The denigrating reference in which PM Roosevelt Skerrit called Kelvin Cadette a jelly-man continues to draw public ire across the country. While campaigning for Octavia Alfred as the DLP candidate for Castle Bruce on November 26, Skerrit had cast her opponent, independent candidate Cadette, as a coconut farmer and jelly trader who has nothing to offer to Castle Bruce Constituency.
You cannot come here and talk about no jelly man. Which jelly man you talking about? A jelly man? Let’s get serious in this country! A man running up and saying he is the jelly man. Jelly man what. What jelly man can do for you? What jelly man can do for you in Castle Bruce? Jelly man can build no house for you…what can jelly man do for you in Castle Bruce? Maybe give you a little jelly…that’s all. You pay five dollars you get a jelly…
Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica
A number of coconut merchants across the country have expressed dismay at the prime ministers disparaging comments about their line of work. The coconut merchants said they could not believe their ears when they heard Skerrit denigrating their source of income in his bid to bring down a political opponent. They said unless the DLP leader apologizes for this misguided statements, they would withdraw their support from him and his party.
A particular coconut businessman said he earns between $90 and $130 per day, and that he is proud to feed his family daily without resorting to begging. He said the prime minister’s statement humiliates not only the coconut industry, but the entire agriculture industry which comprises farmers, fishermen, and poultry entrepreneurs.
I telling you I was listening that night and I couldn’t believe that was how our PM, our own prime minister was talking about a man like me, who gets up and works hard every day to make my daily bread,” the individual disclosed on condition of anonymity. The sad thing is other man like myself, who get up and go plant in their garden every day was laughing that, not realizing that the man was also insulting them too.
Cadette has expressed absolute indifference to Skerrit’s remarks, saying he has the uncanny disposition of ridiculing his opponents.
I am not worried about the statements made by Roosevelt Skerrit on his platform. Skerrit has no respect for those who really supported him and made him [to] reach where he is today. I have seen how he has devastated my country. I don’t want to be nowhere close to Roosevelt Skerrit. On a whole to me, everybody who could make a meaningful contribution to Dominica, he got rid of them.
Kelvin Cadette
UWP’s political leader, Thomson Fontaine; former UWP deputy leader, Claudius Sanford; and president of the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), Caesar Emanuel, and several prominent persons across Dominica have condemned Skerrit for denigrating Cadette as a jelly-man; and consequently, the entire agriculture and agro-allied business industry.
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