PM Roosevelt Skerrit and Opposition leader Lennox Linton disclosed that Al Jazeera informed them of the plan to do a documentary on Dominica’s CBI program before the international news agency produced the videos. The TV documentary which will air in parts alleges that Dominica is one of the countries selling diplomatic passports to keep corrupt Caribbean politicians in power.
PM Skerrit accused the UWP and their foreign collaborators are working to soil the country’s reputation by feeding Al Jazeera with incomplete information after putting them up to the task. He said the allegations raised in the video documentary had earlier been sent to him by Al Jazeera, and that they are the same the UWP had been raising for years on end.
“I noticed, as you will notice, when the story is broadcast, that the allegations are the very same ones that Linton, the UWP and Mas In De Cemetery have been making up and repeating for several years,” Skerrit lamented. “Linton is desperate and this desperation means that he and his agents and supporters will do all in their power to legitimize their lies by using foreign agents and organizations and Al Jazeera is now one of them.”
The prime minister remarked that the opposition had been working feverishly behind the scene to discredit the DLP administration for years. He added that with the coming election, the UWP is aiming to make Dominica ungovernable for “foreigners to come and take over our election process.” He warned that anyone who attempts to discredit him unfairly will face a lawsuit for libel.
Skerrit blamed the UWP for the government’s inability to execute electoral reforms in the country. He said his administration set up a committee to oversee the electoral reform process last year in parliament. He said the opposition accepted the draft laws even though they did not provide amendments where they had the opportunity to; and then returned a week later with a court injunction to put a halt to the legislation that would have enabled the electoral reform process.
UWP’s Lennox Linton also confessed that Al Jazeera informed him beforehand of the documentary project as it relates to the sale of diplomatic passports. He said he has nothing to hide or to be afraid of and urged everyone to sit back to await the airing of the documentary when it goes live on TV. He noted that he is obviously not the subject of Aljazeera’s investigations because he is not involved with sales of diplomatic passports.
“They can create a story and try to connect me with it, that’s fine; investigative people do that,” Linton said.
The opposition leader said his party will stop the sales of diplomatic passports once they come to power. He said that within the first 100 of coming to power, the UWP will pass The Prevention of the Sale of Diplomatic Immunity Act in the parliament, and Aljazeera will be invited to cover the event.
Meanwhile, Skerrit said he will be addressing public workers on their demand for salary increase this week.
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