Dominica: UWP sparks criticism with 'Do Nothing' protest

Friday, 1st March 2024

Dominica’s United Workers Party (UWP) has made a very peculiar call for protest, urging the public to “Do Nothing” for one week at the cost of the country's economy while calling the protest for drawing attention to socio-economic issues. Organizing the campaign, UWP said, “People talk about action, we are going to act”, their aim is to refrain from engaging in any sort of productive work, inviting all non-essential premises, work spaces to shut down their businesses for the whole week including public service offices. “From Monday I am asking all Dominicans to do nothing, get up from your bed, go and take your bath, make your coffee, and apart from that do nothing,” said Edison James former Prime Minister who recently got bail in $50,000 incitement charges without giving any logical explanation of how the public would survive if they do nothing for entire one week. It is not yet clear what action the United Workers Party would take if some businesses choose to remain open despite their call for the “Do Nothing” campaign. However, previous incidents reveal how things are often handled with anger and ambush if people do not comply with such calls made by UWP and many have expressed the fear of situations like riots in the country. Further, Edison James added that the UWP wants young people employed, and elderly better taken care of as well as wanting others to stay employed, but call of a total shutdown for “one week” would result in many losing their daily employments, leading to hundreds of workers losing their pay days and thousands others suffer on hands of the campaign. Dominica is the only country in the region which successfully managed to survive COVID-19 lockdowns and paid full wages to the public service employees during that period of time. Moreover, it took about more than 2 years for Dominica to get back to the pace of development while many countries around the world are still lingering behind due to the impacts of COVID-19 and its shutdown. There are a number of construction sites where work is underway and a call of long closing down would severely affect pockets of daily wagers. Not only this, it would also affect the infrastructural growth, and delay in completion of certain projects. Ian Alexander, a local worker, expressed his dismay on the call of “Do Nothing” protest of the opposition. “I work everyday and it is not just work for me it is my living. UWP must think before calling a protest, not even a single daily wager is in their support nor any citizen is supporting them. It is just them and their party workers, who have nothing to do everyday.” Another Dominican working at a site in Roseau, Kenrick John expressed his dismay on the campaign, adding that he’s trying to save up to send his children to a college abroad, and such closure would impact his savings. “I have been saving up money to give my son a better education, he’s dreaming to pursue studies abroad, and I have recently got a job at an new project site, they have call on people to leave work for one week this is not good, this will be a push back for me and many other people who have recently started working at new places,” said Kenrick John. Additionally, construction supervisors expressed distress following the shutdown call. Daniel George, an employee at an international construction company, stated that most of the equipment and movers are rented, and they will have to pay rent whether the equipment is used or not. "We will have to bear losses due to the 'Do Nothing' call from the opposition. Any political party should protest peacefully and not interfere with national development. My question to the leaders of the UWP is whether they are going to compensate the companies facing a financial crunch due to their protest," he added. He further stated that they would have to lay off many workers, as there will be no work during the next week, and as a result, those daily wage earners will have to bear the financial burden of this action.