Read here: Full speech of PM Roosevelt Skerrit on launch of Cassandra Williams from La Plaine contituecy:
Constituents and other residents of Delices and the wider La Plaine constituency….I have come here this evening to ask for your support for the candidate of the Dominica Labour Party.
I do this against the backdrop of attempts by others to confuse the issues in this general elections campaign.
Five nights before polling day, is not the time for me to recap all what we have done in La Plaine and in the wider Dominica, over the past five terms.
Five nights before polling day is not the time for me to plead the case of a daughter of Delices.
You know the facts, Ladies and Gentlemen. You have heard the arguments. The hour of decision is upon us, as citizens and residents of this fair land.
The world will be watching Dominica next Tuesday, Ladies and Gentlemen. They will be looking to see how mature we are, as a people. They will even be looking to see how civilized we are, as a people.
General elections have been conducted across the world, in the midst of Covid, Ladies and Gentlemen. General elections have been conducted in the midst of the global social, political and economic meltdown.
My dear people, snap elections have been called all over the world. Snap elections have been efficiently conducted all over the world, and the will of the people was determined and honored.
How is it, therefore, that nothing abnormal is happening in Dominica, yet the voters of Dominica are being made to live in fear?
Snap elections were called in the sister island of Barbados earlier this year, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Opposition there was not ready…but they entered the battle field, because that is what opposition parties do.
The opposition in Barbados fought the election, Barbadians went out and voted without incident on elections day.
The opposition in Barbados lost in every seat, but Bajans went about their business the very next day, as a mature democracy should.
How then are we tonight sending signals to the world that something is different about Dominica?
How could snap elections have been called less than two years after polling in St. Kitts and Nevis and voters could have participated in that election without incident?
The Opposition in St. Kitts was not ready for general elections in under two years. But they fought and, Ladies and Gentlemen, they won!! A party that lost all but two seats 18 months before, won by a landslide earlier this year in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Yet, Dominicans are being told that they are not capable of managing their own affairs and that blocking of roads and burning of tyres is the pathway to success.
No one in this country told the United Workers Party not to contest the elections!! They heard elections were called; they knew they were not ready…and they panicked.
They jumped ahead of themselves and declared that they were not taking part. They refused to nominate candidates and now, as the date for voting draweth nigh, they are feeling stupid.
They are feeling defeated. It is now coming home to them, that they have sentenced themselves to five more years in the wilderness.
They even probably could have increased their numbers.
By the farthest stretch of the imagination, they even could have won the elections. But they threw a tantrum early in the campaign and decided they were not participating and now, their belly burning them.
They went to Goodwill last Sunday and elected a brand-new, second-hand leader. They installed a new executive. They finally agreed to unite as a party…and now they are sorry they didn’t contest the elections.
Whose fault is that? Whose fault is it, that Hector John did not get nominated in Salisbury? Is it my fault that Lennox Linton has given away the strongest UWP seat?
Am I to blame for the fact that Thompson Fontaine, the brand new re-conditioned leader of the Workers Party, did not contest the seat in Grand Fond?
Why are they blaming others for their own act of suicide? They brewed and drank their own Kool-Aid. They told themselves they could not win, and they boycotted.
Why are they vex with Labour? Why do they want to intimidate voters on elections day?
The role of an opposition is to ready itself for elections. That is their only job….and they did not do it! That is their fault!!
Do not blame voters for your stupidity. You denied your supporters the opportunity to vote for you and now you are trying to intimidate mine? Well, that is not going to happen, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Labourites!! Friends and well-wishers of the Dominica Labour Party…I am calling on you tonight, to go out and vote in general elections on Tuesday, December 6th!!
Come out early and exercise your democratic right. Your fore parents fought and died for the right to have a voice.
You have a voice, supporters and well-wishers of the Dominica Labour Party. You have a voice and I want you to raise that voice in unison from the opening of the polls on Tuesday to the closing of the door.
Come out in your numbers and settle this matter once and for alllll!!
Come out on Tuesday, my dear friends of Delices and wider La Plaine and vote for Dr. Cassandra Williams!! Come out in the north, come out in the south.
Come out in the east, the West and the centre of Dominica and vote for the Candidates of the Dominica Labour Party.
I want Returning Officers on Tuesday night, to tell the world…who the people of Dominica want to lead them for the next five years.
I want the observers to look on and determine the will of the people of Dominica.
I want the international community to recognise and appreciate the opposition in Dominica for the political nuisances that they are.
They have chosen to hand the government back to the Labour party.
I am no political strategist but if I were a senior member of the Workers Party on November 6th, I would have demanded an urgent delegates conference and by the following Thursday night, a new leader would have been elected and the party would have been ready to field a full slate of candidates on November 19th, Nominations Day.
But I am not in the Workers Party. They are too bright!! They are too disconnected from ordinary Dominicans. They are too out of touch with their political base to know and understand the wishes of the people.
Workers Party supporters wanted to vote. They tell me they wanted to vote. Supporters of the Workers Party are upset with their leaders for boycotting the elections.
But rather than recognise the folly of their ways, they are looking around for somebody to blame.
This reminds me of the Jim Jones story. Edison James told them not to run and they all drank the Kool-Aid.
Now Hector John is going mad. He is walking about Salisbury like a mad man. Well, Lynsia Frank will walk into Parliament at its opening, as the newly elected official Parl Rep for the constituency of Salisbury.
Her neighbor Hector John can stay home and watch it on TV.
So, my dear friends and residents of La Plaine you have heard your sister, daughter, friend and neighbor this evening.
Cassandra Williams is one of you. She is from among you. She is who you want your children to see when they look in the mirror 10 and 20 years from now.
The Dominica Labour Party has nominated a fine slate of candidates. The Labour Party has formulated The Best Team for These times in which we live.
I call upon Dominicans tonight to judge us fairly. We were not perfect. We made some errors but we also did a great deal of good for this country.
I ask you tonight to go out on Tuesday and vote for the Candidates of the Dominica Labour Party. Put your X in the box next to the shoe, Ladies and Gentlemen. Do not let any part of the X touch any part of the box.
Put that X, dead centre in the box beside the shoe and walk out of that polling station feeling uplifted and accomplished.
Voting is your civic duty. Go out on Tuesday and vote for the Candidates of the Dominica Labour Party.
It is good to be in Delices tonight. I am proud of our choice of candidate. She shall represent you with honor and dignity.
I want Cassandra Williams’ name to be called on Tuesday night as the duly elected member for the La Plaine Constituency.
I want Gretta Roberts’ name to be called as the duly elected member for the Grand Fond, Riviere Cyrique and Morne John constituency.
I want Octavia Alfred returned as the Parl Rep for Castle Bruce and I want Cozier Frederick to receive even more votes this time than he did last elections.
My dear people of the East and South East of Dominica I want all four seats just mentioned and when those four are in the bag….I want Gregory Riviere to be elected as the New Parl Rep for the constituency of Marigot.
Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want us to bring all five seats in the East and Southeast home. The other six seats, I can assure you, will be coming to Labour as well.
Thank you for coming out this evening. Hang around for a little Labour Party hospitality, drive home safely…go out and vote on Tuesday and let us all have a night of celebration on Tuesday evening.
Thank you for listening to me this evening, Ladies and Gentlemen and may God Bless you all. I thank you.
