Following Prime Minister Skerrit’s appeal for members of the opposition to stop violence in their call for electoral reform, opposition leader Lennox Linton said the people resorted to violence as a show of resistance. PM Skerrit specifically called on the UWP leadership and their supporters to stop the “lawlessness” pervading the country in the buildup to the December 6 elections, but Linton said the protesters continued to demonstrate because of DLP’s provocations.
Speaking at the Prevo Cinemall on Tuesday, Linton said the communities of Newtown, Layou, Pointe Round, Stockfarm, Salisbury and Marigot were provoked to violent resistance because they had been denied their rights for too long. He disclosed that the civil unrest in Marigot did not start today or yesterday, but it had been smouldering for years with the people calling for economic advantages.
Linton said the refusal of the current administration to approve electoral reforms to guarantee free and fair election is not the only problem, but that the people of these communities felt “oppressed and abused, hated and denigrated and denied of their fair share of national resources from the Skerrit administration for 20 years.”
The UWP leader said his party stands for peace and justice, but he would always favour justice over peace since true peace can only reign in the face of justice.
“When people stand for rights and justice, I don’t have a moral obligation to be talking about peace because I have been long enough in this world to know there really cannot have any peace without justice,” he declared.
Linton insisted that the people of Marigot – his constituency and that of former PM Edison James – had been tolerant enough and need to speak up for righteousness to prevail in Dominica. He said his party and his supporters want to be recognized and respected for whom they are; and that they want to access all the national benefits accessible to those in leadership positions without prejudice. He added that justice is the backbone of the UWP’s political ideology, and that the people of Marigot and other constituencies “are standing for issues of justice that need to be addressed”.
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