Posted by 
Norris Prevost, UWP Roseau Central MP and member of People's Parliament
The Movement to Restore Democracy (MRD) and the Dominica Citizen’s Forum invites the general public to attend Dominica’s third “Peoples Parliament”, which will be held on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 6:30pm at the Salisbury Government School.
The Peoples Parliament is an ongoing public forum that facilitates public discussions by a range of voices on national issues. It also performs the important function of serving as a public platform for opposition Parliamentarians, who are boycotting the House of Assembly, to discuss the issues of the day with the Dominican public.
This session of the Peoples Parliament will feature a special presentation by a prominent Dominican physician on the state of “health” in Dominica. This presentation will be extremely timely in light of Government’s recent issuance of a permit to establish an asphalt plant on the Layou River and their deliberations on other initiatives that may be detrimental to public health.
There will also be two important presentations on economic issues. One presentation will be a roadmap on the revitalization of the national economy. The other will focus on local economic issues around the Salisbury constituency. As usual, a major part of the program will be deliberations on issues of the day by duly elected opposition Members of Parliament. The parliamentarians will update the public on ongoing matters pertaining to electoral corruption and the abuse of public office. The public will be encouraged to share their opinion on these issues.
The first and second sessions of the People’s Parliament, which were held in Roseau South and Marigot were interactive, lively and informative. Both sessions were well attended with standing room only, so attendees are encouraged to be on time.
The Movement to Restore Democracy and the Dominica Citizens Forum are civil society committees which are dedicated to the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and other good governing practices. The opposition members of parliament are engaged in a boycott of parliament to register their displeasure with the unlawful manipulation of the electoral process which resulted in an overwhelming Dominica Labor Party victory in the December 18, 2009 general election. The opposition parliamentarians intend to maintain the boycott until new elections are called with adequate provisions in place to ensure that the new elections are free and fair.
The Peoples Parliament will be held at different locations around the island from time to time to keep the people informed.
