Ground breaking ceremony strengthens Dominica-China relations

New UN Ambassador former - Ambassador promoted

February 21, 2010

Former foreign affairs minister Vince Henderson has been appointed to serve as Dominica’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. He replaces Ambassador Crispin Gregoire who held the position from 2000.

Gregoire has been tipped to become Dominica’s High Commissioner in England.

Henderson retired from active politics before the December 18, 2009 elections, after serving as a government minister for about nine years. Before his stint as foreign affairs minister he served as minister of education.

Jungle Bay Resort & Spa makes good on Economic Citizenship Program loan

February 19, 2010

Her story is a history of firsts: she was the first black woman to be made a QC in 1991, and at 35 the youngest Queen's Counsel since William Pitt the Younger. She became the first black female government minister in 1999 and the first woman and black person to be appointed Attorney General since the post was created in 1315.

And then came a record of another kind: the first chief lawyer of the country to be fined for breaking a law she herself had helped to bring in as a Home Office minister.

Until last September Baroness Scotland had a fairly low profile. Very little was known about the country's chief law officer and she seemed content to keep it that way, as it enabled her to quietly and modestly go about her work.

But that all changed when it emerged that she had mistakenly employed an illegal immigrant as a housekeeper and was fined £5,000.

The housekeeper, Loloahi Tapui, from Tonga, claims that Baroness Scotland did not look at her passport before giving her the job, something the Attorney General has insisted she did.

The pair look set to face each other in court next month when Tapui goes on trial for fraud and Scotland appears as a prosecution witness.

Since the scandal the 54-year-old Attorney General has been keeping a low profile. Friends say it has been as if she entered a bunker that she was not sure how she would ever get out of.

Now in her first interview since the scandal broke, Baroness Scotland clearly hopes to re-emerge on to the political stage in what could be the dying days of a Labour Government.

She bursts into her Commons office, brightening the rather gloomy room with her pearls and cream jacket, beaming smile and animated gestures. Throwing herself onto the sofa, she launches into an almost unstoppable monologue about the Government's successes.

But she is, she says, still very upset about what happened with the housekeeper and the effects the media storm had on her family. She said: "I think it was a maelstrom.

It was extremely difficult but I can't talk about any of that because it is still sub judice. It was a very difficult time. They camped outside my house, they camped outside my office and it was an extraordinary experience to go through."

It made it hard to do her job. She says: "It was very, very difficult. For instance I launched in the middle of this storm the Attorney General's Youth Network.

It was much more difficult to do that. I think that many people thought that because of the storm I wouldn't go but I was absolutely determined that the young people and women whom I'm passionate about helping were more important than me and therefore nothing was going to prevent me from doing that.

But was that extremely difficult to do against that background – absolutely. Was anyone focussing on that aspect? I don't think so. It went on for weeks, for weeks, for weeks.

You have no idea as to how long it will take and where it will go. I answered all the questions immediately. It was dealt with, I accepted the penalty and that was it really."

She thanks her devout Catholic faith for getting her through. "I've been very clear to myself that I have to be true to me and I have never made any question about the fact that I am a very committed Christian; I have been very reliant on my faith during this period. I now really understand the cost of being in political life."

Born Patricia Scotland in Dominica in 1955, the 10th of 12 children, Scotland did not at first seem destined for a political career. She came to Britain when she was two and grew up and attended state schools in Walthamstow, east London.

After co-founding a successful legal chambers she looked set to become a High Court judge until Tony Blair made her a Labour peer, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, after the Oxfordshire village where she has a home.

Two years later she made history as the first black woman to serve as a government minister. She served at the Foreign Office and the now defunct Lord Chancellor's Office followed by a stint as a Home Office minister before Gordon Brown made her Attorney General in 2007.

But despite coming from a not particularly privileged background she is far from being an outsider. She has been a barrister for more than 30 years and is deeply immersed in New Labour politics.

She is married to Richard Mawhinney, a barrister, brother of Brian Mawhinney, the former Conservative party chairman. The couple have two sons.

Scotland is a no dry lawyer. With a warm and talkative nature, animated gestures and bold dress sense she has been popular with those who have worked with her.

She is also admired for her professional restraint, coming after Lord Goldsmith whose approach was regarded as overbearing and intrusive by some prosecutors.

She hopes to soon be able to put the housekeeper scandal behind her and get back to championing the issues close to her heart. For her that is domestic violence – an issue that she has worked tirelessly on throughout her time in government, in each post making sure that she continued to work on the issue.

March is domestic violence awareness month and Baroness Scotland, believes that reducing domestic violence is one of the proudest achievements of her career.

"Halving domestic violence is one of my proudest achievements. I'm very proud of the reduction in the level of domestic violence and the very concrete reduction in the number of deaths. We have the lowest number of domestic homicides for 10 years."

When Labour came to power in 1997, 120 women were being killed by their partners every year with one in four women affected by domestic violence at some stage of their lives.

Scotland says she has felt passionately about the issue ever since she dealt with her first domestic violence case as a 21-year-old trainee barrister.

"I remember the first time I read a domestic violence case I was so shocked. I was 21 I had not seen domestic violence I believed that all husbands treat their wives tenderly."

When she became a minister she was determined to tackle the issue.

She said: "When I said I wanted to change this I was told I was being bold and I was told I was being brave. Now we understand what bold and brave means. It means you're nuts.

And the reason why people validly thought this couldn't change was that this is not just a phenomenon for the United Kingdom, it's a global phenomenon."

Domestic violence reaches every corner of our society, she says. It does not respect class, race, religion, culture or wealth. A professional woman is just as likely to be abused as a working-class mother on a run-down estate.

An economic analysis in 2004 by Professor Sylvia Walby showed that domestic violence was costing the country £23bn a year. Last November an update showed the Government's drive had cut this by £7.5bn to £15.5bn.

Scotland cannily used this analysis to get ministerial colleagues to realise how much their departments were already spending on the issue and commit to being part of the solution.

She credits the Government's multi-agency approach for its success. Specialist domestic violence advisers have helped victims as soon as they come forward and supported them as their cases came to court and into the future.

Scotland also thanks her parents for her zeal for helping others.

"I grew up with a very strong understanding that God had given us each a gift and it was our job to find it and use it to help other people," she said.

"I'm not afraid of failing and I'm just not ready to not try. I was brought up to believe there was no such word as can't unless you have tried and tried again. So I just didn't want to hear it when people said you couldn't change things."

Monday, March 8, 2010

Bath Estate F C set for Caribbean Football Union Championships

Schedule

FIRST ROUND
(Group winners, runners-up, best third-place advance)

Group A
At Netherlands Antilles
Tuesday, March 16
River Plate (P/Rico) vs Racing (Haiti)
CSD Barber (N/Antilles) vs Hubentut Fortuna (N/Antilles)

Thursday, March 18
Hubentut Fortuna (N/Antilles) vs River Plate (P/Rico)
CSD Barber (N/Antilles) vs. Racing (Haiti)

Saturday, March 20
Racing (Haiti) vs. Hubentut Fortuna (N/Antilles)
CSD Barber (N/Antilles) vs River Plate (P/Rico)

Group B
At Puerto Rico
Tuesday, March 23
Bayamon FC (P/Rico) vs System 3 (SVG)

Thursday, March 25
System 3 (SVG) vs Defence Force (Guy)

Saturday, March 27
Bayamon FC (P/Rico) vs Defence Force (Guy)

Group C
At St Vincent & the Grenadines

Friday, March 19
Leo Victor (Sur) vs Joe Public (T&T)
Avenues United (SVG) vs. Devonshire Cougars (Ber)
Sunday March 21
Devonshire Cougars (Ber) vs Leo Victor (Sur)
Avenues United (SVG) vs Joe Public (T&T)

Tuesday March 23
Joe Public (T&T) vs Devonshire Cougars (Ber)
Avenues United (SVG) vs Leo Victor (Sur)

Group D
At Guyana
Tuesday, March 16
Alpha United (Guy) vs Bath Estate (Dom)

Thursday, March 18
Bath Estate (Dom) vs Walking Boys (Sur)

Saturday, March 20
Alpha United (Guy) vs Walking Boys (Sur)

SECOND ROUND
(Group winners advance)
At Puerto Rico
Group A: P/Rico Islanders (P/Rico), Group D winner , Group A runner-up
Group B: Tempete FC (Haiti), Group B
winner, Group C
runner-up

Tuesday, April 13
P/Rico Islanders (P/Rico) vs. Group A runner-up
Tempete FC (Haiti) vs. Group C runner-up

Thursday, April 15
Group A runner-up vs. Group D winner
Group C runner-up vs. Group B winner

Saturday, April 17
P/Rico Islanders (PUR) vs Group D winner
Tempete FC (HAI) vs Group B winner

At T&T:
Group C: San Juan Jabloteh (T&T), Group A winner, Best third-place team
Group D: Group C winner, Group B runner-up, Group D runner-up

Tuesday, April 13
San Juan Jabloteh (TRI) vs. Best-third pace team
Group C winner vs. Group D runner-up

Thursday, April 15
Best third-place team vs Group A winner
Group D runner-up vs Group B runner-up

Saturday, April 17
San Juan Jabloteh (T&T) vs Group A winner
Group C winner vs Group B runner-up

FINAL ROUND
At Puerto Rico

Tuesday, May 4
Group A winner vs Group C winner
Group B winner vs Group D winner

Thursday, May 6
Group C winner vs. Group B winner
Group A winner vs. Group D winner

Saturday, May 8
Group D winner vs. Group C winner
Group A winner vs. Group B winner

There has always been a French presence and involvement in Dominica since the Europeans arrived in the West Indies in the 15th century. That influence and reality continues today. One poignant example is the current Prime Minister holding dual Dominican and French citizenship

The geographic location of Dominica of being sandwiched between the French Overseas Departments of Guadeloupe and Martinique invarialby means that Dominica’s cultural, economic and historical ties, including disputes, have been closely intertwined with the French.

None other than the various musical genres tell the story of the connection and influence that the French islands had and have on Dominica. In 1973 on Guadeloupe, Dominica’s premier band, Exile One, lead by Mr. Gordon Henderson, started the transition of Zouk.

The music which means ‘party or festival’ has a pulsating rhythmic Anglo/Francophone style with origins deep inside the African jungle. Zouk employs a combination of Calypso, ‘Gwo ka’ of Guadeloupe, Bele and Quadrille from Dominica and Haitian Cadence (a derivative of Compas).

Exile One moved to Paris and transformed Cadence-Lypso and started a global interest in Creole music.

Other bands such as Grammacks, Midnight Groovers of Dominica and Les Aiglons of Guadeloupe and others have layed a foundation for Zouk a la 'Kassav'. The ‘Kassav’ band from Martinique has emerged as the undisputed leader in this musical genre with a global following.

In spite of all the similarities and close connections, our immediate neigbours to the north and south for a very long time have viewed us as a needy neigbour and at best as a step or foster child/brother, or an embarrassing, ugly and troublesome cousin.

They haven’t afforded us the respect which we deserve. However, lately that pattern has begun to change but vestiges of the past still remain.

This writer could have easily been born in Les Abymes or Point- a-Pitre instead of Dominica as my parents, a young handsome man from the red dirt of Castle Bruce and an attractive teenager from the La Plaine valley, met in Guadeloupe in the mid- 50s.

In the 30s, 40s and mid- 50s, Guadeloupe and Martinique were the gateways for young migrants from the Dominican country side before the mass rural migration to the U.K began.

So that’s why I sympathize with the embattled Skerrit on this specific issue of dual Dominican/French citizenship.

But if the strong and serious allegations about Skerrit on the issue of French citizenship proves to be true and he still wins the court petition, then the Dominican constitution will be devalued significantly and will not be worth the paper it is written on.

If that unfortunate outcome occurs, I have four suggestions: They are: His title should change from ‘Prime Minister’ to ‘Prefect’ and Roseau designated a ‘Prefecture. Dominica’s official name should become ‘La Dominique’ and July 14th declared a holiday to celebrate Bastille Day.

I also think that the law should be reexamined closely given today’s global village and the migratory nature of residents of developing small island states like Dominica. In spite of this reality, current laws must be obeyed and enforced.

So if the PM became a French citizen well into his adulthood, then he cannot have his cake and eat it too- he can’t have it both ways. He must resign and leave office.

Dominica is a member of the League of Nations and as a result is a nation of laws and these laws must to be obeyed and adhered to by both the powerful and the powerless.
The PM of Dominica said that he got his French citizenship in 1972.

What is or was France’s immigration policy on children who were born outside of France and its territories acquiring citizenship instantly?

Were both his parents or/and either of them citizens of France in 1972 and if either of them migrated to a French territory what year did that occur?

Skerrit was born in June, 1972 in Dominica. Did Skerrit ever serve in the French military or was he a member of Gendarmerie or the French Foreign Legion?

My uncle Peter’s son Jean Claude, who was born and raised in Guadeloupe, performed his mandatory military service in French Guiana at 19 years.
Military service was required of every French citizen from the ages of 18 years to 40 years prior to 1996.

France suspended peacetime military conscription in 1997, but French citizens born before 1979 have to complete their military service. Did the French ‘Ministere de la Defense’ or Interior make a mistake and overlook Skerrit?

Was he a member of the “Cadets de la République” which prepares young men for the French national police?

Was he exempt from service for some unknown reasons like a child hood illness? Or was he only a Dominican citizen and had not acquired French citizenship as yet and it is and was a moot issue?

Did Skerrit acquire French citizenship while serving as Dominica’s Head of State in 2006, or did he really become a French citizen in 1972 as he claims?

If these questions are not answered in the Dominica’s constitution's favour, then ‘might’ does not mean ‘right’ and exemption from the laws of the land.

The laws of the land also apply to a popular Prime Minister, affluent citizens and those with people in high places who ‘pull strings’ for them and the narco-traffickers (big drug dealers and drug lords).

The laws should not only apply to the drunk (‘parro’) in Roseau or to lazy and petty thieves, the recreational drug users, the young and poor citizens. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

But is the underlying aspect of dual citizenship and when it was obtained an issue about lack of supreme respect, trust for one’s country and its values?

It is certainly not an issue of politics, or which party or person is better able to lead our country, or of economic management. This issue transcends and is much bigger than politics and social order.

Regardless of the petition’s outcome, the issue of dual citizenship and those who govern us (opposition and party in power) should undergo a lenghty and in-depth constitutional review and if needed, maybe constitutional reform and amendment.

As law abiding citizens, we all must always strive to uphold the laws of our land in spite of our strong and loyal political affiliations, identities and allegiances in order to set precedence and standards by and from those who have been bestowed with the responsibility and privilege to govern and oppose.

Also to ensure that we always have a civil, law abiding and functioning society built on laws and not on popularity and/or social ranking.

The important court case against the sitting PM is a necessary evil to safe guard the integrity of our country.

In January 2004, Prime Minister Pierre Charles (affectionately called Pierro) dies from a heart attack.

A young, untested and inexperienced upstart named Roosevelt Skerrit ascends to the position of Prime Minister at the age of 32 years. That transference from Pierro to Skerrit was a grief stricken and emotional transition of power.

My small island home was politically fatigued after the deaths of two sitting Prime Ministers (Douglas and Charles) in less than the five (5) year term in office from 2000 to 2005.

Unlike Skerrit, the two deceased leaders struggled on the political scene and were in the consciousness of Dominicans for over 40 years combined speaking to the important issues of the day. It was sad to see them ‘go’ so quickly when they finally attained politcal power.

On December 18th, 2009, Skerrrit won the general elections by a landslide after allegedly spending huge undisclosed record sums of money (from closely guarded undisclosed sources) to ensure victory.

He was sworn in as Prime Minister of Dominica for a 3rd term. In January 2010, opposition forces filed court petitions to remove Skerrit as Prime Minister on the basis of his French citizenship.

Other important dates and time lines of Dominica’s entangled relationship with the French include the following:

In 1632, the French Company des Isles D'Amerique claims Dominica and other "Petite Antilles" for France, but no physical occupation takes place.

In 1653 the French retaliated for a Kalinago attack on a French settlement on Mariegalante. Captain Du Mé attacks and massacres a Kalinago village on Dominica's north coast village of Anse Du Mé.

In 1715 a revolt of "poor white" smallholders in the north of Martinique, known as La Gaoulé, causes an exodus to the southern part of Dominica to places like Delices and Laronde. French poor whites from Guadeloupe also settled in the northern communities.

In 1727 the first French commander, M. Le Grand, takes charge of the island with a basic French government thus making Dominica formally a colony of France.

The island is divided into districts or "quarters". The Jesuit religious order operates a plantation at Grand Bay.

The Battle of the Saintes, which was fought in April 1782 between the French navy under Admiral Compt de Grasse and the British Navy under Admiral George Rodney, takes place off the north coast of Dominica. The British defeated the French.

In September 1778, French forces under Marquis de Bouille capture Roseau and occupy the Island. Marquis Duchilleau appointed governor.

Five thousand (5000) French soldiers are left in Dominica. In 1778, laws are passed against the British inhabitants.

The Treaty of Versailles which was ratified in September 1783 returned Dominica to the British.
The last French attack on Dominica is mounted in 1805 by General La Grange from Martinique.

Roseau was captured and burned. The members of the legislature were taken hostage. A ransom of £20,000 was demanded but only £8,000 was paid.

During the Second World War (1940-45), thousands of Free French refugees and fleeing resistance soldiers from Martinique and Guadeloupe escaped to Dominica from the Vichy region of central France (250 miles from Paris) after fascist French Marshall Henri Pe’tain collaborated with Hitler and aided the German Nazi army.

Among those was Frantz Fanon, one of the twentieth century’s leading intellectuals, who spent six months in Dominica.

General Pe’tain and German Occupied Forces conducted a vicious, repressive and vindictive ruthless campaign against the French resistance who were fighting against the Nazi occupation.

The refugees stayed in Roseau and surrounding villages until 1944 when Paris was liberated after the Germans’ surrendered to the French 2nd Armored Division under General Philippe Lecler and allied forces marched triumphantly down the Champs Elyse.

General Charles de Gaulle - leader of the Free French, declared that the war was over and Paris was freed. Soon after, the refugees departed, leaving the Dominican economy in near collapse.