin Stevenson who was
supposed to take up the position of acting Permanent Secretary at the Ministry
Of Agriculture is no longer acting and instead the chief veterinarian and
prospective Labor Party Candidate, Reginald Thomas is now the acting Permanent Secretary.
Under the watch of the international community it was
promised that all “qualified” farmers would receive at least $6000 to assist
them with the restoration of their agricultural farms but up to now the farmers
are yet to receive the funds. As a matter of fact “some people” were expecting
checks on Tuesday but that did not happen. Some people are also expecting to
collect checks tomorrow however our information also suggests that the money
will not be available tomorrow.
Notice that we are saying “some People” as oppose to
farmers are expecting to collect checks tomorrow. This is so because the Prime Minister
and his handlers have decided that his Vielle Case constituency and not the genuine
farmers out of the main agricultural areas like Marigot, Salisbury, and Wesley will
be the focus for the distribution of the World Bank funds. To date only one
meeting was held with farmers of Dominica on the matter of the World Bank funds
and that meeting was held in Vielle case.
The entire planning process for the distribution of the
WB agricultural fund reeks of fraud and political meandering. Farmers are
coming out of the woodworks in Vielle case – multiple families many of whom are
not farmers are listed to receive $6000. We are aware of some cases where
multiple members of the same household are slated to receive $6000 each even
though these families and individual family members have no agricultural farms.
We are also aware that some bona fide farmers and non-Laborite
with large holdings are also listed to receive funds but are only listed for
$2000, particularly non DLP supporters. It
is worth noting that during our investigation we found out that prior to
Hurricane Maria only 12 farmers show up at farmer’s engagement in the Vielle
case constituency and now the farmers listed for the WB funds in the same
constituency is now 500 and growing.
As previously noted the clandestine planning for the
distribution of the WB funds has been taking place out of the PM’s office. It
was Reggie Severin from the PM’s office who conducted that unscrupulous meeting
with the fly-by-night farmers of Vielle case. We understand that the agricultural
extension officers have not been included in the process of identifying the
deserving farmers in Dominica and when the extension officers questioned the process
Reggie Severin informed the extension officers that this is an exclusive
operation. We also understand that in order to facilitate their bogus intent the PM’s handlers have ask the hinky
farmers to falsify the information on the application form – Sketchy farmers of
Vielle case are ask to state on the form that they had been supplying DEXIA and the local supermarkets with
agricultural produce.
In addition to the shambolic operation out of the PM’s office,
government Ministers have also been submitting their own list of bogus farmers
from their own constituencies. We also understand that the selection of people
(not necessarily farmers) for the WB agricultural funds is now a cabinet
affair- the Ministry Of Agriculture and the extension officers have been
totally excluded.
Ha Ha, tears of sorrow, tears of joy. When will we wake up and say "enough is enough"?
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