Opposition wants more transparent government
Ron Green is leader of Dominica’s main Opposition Party, the United Workers’ Party, which won eight seats in the 5 May 2005 elections.
You have levelled allegations about bad governance at the government
The 2005 elections were fraught and full of irregularities. There is also the question of major corruption by the leadership; tax fraud and acquisition of wealth and a number of items to put to our new Integrity Commission but it cannot, according to law, look into the past irregularities that took place – it’s an issue of retroactivity. It is the responsibility of the Prime Minister to clear the air and provide the information in a spirit of accountability.
The second issue is the economy. There is an international crisis but as we are not hooked so deeply into the international financial system, it has not hit Dominica yet. However, over the past four to five years we have gone through a period of extreme economic gloom; the loss of jobs, loss of income, high taxes and lack of any productive investment in agriculture, our primary sector and tourism our secondary sector to enable people to have a good life. We have outstanding natural assets but for some reason we have not been able to capitalise on them.
Let’s come back to the nature of the electoral irregularities
Throughout our contemporary political history since 1960, there have been irregularities but the elections on 5 May 2005 were the most corrupt in the history of Dominica. Money was used extensively to purchase votes. You had cases where Dominican citizens living overseas were given tickets to come home to vote – that’s against the law.
There was a high number of voters compared to population figures, it appears
There were 68,000 on the voters’ list whereas we know that 20,000 of these were under 18, so by law cannot vote. At the time of the election, the population was between 60,000-65,000, hence the voters’ list should have been around 48,000 people.
The government says there’s economic recovery
Well, that’s their line. Migration is an indicator of economic gloom. Our population is in the vicinity of 60,000 whereas it was estimated to have been 90,000 (ten years ago), which means that there has been mass migration of our people to Antigua and other places inside and outside the region looking for better opportunities.
What is wrong with the way the country is governed?
We are asking for ID cards and for the voters’ list to be cleaned up. Our law is that a Dominican citizen must have visited his/her country in the last five years to be able to vote. International observers must also be requested. We also think that there should be reasonably fair access to the state media (Dominica Broadcasting Services and the Government Information Service) for opposition parties.
If you win the next election, what will you do differently?
We feel that Dominica’s natural assets are so outstanding that the title ‘Nature Island’ should be fully enhanced. Second is the question of integrity: we need an open transparent democracy and to strengthen our local government system. We have the best local government system in the region but it has been stifled.
Dominica and Grenada in figures
Population: Dominica - 72000 (2005)** / Grenada - 105000 (2004)
Annual population growth rate %: Dominica - 0.9 (1975-2003) / Grenada - 0.4 (1975-2005)
Size: Dominica - 290 sq. miles (754 sq. km) / Grenada - 133 sq. miles (344 sq. km)
Capital: Dominica - Roseau / Grenada - St George’s
Language: Dominica - English, French creole / Grenada - English
Human Development index - for 2007/08 - rank: Dominica - 71 / Grenada - 82
Adult Literacy rate (% ages 15 and above): Dominica - 88 / Grenada - 96
GDP per capita €2005: Dominica - 4,684 / Grenada - 5,748
Population with access to improved water source %: Dominica - 97 (2004) / Grenada - 95 (2004)
Urban population (% of total) 2005: Dominica - 72.9 / Grenada - 30.6
Fertility rate (Birth per woman) 2005: Dominica - NA / Grenada - 2.4
Infant mortality rate per 1000 live births 2005: Dominica - 13 / Grenada - 21
Public Health expenditure (% of GDP) 2005: Dominica - 4.2 / Grenada - 5
Public Education expenditure (% of GDP) 2005: Dominica - 5 / Grenada - 5.2
EU Funding* allocated (in million Euros)
National Indicative Programme 10th EDF (2008-13): Dominica - 5.70 / Grenada - 6.00
Special Framework of assistance SFA (1999-2007): Dominica - 52.5 / Grenada - 5.5
Sources: UNDP, * EU Commission, ** Government of Dominica.
