December 23, 2009
Mr. Steven Griner
Chief of Mission
OAS Election Observer Mission
Dear Sir:
Your preliminary report on the Dominica Election of December 18th, 2009 has necessitated this response on the basis of concerns raised with you and members of your team by us – the Citizens Forum for Good Governance – on December 15th, 2009.
While we agree that the process was civil and without major incident, we do not agree that the election was deserving of the clean bill of health that you so hurriedly and generously conferred on it for the following reasons:
1. Bribery of Overseas Nationals to Vote
The election result was substantially altered by the votes of large numbers of Dominicans living overseas who were bribed with the “valuable consideration” of transportation costs to cast ballots and return immediately thereafter to their foreign residences. In our meeting with you we pointed out that this is in contravention of anti-bribery provisions of the House of Assembly Elections Act.
You confirmed in that meeting that you had already received from the Dominica Freedom Party various lists including names of the persons living overseas who the DLP planned to bribe into voting for its re-election. You also confirmed receiving information on charters that had been booked by the DLP for that purpose along with evidence of the involvement of Dominica’s Consul General in New York illegally using the state’s resources to organize the logistics of bribery by air and sea transportation.
By your own admission, you received numerous calls on Election Day advising that plane loads and boat loads of people were arriving to vote. It would appear that you ignored these alerts only to advise in your preliminary report that the “allegations” of these acts of bribery should be investigated further.
“While the mission cannot verify the veracity of these claims, it encourages the parties presenting the allegations to provide evidence to the appropriate authorities of Dominica for further investigation”.
What investigation of this most important irregularity did the OAS Mission do Mr. Griner? And if it did no investigation or insufficient investigation, how then was it able to give the December 18th election a clean bill of health?
There is also the issue of the eligibility of the bribed voters some of whom have been living outside of Dominica, have not returned home for more than five years, and were therefore not qualified to cast ballots on December 18th, 2009.
The OAS Mission is aware of a press statement issued by two members of the Electoral Commission on the morning of the election, which purported to give the green light to the illegality of voting even if you are disqualified to vote. We find it truly mind boggling that the OAS Mission could have avoided such a clear indication that operatives on the Electoral Commission were actively championing the cause of the government’s obvious plan to steal the election
2. Bloated Voter’s List, No Voter Identification
The OAS Mission recommends that “providing cards to registered voters in Dominica will allow for the complete revision of the voter registry, which by almost any measure is bloated”. We are sure that in making this recommendation, the OAS Mission understands that the voter registry can only be “bloated” by the inclusion of names of persons that by law are no longer electors. Yet, there is no indication that the OAS Mission was at all concerned with a corrupted election result based on the fact that ballots were cast for dead or disqualified voters whose names are still on the list.
The plan to steal the election did not emerge without your knowledge in the dead of night on the eve of December 18th, 2009.
We brought to your attention Sir, the fact that one high profile advisor to the Prime Minister, Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan in email correspondence dated March 27, 2008 (more than one year and eight months before the election) advised against cleaning up the voter register and using ID cards:
“...There is madness going on at the Commission… These guys are talking about reforms to include ID cards and complete re-registration! Such reforms will undermine your re-election legacy as the opposition will say look, the Commission agreed with us; reform was required because of widespread fraud!”
Mr. Astaphan’s advice and the Prime Minister’s corrupt intentions prevailed over the recommendations of the political opposition and the will of the people. We ask of you Mr. Griner, how in heaven’s name could the OAS Observer Mission give a clean bill of health to this blatantly fraudulent election?
3. Media Access
The OAS Mission notes that access to the media – the state-owned Dominica Broadcasting Corporation and the privately-owned Kairi FM radio station – was a bone of contention for opposition parties during the campaign.
In this regard you said Sir: “Again, the current legislation in Dominica does not provide any benchmarks for access to the media. The legislation could require that media outlets provide political parties the same opportunity to purchase primetime advertising at the same cost or it could stipulate a certain amount of free advertising”.
The Mission was in Dominica long enough to establish the denial of media access complained of as fact. This denial of airplay for the message of the opposition parties had a telling effect on the outcome of the election grave enough to vitiate the entire voting exercise in a competent court of law.
Yet you gloss over it with a gratuitous recommendation in your inexplicable rush to tell the world: “our general impressions of the electoral process in Dominica were extremely positive”.
We fully expect that in the true spirit of independence, truth, righteousness and justice, your final report will deal with the illegalities and irregularities that have made the December 18th, 2009 election the most fraudulent in our history.
Sincerely,
CITIZENS FORUM FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
ATHERTON MARTIN SEVERIN MCKENZIE
CC: All Media Organizations
All Political Parties in Dominica
All Civil Society Organizations in Dominica
Human Rights Watch
Transparency International
CARICOM Governments
OECS Governments
US Embassy
Venezuelan Embassy
Chinese Embassy
Organization of American States
United Nations
European Union
World Bank
IMF
ECCB
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you Athie and Saverin. Can you believe that these observers movements were actually managed by DLP operatives? They saw only what the DLP wanted them to see. I personally phoned in numerous complaints to the Observers. Mr. Grinder's phone was always difficult to reach, so each time I had to complain to Jean Francois. I just hope that these international organizations can help us to deal with this very unfortunate situation. May God help Dominica
I must admit that your first post had me fooled…. untill I read your second one and realised the biasness in it. Carry on.. the people of Dominica has spoken!
Which people have spoken? Those who reside here and are elligible to vote, or the illegal hired mercenaries who were paid for their votes like political prostitutes, rather than voting on the issues? Which people have spoken? The last time I checked it was illegal to vote if you had stayed for five or more years out of the country. the last time I checked (according to former chief justice) it was illegal to give people overseas tickets to come and vote for a particular political party. The last time I checked it was illegal to pay people to vote for you. So I ask you which people have spoken? Laborites are not known to be bright so I forgive you my boy. my contributions are beyond you. Laborites are haters of truth and righteousness, they love thieves and liars. So which people have spoken? Manessa was an evil king who God allowed to rule Israel for 55 years. I suspect Skerrit's evil reign may not be as long. Keep reading you may become honest one day. this is certainly the right place to be.
Just know the DLP represent the minority of people living in Dominica, and that will not be for too long so enjoy it while it last. If Skerrit was so confident about his performance why did he have to depend on illegal foreign voters to win an election? and why was he afraid of cleaning up the voters list?
I fooled you? please don't mistake me for Skerrit. It is Skerrit who is the pathetic and consumate liar not me.
There is a wedsite called Domincanewsonline which seems to be bent on protecting Skerrits corruption. Beware of them.
As I always do I look at things objectively and I must say that the same thing was done while the UWP was in power. DBS was manipulated and voters were imported. However two wrongs don’t make it right.
Mujahidin what it is that we are expecting of the international committee? It would be utterly foolish of us to believe that there will be some sort of external intervention. We must take our own action, follow our Leeds and produce the hard evidence. The evidence must be such that it creates major embarrassment for the government. Lessons learned from the last election is that our people are not very objective and independent minded. In addition the color of money,7 million US dollars , building materials , plane tickets, free food , red clinic etc is far better than integrity in government. So even if we produce the smoking gun during an election campaign that is not enough to dissuade or persuade the voters.
I am appealing to the web administrator that if Balawo cannot substantiate his allegations that they not be published. He keeps making these allegations about the UWP which were supposed to have been investigated thoroughly by Tony Astaphan on behalf of the DLP government. He was paid to investigate and his investigations came up empty.
Those working at DBS will admit to you privately like they have done to me on numerous occassions the disgraceful way in which DBS was used by Skerrit during this elections. It was clear for all to see. unprecedented in Dominica's history and all Balawo can say is to make unsubstantiated statements that UWP did it too. Where is Balawo list of voters imported by UWP to vote in any elections? where is your list balawo? you come here playing self righteous. Stop making statements that you cannot prove. are you trying to patronize DLP supporters? The Web administrator needs to beware of such contributions to this site, especially since we call it honest Dominica.
The web administrator sits there and allow Balawo to speak foolishness about producing hard evidence, when this website is littered with hard and factual documentary evidence complete with voice clips of the key corruption players. Balawo you need to take your time and review the multitude of evidence which is currently on this site then come and talk to me, since I suspect you may be speaking with a degree of ignorance that make you look bad.
We all know that the integrity committee is nothing but another line of defense for those in power and the truth be told the police investigation unit will not provide an honest investigation. What we should do is to seek the services of a private investigator. One that could produce all the hard evidence; details of citizenship on all those were accused of contesting the election and having dual citizenship; those accused of money laundering; sexual escapades for diplomatic favors; get rich quick politicians. What I would like to see is an investigation of some of the accusations of the UWP government during their term of office.
It is my opinion that the trend of mass corruption began with the UWP, the Labor party took the torch and elevated the activities to a broader plateau. We are quickly heading towards social unrest ,blatant and bold face political victimization.
Mujahidin I disagree with you on the DNO agenda. I believe that the Dominica News online website has been fair and balance. Let us not try to destroy something good. One could make the same comments about HonestDominica .com. I do understand the effort made by DNO in avoiding libelous comments. Most off us will agree that we were able to read comments from all sides of whatever the issues were during the campaign and even on current issues. Articles that were pro and anti Skerrititism were posted as well. It would be unfair to associate DNO with a DBS like behavior.
In the face of displeasure and skepticism of the election results we must remain fair and objective. Let us not allow politics to destroy that which is good for Dominica. Many of the misgivings in the Skerrit administration was made known to me via DNO and I’m sure many of us on this forum will agree.
Balawo, I therefore challenge you to write anything negative about Skerrit on the DNO website. For instance go there and try writing anything about the lie Skerrit told to world about the 36 million that he gave to Anguilla and Antigua, and see if it will be published. Or try to write anything about the lie he told about his citizenship and see if it will be published. This is the challenge before you, and then come back and talk to us about DNO being fair and balance.
I am now suspicious of you Balawo, because of all the hard and factual evidence of Skerrits corruption produced long before the election campaign that you have the gall to refer to as smoking gun. Is Skerrit House that he told the world was 400K and we found out from his architect Suprya Singh is in excess of 1.2million, is that what you call smoking gun? When Skerrit's friend Ambassador David Huis tell the world through authentic email correspondance to Skerrit how many gifts that he purchased for Skerrit and his ministers even purchasing sexual favors for Mr. Skerrit himself, you call that smoking gun. Please note balawo that when Huis made these allegations he was still Dominica's Ambassador to China. These statements were never denied by Skerrit, and you call that smoking gun. When minister Ian Douglas tells the world of the treachery of Skerrit then come like a little boy and cry how much he love Skerrit , you call that smoking gun? What about the land taxes which were not paid by Skerrit who went to make payments after Lennox revealed to the world through authentic documentary evidence that he had cheated the State. You still call that smoking gun? What about the bin bobol where Skerrit came up with a scheme to steal hundreds of thousands from the State and again when caught by Lennox with authentic documentary proof, then proceeds to write a letter to himself purporting to be Dopwell promising to repay the stolen money. You still talking about smoking gun. I guess all the evidence revealing the fertilizer bobol is a smoking gun as well.
I guess you are going to tell me about UWP corruption, which interestingly enough you have never referred to as smoking gun. As a matter of fact what I later heard from DLP operatives who were familiar with the 2000 elections was that UWP was a political strategy. Now Balawo we are not talking about political strategy we are talking about actual hard boldface evidence of corruption which can't be disputed, that even you are very convinced that Skerrit is corrupt to the core.
Keep in mind balawo Skerrit did not win the elections, it was stolen, and that is the fact which we must deal with.
Go and try publishing anything about Skerrit on the DNO website and come and tell us if it was published. Actually and will be looking out for it. I am waiting. While you are at it tell us about Skerrit's misgivings that you found out about onthe DNO website. And while you are at it read the article by the DNO publisher about hacking of the DNO website.
You will soon find out what time of day it is. How comes I have not heard you mention anything about the roll of Kairi in the last elections? No comments on that.
There are far too many irregularities surrounding this election, the issue is that Skerrit remains and whilst investigations hopefully take place it will not I feel change the stakes, what is needed now is a government watchdog organisation run like the UK one you have to organise a concentrated line of investigation into all of the affairs of government right away.
They will feel strong now and if they continue with this new found strength it is more than probable that they will follow the course of conduct they have already adopted as has been observed already like the fertilizergate and the binbobol to name but two, Ambrose George as another fine example, this is where your attention needs to be you must be alert and vigilant.
we wish you all well in your endeavours and a happy new to you all.
It is obvious that our system of government is dysfunctional. There is a great imbalance in the decision making process- the prime minister and the government have way too much power. In my opinion the people should elect the board of directors for the state owned radio station; the people should elect the board of directors for the electoral committee thus the decision to initiate a voter ID should not be the call of the PM or Tony Astaphan but that of the people. The IPO should also be decided by the people. Let us decide on these statutory boards – politicians handoff.
please get outside investigaters to investigate Skerrit and Ambrose thats all we need then dominicans will see what you all was saying all along when and how did Skerrit get french citizenship alas bordier we have a french man runing our country now, i think we were independant 31yrs ago but it dont seems so these brunch of men we have in gov;t in dominica they need to go they are no example for our children and grand children alas help us lord we need you more than ever in dominica.
The fact of the matter is that you guys failed to mobilized the electorate. Alleging corruption by use of the various media outlets did not serve your purpose. Instead of mobilizing the grass roots man on the ground , you spent your time propagating all those charges of corruption. You decided to rely on the use of radio stations, internet and viral videos instead of getting some momentum amongst the electorate. Most of the opposition candidates are misaligned with the electorate, hence there was no way you could conduct a grass roots campaign (you had more than three yrs to mobilize). The tactic of always accusing the incumbent party of corruption is the same one used to remove UWP in 2000. So it's either there is some truth to the fact of corruption based on experience of being the incumbent party once before, so you know how the tactics work. Tell me who was a better choice – the incumbent party or the opposition? The Americans voted in George Bush for a second term because he was at war with Iraq – and we know the amount of alleged corruption that existed during the war – but they elected him back so that he could clean up his mess, which he eventually left for someone else to clean up. He almost bankrupt the entire world. My suggestion is that you now have 5yrs to get the job done, start working at it from Dec 19th, 2009.
I am amazed that Concerned can come to this site to speak such nonsense which resembles the new kind of stupidity propagated by Skerrit and his gang of thieves. It is because of such sick minds that our country seems to be retarded. I am very sure that concerned, like many ignorant laborites have not taken the time of to personally examine that multitude of facts exposing the clear and boldface corruption of Skerrit. If that was done he/she would be much aware of danger which faces Dominica with this gangster administration. Concerned has been hearing bits and pieces about Skerrit's corruption without any extensive reading of the supporting facts. When I hear the kind of nonsense spoken by such people it concerns me about the culture of ignorance that we have developed in Dominica especially during the reign of the DLP administration. It was deceased Pierre Charles who said, "Dominicans wear their ignorance as a badge of honour". if ever this statement is applicable, it has to be applied to the contribution of CONCERNED.
You Concerned remind me of the incompetent DLP ministers of government who sign documents and make decisions concerning these documents without properly reading and assimilating the content of the documents. Stop talking from your head, rather make statements based on authentic information.
Let me say that as far as the information is concerned you are in the right place. This website is littered with factual information and hard undisputed proof and evidence of DLP corruption. Take some time and surf the site, study the information and become a crusader for the truth instead of trying to talk about things that you don't understand, in the process doing more public damage than good. READ, READ, READ, FOR DOMINICA'S SAKE READ.
First let me congratulate this move as w e all need to save our country from this corrupt governance . I must condemn the work of the political observers . For instance when the senjoseph people from the diaporas came some one call the observer to get out of the area which was the senjoseph school onhte savvanah to move from thye are inorder that the buses could off load the massies of snjoseph votersSHAME SHAME SHAME LABOUR HAVE TO GIVE YOU A TICKET TO COME AND VISIT AND YOU VOTE FOR THIS CORRUPTION ARE YOU AL THEM VOTERS PAYING TAXES IN DOMINCA .TAX TIME IS COMING WHAT IS YOUR CONTRIBUTION TO DOMINCA . ..Anyway time will tell skerrit wanted to win his election. HERE is this SIMPLE question IF YOU ARE DOING SO GOOD why AIR LIFT overseas individual to help get back in power. These people need to be dealt with serious especially as Us national so that they can respect the law and the constituitions in the future. SKERO IF YOU SO GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY WHY AIRLIFT PEOPLE TO HAVE THE OUT COME OF THIS ELECTION INYOUR FAVOUR TIME WILL TELL PEOPLE STAND STILL AND LET SEE WHAT NEXT.
Mujahidin you seem very angered by my sincere and honest position. The personal attack is unwarranted- I will keep the higher ground. It is rather interesting that Mujahidin is actually hinting that my comments should not be posted.
Am I to believe that unless I am Pro UWP I am not welcomed on this site. I think better of the administrator. For the records Mujarhadin I am not guided by partisanship. In fact I know Skerrit just as much as I know you- that is zip
I will reiterate that yes I believe that the Skerrit administration is corrupt. Note though that my conviction is based solely on the fact that there is way too much smoke – there must be a fire” . My opinion on the UWP administration was formulated on the same philosophy.
All I will continue to ask the web administrator is that if you can't substantiate your claims they should not be printed. What does your knowing me have to do with the price of oil.
I am yet to see the hard evidence about the UWP alleged corruption, unlike the enormous and overwhelming amount of hard evidence that is before our faces regarding Skerrit's DLP corruption. Yet you still have the guts to tell me that your opinion about the UWP was formulated on the same philosophy. Is that the kind of dishonesty that you refer to as higher ground.
Nevertheless I am happy that in your own way you have demonstrated your inability to provide any authentic evidence of UWP corruption. Talking nonsense about philosophy and too much smoke.
Balawo if you say you know the Mujahardin, do you believe that the Mujahardin fears any man? Ha ha ha. What a joke. That's how you respond to the facts, by saying that you know me. Are you sure that the smoke may be getting to your head. DONT INHALE BALAWO, SKERRIT'S SMOKE IS POISONOUS.
I have posted comments on DNO regarding corruption within the Skerrit administration. Do I believe that the garbage bin saga and fertilizer fiasco were all misgivings – absolutely. Do I believe that the election was hijacked – yes without a doubt. Do I believe that the PM is a pathological liar – sure I do. I am not hear to appease you Mujarhadin. I call it as I see it. My honest plea is for good governance- transparency and honesty and I will use every medium possible to make light of the suspecting politicians whether they be BLUE ,GREEN OR RED.
Good for you DNO keep it up. Just know that the Mujahardin will stand alone to speak out against the evil and corruption that Skerrit has perpetrated in our beautiful country. I may die in the process. I must however say the it is heartening to see people like you stand up for truth and righteousness whether BLUE, Green or Red. This means that I will always have your company.
THE MUJAHARDIN NEEDS NO APPEASEMENT. I DON'T SPEAK TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS TO BECOME A MUJAHARDIN. IT IS BECAUSE I AM A MUJAHARDIN I SPEAK TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.
A Mujahardin is a soldier of God. Lennox and his team are Mujahardins as well. You too can become one, once you remain priceless (can't be bought) and on the path of truth and righteousness.
Bisness all around Mujarhadin
Mujarhadin it is clear that your thoughts and opinions are are all based on your party affiliation andd I do respect your right to be an aligned with a political party. I am not whether you believe it or not. I call it as I see it. Mujarhadin seem so pissed off because I said that the UWP was a lso corrupt. Mujarhadin will agree that Tim Tim was accused of shady dealings even while in serving in the skerrit administration. Do you believe that he was clean during the UWP administration? What about the Shine Union deals, under table dealings the list goes on.
I am proud to declare my neutral stance on part politics – Again Skerrit has taken corruption to a higher plateau – I need not point out the blatant acts of corruption within the Labor Party -we've heard it all and I do hope that more D/cans can be honest with themselves and ultimately see the MO of Skerrit and his band of outlaws.
Mujarhadin I will keep to my game and I wont be detred by your political attack. I will do the same on the DNO site
Where is the evidence of Timothy's corruption? where is the paper trail? It is so easy to sit and talk. but as you may be seeing now it is often difficult to prove our statements. That we have done regarding Skerrit. All allegations of Skerrit's corruption have been proven many times over. Can you do likewise for the UWP please?
What is your report on the DNO site?
Mujahadin Mujahidin like I told you I will remain fair and impartial. I would rather not dwell on the corruption issue – why?- because you are now asking me for evidence. Like I said before my opinion on Skerrir Corruption and UWp corruption were all based on the old adage “Smoke without fire – too much smoke there’s got be a fire”
On the DNO issue – I am begining to have mix feelings. After you made the statement I began to look more closely at the DNO operation and sometimes it seems like they favor the Pro Labor Party blogs – 95% of which are blogs not even worth reading. I will not however declare DNO an exclusively platform of the Labor Party.
i would really like to find out how much money Anthony [An-As] Astaphan walked away with for investigating the UWPsocalled coruption?papa father wat has darken our eyes here in d/ca,An-As,campane in st.lucia, and antigua and lose big time and he just walk thru in d/ca like water someting is wrong with us look out people please look out for the next event
Where is the continuing effort to expose the Skerrit administration. Lenox and others are you guys giving up the fight. It seems like this site is weakening. We haven't heard from Lenox since the election.
Lennox is taking a break. No need to exhaust himself, everthing will fall in line.
Where is the electorate that "concered" talked about? Most of dominicans are living overseas so i guess 3million dollers to import voters from overseas is the DLP way of mobilising the electorate. It is wrong! it is wrong! it is wrong!