Updated: February 10, 2018


The image could not be starker. Three men breaking ground on another fantasy project, Anichi Resort and Spa in Picard (formerly Silver Beech Resort and Spa), on Wednesday February 7, 2018. Meanwhile, not far away, Dominicans remain in vulnerable houses located in riverbeds while other Dominicans are struggling to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Maria which ravaged the island approximately five months ago. Some Dominicans remain homeless. Where is the compassion? Who are these folks who were reportedly elected by Dominicans to serve the country? Or, maybe the Labor Party administration does not care because they were not legitimately elected and Dominicans living on island do not matter. They are dispensable!

Getting back to the image! It is painful to watch a bunch of clueless men, lifting shovels with dirt, to break ground on another hotel project in an island with the worse air access services in the Eastern Caribbean. More disturbing, the Labor Administration created this air-access crisis through their inability to develop facilities during their 18 year tenure. The facilities that exist now are the same ones they met when they assumed executive office in 2000; the two Airports,  Woodbridge Bay Seaport, and the Roads. At this time, instead of hotels, the Administration should be focusing on hurricane shelters, supporting vulnerable individuals in their effort to get secure homes and assisting the productive sector to rebound from the impact of Hurricane Maria.


Eighteen years in the Executive suites of government have been good for Roosevelt Skerrit, ministers of government, the lawyers and unscrupulous individuals who support their misdeeds. They have done very well! Thank you Dominica! Their undeserved success has blurred their frame of reference such that they are impervious to the suffering of Dominicans around them. They are living a fantasy; their heads are in the clouds. In contrast, over the same eighteen year period, the majority of Dominicans (farmers, small business, fishermen) have retrogressed and the population has dwindled. This in-congruence between the Administration's perception and reality has lead them to continue executing activities that are either of little benefit to Dominicans or will never be completed. Recall the Moroccan Hotel fiasco, the Petro Caribe Mess and the eighteen million dollar bridge in Roseau. US $100 million debt was recently forgiven by Venezuela, yet the Labor Administration persistently denied owing Venezuela. Where de money gone?


What's in these proposed developments for the Labor Administration and their Enablers? Roosevelt Skerrit? The Resort Developers? Dominicans? Judging from the prior 18 years, the answer is obvious. In the present circumstance, the major issue relates to the mismatched image of breaking ground for another resort while most of the island remains in shambles. More disturbing is the possibility that the island will be ill-prepared for the next hurricane season just 4.5 months away. Dominicans should not depend on the current administration to work on their behalf as this Administration is busy strategizing their ongoing survival despite receiving millions of dollars from the International community to aid in recovery and development of more climate-resilient housing, public shelters, water distribution and energy sources. Dominicans wake up, start depending on each other. As the next hurricane season approaches, you cannot depend on Roosevelt Skerrit and the useless bunch in the Labor Administration. You will be disappointed.