It is said that “A scapegoat remains effective as long as we believe in its guilt” With all that is happening in Dominica at this point does anyone believe that the so called “tidal surge or what is now trending “the Swell “is responsible for the embarrassing gas shortages in Dominica?  

There is no doubt that the embarrassing gas shortage is the result of the Skerrit DLP maladministration and the crippling economic crisis that the administration has created in Dominica. (If you don’t believe me ask Yvor Nassief)

Verily, it is no secret that the Rubis Company who was responsible for importing and storing 50-60 % of the imported gas on island have had to terminate it’s operation in Dominica after years of sustained losses. One may ask how Rubis cannot make money when gas sells.  The truth is government strong-arm tactics allow the government to make all the money of the imported gas and the importers are very often left with just a few cents per gallon; sometimes even in the negative based on wholesale market prices.

The unwillingness on the part of the government to cut back on its $3.60 /gallon share on the imported gas made it very difficult for the Rubis Company to survive elevated importation cost. The most grueling aspect of it all is that Rubis would have to pay that $3.60/gallon cost upfront irrespective of the buying price and in the classic con man fashion Prime PM Skerrit would promise to help Rubis recoup millions of dollars in loses but would never come thru with his promises.  Instead, he turns around and accuse Rubis of excess profiteering. Even at one point requesting access to the company’s books. Ironic when we the people are totally in the dark with our CBI revenue but that is for another day.

Just for context consider the fact that the very same PM Skerrit mysteriously returned over $9 Million of tax revenue to the notorious Dominica Strong Company, after the company had paid the due taxes.  Most people would want to find out why he gave back the money to this mysterious company and rightfully so but this is for another discussion on conflicting interest and recurring government corruption. The point of concern here is that if Skerrit could do so for Dominica Strong which was a Fly by Night ,"Tu sho Tu Flam" company why not show the same urgency for the Rubis company, a company that provided employment for a few hundred Dominicans and responsible for the importation and storage of roughly 60% of our gas on island.

Is it Leadership that matters or ego, self- enrichment and buffoonery?

During the gas shortage episodes in early November 2022, we reported on an incident in October whereby a vessel delivering gas to Dominica's Petro Caribe operation had to return because the government could not meet the strict payment requirements by the seller –whoever the seller was it was cash on delivery. Hmmmm. We also exposed the wanton waste and corruption at the Petro Caribe operation in Gimmit. We stand by our reporting. 

In response to the resulting gas shortage at the time, PM Skerrit took a quick trip out of Canefield Airport. Our sources indicate that the trip involved a stop in Venezuela and a stop in Barbados to deal with December 6 election campaign matters. A few days after Skerrit left Dominica a ship came in to deliver fuel to the Petro Caribe operation in Dominica.

Since then, we received an exclusive notification to pay close attention to the fuel coming to Dominica's Petro Caribe operation via Trinidad. According to our sources Dominica Petro Caribe program may be receiving gas from a Venezuelan smuggling program and routed out of Trinidad. In fact, Since the November crisis MiTC is aware of at least one delivery that came from the Venezuelan gas smuggling program.

 Under the U.S sanctions, companies and governments must obtain authorization from the US Department of Treasury to conduct any kind of business with Venezuelan State Run oil company PDVSA.

 In late October Reuters reported that the government of Trinidad & Tobago had been making follow up requests to the United States to authorize Venezuelan gas imports. According to Reuters “Trinidad's past requests for US approval have gone unanswered, but the US Biden administration’s willingness to ease some sanctions on Venezuela if President Maduro and the Opposition progress in talks for a presidential election “

“The man who continually searches for a scapegoat, in the end shall become the shepherd of his own isolation with no one to blame but himself” It is now seven (7) straight days of a grueling gas shortage on island and the man who says “money is no problem is unable to get at least an emergency delivery of gasoline on the island. The man who willy nilly spends 30-40 million dollars rigging elections in Dominica and on a quick wink willing to pay an exorbitant amount of money to hire Burna Boy,he cannot come thru for the people at the point where national security is on the brink.  

Skerrit O ti l’argent la-