When Roosevelt Skerrit came into the office of prime minister as a young politician he immediately showed us exactly who he is – a liar , a thief , a conniving and avaricious bastard. (Yes a bastard he is fatherless). A young man who came into the prime minister's position as an earthworm, with not much of a penny to his name or even a kailles pool (fowl cage) but he wasted no time chasing at instant opulence. In less than three years after becoming PM of this little island with annual budget of $500 Million Skerrit had already amassed or stolen more than $100 Million for himself. There were Swiss offshore bank accounts, 8 villas in Savanne Pailles, a mansion in Vielle Case, real estate all around the island and had purchased the land where the house of dark secret is magestically rising in the middle of Roseau. 

Sooner than later, we will get a true picture of how filthy rich Skerrit has become by just stealing from the people and exactly why he proudly uses the moniker Jack Sparrow when dealing with his underworld friends and business characters. Tik Tik Tik Tik

 The young man was not shy about flaunting the ill-gotten wealth either .In an email to his architect Suprya Singh he expressed his desire to have his first dwelling house outshine that of the well to do Nassiefs. In the face of the brazen high day pillaging of Dominica many people opted to defend him- some said give the young man a chance, he has dimples, some said that we who fought for good governance were jealous of the young  thief. Some of the clergy even sanctified Skerrit’s Mafioso activities- the boldface selling of passports for personal benefits, over inflated public procurement of goods and services, tax evasion , rigging of elections etc.

Our country is now grappling with a shop lifting scandal involving another very young politician, the selected Parliamentary Representative for the Paix Bouche constituency Lakeya Joseph. Very disappointing but not surprising many people are rushing to cover up and defend her actions and what that reminds me off the early days of the Roosevelt Skerrit kleptocracy.

 Do we really want to go down that same road with another young , arrogant , greedy and overly ambitious young politician?

 Hopefully, just hopefully, after getting a full picture of what transpired at the Jolly’s mega store those who we believe know better will not make the same mistake and finally stand on the side of morality, truth and justice.

 In deed Lateya was caught on camera stealing from the store – no spin or fancy diplomacy can change that fact. After taking her shopping items to the cash register the casher began the checkout process calling up a number of items but then suddenly the minister of government Lateya asked the casher for some other items that she wanted but did not pickup so the casher kindly got up from her seat and went to pickup the items Lateya wanted and it was there Lateya seized on the opportunity. She placed some of the items that were not checked out by the casher into the bag that contained the items that were already checked out.

A security guard, not the one who unsuspectingly helped her take her items to her vehicle suspected something sneaky with Lateya so he alerted the management. The camera footages were reviewed, and the minister of government Lateya Joseph was caught red handed sneaking unchecked items into the shopping bag.  Before Tony comes by to spin there was no snap chat, no camera tricks – just raw footages of the dishonorable minister Lateya shop lifting.

After reviewing the cameras Lateya was given a courtesy call . During the courtesy call Lateya offered to pay for the stolen items via electronic payment but she was told that she needs to come in to view the camera recordings and so she did. It was at that meeting she was given the option to either pay three times the cost of the stolen goods or to call the police. She was frantic, embarrassed and opted to pay the triple cost.

 Arrogant yet so So naïve - had she opted to call the police there is no doubt Carbon, Valerie, Corbette and the Maniku Gang would have buried that story near the fuel tanks at police headquarters and like E Z Door, Siko Seko, Bakes who was investigated for stealing oxygen from the hospital,  Pinard , Krazy T and the many other DLP criminal cronies they would all return to their position of “Volereism and Aviolerism like nothing ever happened. SMFH

Up to this point minister Lateya has taken no responsibility for her actions. She has instead resorted to lying and spinning the story so much so as to even blame Jolly’s and has attempted to throw the casher and security guard under the proverbial bus. In what I consider frightening arrogance she wrote and quickly deleted a comment stating “ I said what I said “She made that comment after she was called out for presenting a false and senseless account of what had happened at jolly’s mega store.

 While I am not calling for total condemnation of Lateya Joseph I am also not ready to have another young budding politician with Skerrit like tendencies holding high government office again. She has shown us who she is – a shop lifter, a liar, arrogant , unrepentant and false entitlement. We cannot continue to promote this type of traits as appropriate for high government officials. We don’t expect any disciplinary action from PM Jack Sparrow who we understand is going to be absent for a month. Even more so Jack Sparrow cyan condemn piracy so minister Lateya must on her own volition resign immediately.

Bye Felisha you on candid camera .