Dominica News Online
Published 12 April, 2021
Basseterre
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
Dominica News Online
As bus drivers around Dominica embark on protest action, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit has made it clear to them that neither he, nor his government, will be extorted.
Several bus drivers began protest action this morning, refusing to ply their their regular route and leaving large numbers of commuters stranded. The bus operators say they are protesting to force the government to provide “much-needed assistance” because of the financial impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the recent rise in the price of fuel on their trade.
One bus driver told Dominica News Online (DNO), “ The past few months have been really tough for us and we have not gotten anything from the government. They put something in place at AID Bank but we cannot afford to go under more debt so tomorrow, we have to show them who is in charge.”
However, addressing the bus drivers on his Anou Palay show last evening, Skerrit stated that though he acknowledges the challenges brought about by Covid-19 on the bus drivers, their difficulties are not dissimilar to other sectors of society at this time.
He said that he and other members of his government recently met with the bus drivers and information was gathered with the view to assess their situation, to see what additional support can be provided. He said he was rather astonished to learn that protest actions were being planned.
“…but what I will never fall for is for anybody trying to extort the government or extort Roosevelt Skerrit or putting a gun to my head. Anybody who’s going to engage me in those kinds of activities, you’re not going to get your way with me,” the Prime Minister declared.
He continued, “If you’re serious about engaging the government, I’m serious about engaging you and when I make a promise to people I keep the promise. It may take longer than people would like it happen sometimes, or even myself would like [it] to happen…but I keep my promise.”
Skerrit said forms collected from his last meeting with the bus drivers are being examined to ensure those who rely exclusively on driving are the real benefactors.
“This is people’s money and therefore, we need to ensure that who we give money to are people who deserve the money…,” he asserted. “I remember after Tropical Storm Erika and Hurricane Maria where we put systems in place and the person who is driving the bus never got anything and the person who has two or three buses or had other jobs got two or three times, I’m not going to make this happen to the government again.”
The Prime Minister cautioned the bus drivers that any protest action will bring an end to ongoing discussions with his government.
“If you want to take off the discussion that we have on the table by going to protest, then let me know because it’s not that the government has so much money that it doesn’t know what to do with it. I have so many things that I can do with money but I have decided to assist you the bus driver so you can buy four new tires or pay your insurance for the year etcetera, but you’re not going to put pressure on Roosevelt Skerrit, not on me,” he declared.
Skerrit continued, “I don’t understand how you want to protest when you said you need to make more money, and you need money, now is the time for you to be carrying everybody to go to work and you saying you’re not going to carry anybody because you want to protest? This makes no sense to me.”
According to the Prime Minister, to date, over $15million has been placed at the Dominica Social Security to provide income support to bus drivers and bus owners and over 237 bus drivers have contracted loans from the AID Bank averaging about $12,000.00 to $13,000.00.
This can be found on https://dominicanewsonline.com/new
