The United Workers Party views with grave concern the recent appointment of 23 members of the Cabinet of Ministers and the additional appointment of three special advisors/consultants to Cabinet, bringing the total number of Cabinet level functionaries to 26 in a population of less than 70 thousand. A Cabinet level functionary for every two thousand seven hundred (2,700) people, in the smallest economy
among independent Caribbean countries, is an outrageous and untenable abuse of public resources.
Dominicans from all walks of life are suffering, victims of unemployment and the inability to earn enough money in an economy condemned to decline by Dominica Labour Party mismanagement and corruption. And while the people are suffering, Prime Minister Skerrit and his chosen few are relentlessly tricking and deceiving the people in order to help themselves to huge salaries and other benefits for bogus jobs, which in most cases they cannot do.
The Prime Minister lied to the President and the Nation when he called a snap election two and a half years ahead of the constitutional due date claiming that he wanted a reset of his parliamentary team to deal with the challenges of national development. Of the 11 DLP members of Parliament after the 2019 elections who did not contest the sham election of 2022 to facilitate the “reset”, 9 of them (82% of the discarded old guard) are in the new “reset” team.
So, this was never about any “reset”. That much is clear now from the parade of square pegs in wrong holes and the alarming number of new recruits without the skills and competencies for full ministerial responsibility. It was always about PM Roosevelt Skerrit protecting his “reelection legacy” with the theft of another election using the tainted electoral process in dire need of fit-for-purpose reform which he dictatorially prevented.
The Cabinet, composed of the recycled old guard, is an abominable imposition of a totally unnecessary multi-million-dollar cost burden on the public purse. This is simply for the benefit of those who aided and abetted Skerrit in his manipulation and abuse of public office for his private gain.
This extremely serious issue of utterly corrupt governance conduct requires corrective action on the part of the President of Dominica in the public interest. In that regard, the United Workers Party calls upon President Charles Savarin to exercise the executive authority of his office and immediately revoke the appointment of the entire Cabinet of Ministers. Further that the president requires the formation of a new Cabinet with no more than 12 members in the best interest of the country. This corrective action is important in preserving the countries scare financial resources, and preventing further public outrage, which could well escalate into civil disobedience and threaten public safety.
