Dominica's kleptomaniac Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit is at it again. Mr. Skerrit, always one to take advantage of an opportunity to enrich himself and foreigners while simultaneously impoverishing his citizens, seems to have found another avenue to pursue his criminal ways; CREAD.

Notwithstanding the fact that CREAD in its current format is illegal, Mr. Skerrit has found a way to ensure that, like the contract he awarded to his Bajan friends for the construction of his $18 million CBI bridge that really cost $10 million, he is going to source bulk of the staff necessary for the operation of CREAD from his pool of foreign friends. Within the tight circles of the Ministry of Finance, which Mr. Skerrit heads, an estimated budget of annual expenses for CREAD has been circulated, and we have obtained a copy from a highly credible source.

The government estimates that CREAD will cost US$4 million (EC$10.7 million) annually to operate, of which US$2.7 million (EC$7.3 million) goes towards salaries. Seventeen (17) persons are needed, per the estimate, of which only 4 positions are allocated to locals; an additional 3 could be hired, but that is not a guarantee. Mr. Skerrit even intends to bypass our local civil engineers, choosing to pursue the hiring of 4 foreigners instead with an annual salary of EC$470,000.00 each.

It will be interesting to see who Mr. Skerrit chooses to hire as CREAD's Chief Executive Officer. That individual is budgeted to earn a US$275,000 (EC$739,750) annual salary. Its Senior Finance Officer, who we will presume to be an experienced Accounting professional or Economist, is projected to earn US$200,000 (EC$538,000) annually. Surely Mr. Skerrit can find competent Accountants and Economists among us, can't he? We will see.

Here is the breakdown of the Estimated Annual Budget for CREAD from Mr. Skerrit's offices.