- DLP has Unveiled their last Candidates: Females
- Ms. Skerrit's Objectives her the Roseau Constituency
- Ms. Skerrit making Roseau more Modern & Prosperous
- PM Skerrit's Reservations of his Wife Going into Politics
- DLP's Denise Charles Wants the Best for Soufriere
The DLP has unveiled their last candidates, females, for the upcoming December 6 general elections. The party launched Melissa Poponne Skerrit, wife of PM Roosevelt Skerrit, to represent Roseau Central constituency; and Denise Charles to represent Soufriere constituency. Both candidates revealed their development plans for their respective constituencies.
Speaking to the people of Roseau Central, Ms. Skerrit said her major objective is to give her constituency a major facelift, while making lives and businesses better for everyone in the area. She said she wants to make Roseau Central the standard of life and development in Dominica, and the pacesetter for other constituencies to follow in terms of job opportunities, upscale wages, business growth, permanent resillient homes, social amenities, and prosperous living among others.
“I want to fight your causes, want to shoulder your concerns. I want to help expand your businesses, I want to bring more development, I want to lift Roseau Central up, I want Roseau Central to be the best constituency in this country,” she said.
Apart from raising the standards of living in Roseau Central, Melissa Skerrit also promised to deal with the pressing issues of sanitation in the constituency. This will focus on waste disposal, improved drainage, storm surge protection, and rats elimination in the city.
“As citizens, we have to improve our disposal practices,” she said. “It is important to have occasional rat baiting programmes in all major cities and we will start with one right here working with businesses and residents.”
Add to these her plans to make Roseau Central the best city capital in the country. This, according to her, will entail making the city more modern, beautiful and prosperous with better recreational activities and tourism potentials. Furthermore, Skerrit said she looks forward to continuing the Roseau Enhancement Project where Roseau as a proposed green resilient city will be powered by underground cables and renewable energy sources.
“I am stepping forward to build a more resilient Roseau with comfortable housing, a sense of community pride and a place where people can use their skills, their ideas and talent to build a better life for themselves and their families,” Poponne-Skerrit promised.
Prime Minister Skerrit said it was not easy for him to endorse his wife for the parliamentary position, saying he’d rather protect her from political attacks and the dangers that come with politics. He said he preferred his wife to remain at home as a full housewife, but the entire peoples of Roseau said they want her to be their leader in parliament.
“I still hesitated, I was convicted,” the honourable prime minister said. “As party leader, I wanted a candidate that could win; as a man, I wanted my wife at home. I wanted to keep her safe and shield her from the vicious attacks that the other side is capable of. As Prime Minister I knew that she was the right choice and I had to yield to the will of the people.”
The current MP for Roseau Central and DLP Candidate for Roseau North, Joseph Isaac, fully endorsed Melissa Poponne-Skerrit as the candidate for Roseau Central.
Meanwhile, Denise Charles, who is contesting for the parliamentary seat for Soufriere on the DLP platform, said she is a Point Mitchel native who wants the best for her constituency. She said she wants to see everyone prosper in every facet of life in Soufriere, and she will make this happen by creating economic and social services that will ensure better life for individual families and various businesses.
“I have spoken to all of you and the common ambition among all of you in this constituency is a desire to build better lives for yourselves and your families, to have a comfortable home and to ensure that our community has essential services and recreational facilities,” Charles said. “I, too, share the same desires for our community. When one of us prospers in this constituency, we all prosper. Your success is my mission.”
Denise Charles replaced Ian Pinard who resigned in 2016, and will be contending with UWP’s Sam Christian.
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