On January 21, 2019, the world via the web, witnessed a sorry spectacle as the Leader of a Country unraveled in real-time. Here, we refer to the most recent 'episode' of the Dominica House of Assembly Soap Opera. What was supposed to be a routine, relatively benign sitting to pass a group of bills... deteriorated into a Roosevelt Skerrit meltdown with rage and anger directed at the Leader of the official Opposition. Many are still puzzled about the event and wondering what happened. The precipitant seems to be related to a question raised by the Leader of the official opposition regarding US$100 million debt forgiven by Venezuela in November 2017. Rather than answering the question, the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister (Roosevelt Skerrit) lost his marbles!
Many of us will never know the true trigger as we were not in Skerrit's head, but it is obvious that he was Angry about two things: Being questioned about Dominica's Debt and the CBS' 60-Minutes piece on passport sales to International Crooks and scoundrels which aired Jan 2, 2017. More than 14-months later, Dominican still have no idea as to where 'De Venezuelan money Gone'. What is even more remarkable is that while some joke about the event as being comedic, many are angry that the Useless Speaker Alix Boyd-Knight did not dare attempt to control the deranged behavior being displayed by Skerrit.
From an analytic perspective, Roosevelt Skerrit demonstrated a lack of respect for the House of Assembly, other members of Parliament, the Speaker and the larger Dominican population. What is even more disturbing is that Skerrit and his sympathizers have now succumbed to the belief that Roosevelt Skerrit is equivalent to Dominica and that criticism of Skerrit is criticizing Dominica. Because of this belief, it is becoming obvious that Skerrit will not willing vacate the office of Prime Minister and Minister of Finance position if DLP looses the next Parliamentary elections.
Like Joseph Kabila in the Democratic Republic of Congo who refused to leave office as mandated by constitutional term limit or Yahya Jammeh in Gambia who refused to vacate the Presidency after loosing to Adama Barrow in 2016, Dominica may see a similar behavior from Roosevelt Skerrit. It is interesting that, in the Gambian situation, it was only the threat of forceful removal by troops from other West African countries which convinced Yahya Jammeh to vacate the Presidency. The situation in the Gambia bears relevance to Dominica as Jammeh had been in office for 23 years prior to his electoral defeat. He somehow thought he had some god-given right to remain in office as long as he wished. Will Dominica be faced with a similar crisis if DLP is defeated at the poles? After last month's parliamentary histrionics, this is seeming more likely!!
