Reflections on the December 18 General Elections

When I wrote my commentaries several months prior to the general elections in Dominica I could not foresee many factors coming into play so that the results played out as they did. I never dreamt that The Mighty Spider reincarnate could whisper “I singing sankey…(for the UWP)”. In those days, as far as I can recall the political scene was somewhat different although we’ve known the society to be distinctly polarized when it comes to politics. It was a time of healing from national political wounds. Here and now it’s a time of sophisticated political game play where everything is unparallel and new-fangled.

I think of the 2009 polls as the unprecedented elections that ever was. Unprecedented because of unusual strategies used in the campaigning by both major parties but more so by the Dominica Labour Party. There were claims made of the alleged influence and overt participation of foreign countries in the process, the Diaspora vote, the bought victory etc. But one may argue that the victory was beyond compare, overwhelming to say the least. Not even the DLP thought they would have been so successful, in spite of their wishes.

Allow me to opinionate two possible messages sent out on December 18, 2009:

One, that Dominicans sent out a five-year sign that Prime Minister Skerritt is the man for the times and they are literally punishing the opposition for all what was said and done. He is the star for the moment. I guess the Dominica Labour Party can now use the popular saying, ” When all is said and done, more will be said than done”.

Two, that Dominicans did not get the messages of alleged ill-gotten gains, manifest corruption, lack of transparency, or they simply don’t care about these things; they matter not. We can therefore conclude that Dominicans are more concerned about the end rather than the means to the end!

Depending on which side of the divide you are you have no choice but to choose one of the two messages above.
Although there was the apparent conviction that the Dominica Labour Party was going to win the elections because of all its ‘advantages’ the United Workers Party still went ahead with all its might and strength with the anticipation and hope that Dominicans would listen and vote their conscience. Your conscience can only be affected by what the rights and wrongs it’s exposed to. As far as the opposition was concerned their channels of information were limited to Q95 with limited island coverage. Kairi FM and the Nation’s Station had the advantage of island-wide reach. Remember the saying ‘money talks and b…s..t walks’? This is true. The alleged EC$22 million is a hefty amount of money for a campaign in Dominica at any time. If it were another party with these resources they would have experienced similar fortunes.

I will tell you my opinion on the Prime Minister. I don’t think that the young man would want to unnecessarily abbreviate his political life and hence power any time soon. He knows that he is well liked and whatever ills may have been associated with him these will be minimized and dissipate rather quickly. Whether that is good for him as a person is another matter of concern. He gets financial, spiritual, social, friendly and all sorts of support from individuals and groups that you would not expect to lend him support. I have had high regard for some of them. On the further end of the spectrum he is criticized by some who I also have very high regard for. I reserve the right not to mention any names at this point in time.

But what’s next for the Nature Isle? Has the Prime Minister gotten his wish to do as he pleases? Such a mandate should, I stress, should put tremendous pressure on a government to perform at its peak. There is therefore little or no room for error. History has shown that when man has nothing to contend with but himself his peripheral vision is impeded. I don’t buy into the idea that they will do whatever they want but there’s the strong possibility that other views may not be expressed or heard. A parliament with no opposition is dangerous, very dangerous. What about checks and balances? The Prime Minister is quoted as saying in the House some time last year, something to the effect that we have too much freedom in this country. What a shame! The Dominica Constitution should be supreme both in and out of the House for everyone. Abuse of anything is good for nothing. We should be mature enough to let all points of view contend, within reason, of course. My brother who resides in the Diaspora asked me if there is still law and order in Dominica because of what he’d heard although he confessed that he never closely followed the elections. I simply told him, I think so. Why did he ask me? Partly because I share my views on political matters but also because of what he’s heard – the negativity and lack of clarity from the powers that be.

But what about the UWP’s decision to boycott parliament unless fresh elections are called, unless the voters list is sanitized, unless voter-ID cards are used among other demands? As I alluded above, the opposition knew they were up against an impenetrable wall. Their intention is to send a message to the world at large that the elections were not free and fair. But will their message be heard or seen? Unless, as it’s alleged that Venezuela plays any vivid anti-American role in the sphere of things in Dominica and the Caribbean by extension nobody may take notice or even give a listening ear to the opposition any time soon.

When I wrote my political commentaries I made a reasonable assumption that the political playing field was going to be level. Of course, I also made the assumption that some players are more suited for the game and that the referee was also human and could possibly be influenced by various factors on and off the field of play. I was right. The field was not level and the 62 player game was officiated by local as well as foreign-based officials. The Dominica Labour Party thinks they were qualified to officiate and the United Workers Party thought that they should have been given the ‘red card’ before being even considered for warm up sessions. Of course, there were no warm-up sessions such as public debates among the various party leaders. They came from far and wide, officiated and returned. To remind you, my predictions were as follows: DLP: 8, UWP:7, DFP: 2 and four in the balance. I was proven wrong, but the field was not balanced, or so it seemed.

Based on the results, can we still assume that the Dominica Freedom Party is getting back on track, or is it too early to tell? We can all agree that there are no real signs to tell. But we go see. There is a relatively new feature in the modern motor vehicle called stabilitrak. This particular feature helps the driver to literally stay on track if he is going off track and to remain stable on the road. It’s an assistant so to speak. I think the DFP and the UWP need that, along with their legitimate requests mentioned above. I think that the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), the Real Labour Party (RLP), the Dominica Progressive Force (DPF) should realistically give up the fight. For all intents and purposes, they were non-entities.

I think that the Prime Minister needs to be forthright with the nation and declare all what he has in all honesty so as to allay any doubt that may have arisen in the past. I think is fear that we get the benefit of the doubt. He has been rewarded with an impressive 18 out of 21 possible parliamentary seats, so let us know. This is a humble request from friends and foe alike.

Moving forward: Can we pragmatically move forward? Yes we can, but it also depends on who you ask. For the person who cares less about the political process it matters little and for the Labour Party supporter of course, we will move forward. On the other hand, for those who feel like the process was tainted and the pursuit for justice was denied they may readily borrow the expressions of Bob Marley, “one step forward, two steps backward” for the reasons alluded to earlier. Dominica cannot be sacrificed on the table of politics for selfish gains by anyone. Without a doubt, we have the greatest national anthem as a country in the world. Ask the BBC. I lament the fact that we have so many positive attributes as a country but as a people we create many maladies for ourselves, hence the calypso from the Ghost “ah, magwe sah…” Avenues must be created for political education. This is my solemn call.

The election observers are limited in what they can do. Alas, they are simply observers and recommend proposals after the fact. They are not authorized to ‘investigate’ or ‘probe’ internal country matters. Therefore, their presence to my mind was just symbolic. Observers cannot intervene in the election process itself, but can question officials if they see possible improprieties.