Dominica PM announces bipartisan post-Maria body

Last updated: 18 January 2018, 6:33 am

The prime minister of Dominica has announced a national bipartisan body will be formed to deal with the island’s post-Hurricane Maria recovery.

The five-person organisation will feature three representatives of the Dominica Labour Party government and three representatives of the opposition United Workers Party.

Speaking at a press conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said that the body will be created by the Dominica’s parliament with "clear and distinct terms of references" for the island's recovery.

Any decisions made by the soon-to-be-formed panel will go through parliament, he added.

“That consultative body will have the ratification of parliament by a motion to ensure the seriousness of which the government is proposing it, the cabinet will accept and carry out its function in that manner."

He began his media briefing by welcoming a public statement from Lennox Linton, leader of the opposition, labelling it "late" but still constructive to post-hurricane recovery.

The UWP leader will receive a letter informing him of the proposed bipartisan body.

Linton is yet to comment on the latest news.

Skerrit also said that the government will be launching the national rebuild and economic partnership consultation on 19 February.

A similar committee was formed after Dominica was hit by Tropical Storm Erika in 2015.

It was made up of all 21 MPs, although the opposition UWP soon pulled out in a hail of criticisms aimed at the prime minister.

The PM used the press conference to reveal that his administration is in the process of creating 1,100 jobs for those left redundant by the effects of September's category five hurricane.

The new jobs are “separate and distinct” from the national employment programme, Skerrit added, and is scheduled to begin in March 2018.