Dominica: The Opposition Deserves a Better Leader

The United Workers Party (UWP), once a beacon for pro-active representation anchored on ideals, have been reduced to a political party that instils fear, promotes civil discord, and engages in meaningless social media posts and trolling that have brought an atmosphere of negativity never before seen in the history of Dominica.

[caption id="attachment_21653" align="alignleft" width="281"] UWP leader and Parliamentary Representative from Marigot Constituency, Lennox Linton[/caption]

Its leader, Lennox Linton, has made the party an instrument for his own political agenda to wrest power for power’s sake, and his’ actions over the past five years speak volumes of his character. His thin record of performance though, cannot sustain his litany of lies in the name of the United Worker Party’s cause. Surprisingly, UWP’s silence means tacit complicity on a campaign that went from character assassination to negative social media postings, childish Facebook troll engagements, and an outlandish allegation of non-transparent fiscal computations that Linton himself failed to prove.

With the “Where de money gone?” lie fast losing its sting, Linton is now promoting a civil disobedience campaign on an issue that he should have brought to parliament earlier - electoral reforms. As to what he will think of next in his faltering campaign one can only guess, but his true colours have unravelled and the people are taking notice.

The UWP, founded in 1988 by Edwin James (former Prime Minister) is a centrist political party that today occupies 6 of the 21 seats in the House of Assembly. UWP’s political outlook propagated by its past stalwarts involve an acceptance or support of a balanced degree of social equality and hierarchy. Since the ascension of Lennox Linton as his party’s leader, people had begun to wonder whether the principles in which the party was founded truly reflects its past record and advocacies.

When we consider the circumstances surrounding the rise of the leaders of both parties, we can truly decipher the protagonists’ characters based on their actions in the last five years. Roosevelt Skerrit rose to become party leader and Prime Minister of Dominica thru a series of tumultuous events that badly needed his youth and intellect. He has been the architect of a progressive development program and more importantly, the leader that led Dominica to recovery in record-setting fashion from Hurricane Maria. Elected in 2014, Lennox Linton has had only two proposals in the House and a non-existing record in Marigot constituency. He, however, will stop at nothing to wrest power and become prime minister even at the expense of demeaning the country in the international community.

The difference in motivation encapsulates what many already knew, its clarity, however, has been clouded by the advent of social media that now politicizes fake news. In fact, it is even harder to get the good across than the bad. In effect, millennials have little to no interest in the true issues of the day.

Because of these social media machinations, the young are getting jaded as they have become a political pawn in an Internet controlled by lies and deceit. It now becomes easier for the opposition because they have an unregulated platform to critique at will and with total disregard to facts.

That is why historians in general, have this yearning for the politics of old, simply because back in the days when there was no Internet, debates and issues put forth were screened, debated and decided based on incisive research and fact-finding. Parliamentary debates and the news reports worked for hand in hand to crystallize issues in order for people to have an informed decision.

The change in the way we communicate and how UWP uses their attacks on government have, to a large extent, undermined good governance and performance record. Lying in public has become more pronounced and an accepted social and political norm. The obvious barometer is that UWP’s silence means tacit approval of Linton’s dirty tactics.

Today, most UWP supporters are praying for better opposition whose character and the record is better than the government they critique. A party peopled with a high moral ascendancy and respected in his or her own constituency, and more importantly the country and the international community.

What Dominica is waiting for is for UWP to thresh out their own proposals and ideas, instead of critiquing and twitting the administration at every turn without presenting an alternative for the people to consider.

[caption id="attachment_1901" align="alignleft" width="231"] Lennox Linton, leader of the opposition in Dominica.[/caption]

The travesty is that acts of dishonesty rewarded by a position in government only leads people to forget the very foundation that was intended to govern them – ethical practices and public decency in public service. And that is what the UWP is tolerating today.

One such example of the Linton ukulele in his propensity to utter lies after lies. These would have been credible if he stuck out to investigate the first rather than move on to the second and third of his allegations. Case in point: While he asked the government where is the missing billions in what his opponent in Marigot described as “abracadabra economics,” he then launched another tirade against the DLP candidates for getting millions to run for the ruling party.

He then launched an attack on the Citizens By Investment Programme (CBI) by marking it as the centerpiece of an elaborate scheme to funnel money away from the people, when in fact it was CBI that infused money to the Nature Island by providing hospitals, resorts and hotels, construction and repair of roads and bridges, and a housing revolution that would benefit the displaced in the thousands. When confronted with the question of where he will source the funds to further his government agenda, he presented nothing.

When one double-checks the numbers Linton discussed, the fact of the matter is the administration complied with all economic legislative regulation in submitting the budget to the people in parliament to which Linton was a part of. Why then would Linton make outlandish claims now? It had great soundbite and the election is just around the corner.

While it is true that actions speak louder than words, deception requires more effort to prove than the truth. If one hides a lie with another lie things start to get obvious and unravel. Which begs the question, in spite of the many allegations thrown, has any allegation by Linton been proven in the courts of law and in public opinion?

Linton had abandoned his allegations (CBI, 1.2B) again and is now singing a different tune with this electoral reform issue. In desperation, he is provoking the small cadre of his party’s supporters to march the streets to start what he would like to become as civil unrest. But the people this time are not biting. Five years since getting elected he has criticized government regarding everything from the kitchen sink but proved nothing that would be offered as proof. And yet, despite his calls for better governance he has yet to show any meaningful legislative accomplishment and meaningful projects of his own. He claims the administration is dumbing the people down when he himself thinks his proclivities will be taken as gospel truth by the people he lied to.

The most glaring disappearing act witnessed by the people was UWP went missing-in-action during the country’s greatest challenge in Hurricane Maria. The people have seen something that is now obvious to everyone and is still promulgated by the party to this day – that of inducing hate and negativity while proposing nothing in return.