The Dominica Labour Party after more than half a century of democratic traditions, has found itself evolving into a Communist style dictatorship under the new labour party of Roosevelt Skerrit.
From Leblanc to Patrick to Seraphine….the Dominica Labour party had stuck to it’s Constitution and religiously held its delegates conferences to determine who would be the party’s leader and executive based on it’s rules of democratic traditions
But in recent history albeit from the dawn of the 21st century and after the untimely and highly suspicious death of two Prime Ministers in quick succession, Roosevelt Skerrit cunningly muscled his way literally in the dead of night to snatch the leadership among a more experienced field of likely successors to Douglas and Charles.
A dictatorship was hatched and born.
The taste of power was sweet and the young bright eyed leader did NOT want to risk the pathway of the democratic voting traditions of timely delegates conferences
A new “king” was born and his loyal subjects fell in line with this newfound appetite for dictatorship
And so for the past two decades there has been no say by the rank and file of the Labour party membership, as to who would be their leader…it was Roosevelt by decree
How did that happen to a democratic party with strong traditions of respect for their own constitution ?
Was big money behind the scenes ?
Why was there no outcry about the failure of the Labour party to uphold its own constitution which demands annual delegates conferences in order to choose its leader.
And so for the past two decades like communist China and Cuba…it’s been one man rule, with no opportunity nor appetite for democratic traditions of leadership by consensus.
Big money replaced, respect for the party”s constitution…it was multi million dollar electoral campaigns the likes of which Dominica had never seen
Big money, the source of which was never initially known to the rank and file membership, but later exposed as fees for the sale of diplomatic passports as in the Susan Oldie “Melville hall longue deal”…and so the little dictator never looked back
It was either sale of diplomatic passport, CBI passport or special housing fund passport…it was the newfound money machine and General Election cash cow of the Labour party, and it seemed that the rank and file labourite did not mind or did not care how aircraft charters or seabearing vessels delivered it’s electoral human cargo on election day.