In 2008, after public announcements in the media that he was not interested in a second term as President, Nicholas Liverpool concluded arrangements with Roosevelt Skerrit for a fat pay increase while public officers continued to struggle for measly increases on the order of 3%. His salary and allowances were increased by 50%; his gratuity was increased by 152%; and his pension was increased by 102%. He also secured an arrangement for the state to purchase at an exorbitant price, land he acquired at a peppercorn rate in the Emerald Pool area many moons ago. And then, just like that, Nicholas Liverpool was back on the job, not to bring honesty and integrity to his responsibilities as chief custodian of our Constitution, but to do the political bidding of a man young enough to be his grand son.
In appreciation of his willingness to abuse the office of President for his personal, political gain, he is being chauffered around in a half a million dollar, state of the art BMW luxury sedan while the National Hospital is short of everyday medication. The state house will undergo a 10 million dollar refurbishment under his watch while the National Library (just across the street from the President’s residence) remains the most disgraceful excuse for such a facility anywhere in the civilized world.
If you think any of this matters to Nicholas Liverpool, think again.
In 2009, this man advised the members of the House of Assembly that vacating the seat of a member “would not simply be a matter for Parliament to decide even if the member had missed the required number of sittings in the circumstances laid down in the Standing Orders”. He reminded them that specific jurisdiction to determine issues of membership validity had been conferred on the High Court. Yet, less than one year later, with no decision of Parliament to vacate the seats of the members for Marigot and Salisbury and with no constitutionally authorized declaration that the seats are vacant, Nicholas Liverpool dutifully accepts Skerrit’s request to issue writs for bye-elections in both constituencies.
Just a few days earlier he deceived the Opposition Members by agreeing to make representation to Skerrit so that the state would meet the cost of having the High Court determine, in the public interest, the issues that had arisen with respect to the vacating of seats. But he gave Skerrit a completely different story. When his trickery was exposed, he wrote to the Opposition Members telling them that since they were not happy with the results of the meeting he had set up with Skerrit, he could be of no further assistance to them.
Nicholas Liverpool knows that on June 21st, 2010 – Nomination Day for the Bye-Elections on July 9th, 2010 – neither Bentley Royer of Salisbury nor Dayton Baptiste of Marigot were qualified to contest the Bye- Elections because they had not yet resigned their Senate positions as required by the Constitution. In other words, the Labour Party had a problem. Nomination day had arrived and the Labour Party candidates for the Bye-Elections were still Senators and therefore not qualified to contest. They were summoned to the President’s office where Nicholas Liverpool agreed to issue instruments of revocation effective June 18th, 2010 even though according to Liverpool’s signed official documents, the revocations were “GIVEN under my hand and the Public Seal of the Commonwealth of Dominica at the President’s Office, Morne Bruce, this twenty first day of June, 2010″.
In another act of trickery and deception, he references in the instruments of revocation, separate letters from both Labour Party Senators dated June 18th, 2010 indicating their intention to resign on the same day June 18th, 2010. There is no indication that either gentleman actually resigned. Indeed, common sense dictates that if these letters exist at all, they were written after June 18th and back dated accordingly. Even so, Nicholas Liverpool, who, as President, has absolutely no constitutional authority to receive any letter of resignation from any Senator makes the startling disclosure that “as a consequence” of letters to him indicating an intention to resign, the Prime Minister advised him to revoke the Senatorial appointments.
Section 119 of the Constitution spells out in plain simple English, how a Senator resigns. He or she simply writes a letter of resignation and gives it to the Speaker or if the Speaker is absent, the Deputy Speaker or if both the Speaker and deputy Speaker are absent, the Clerk of the House. The resignation takes effect when it is received by any of these constitutional authorities.
If the Labour Party Senators had intended to resign on June 18th, 2010 they could have done so by just simply following the resignation procedure provided by the Constitution. The fact that they did not do so and had to be summoned to the President’s Office first thing on Nomination Day for possible rectification of their qualification status, plunged Nicholas Liverpool headlong once again into the disgrace of abusing the office of President for his private benefit and the political gain of Skerrit’s Labour Party.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
These actions have placed a stain on the office of president that are impossible to erase, basically it is an act of treason against the costitution, when folk of whatever rank act in spurious ways there is always a hiddeen reason "who has what info on who'm" this is so serious it will leave the office of president tarnished for years, what is it I ask that an institution alike indepdendant officeof the president is bullied into such an invidious position, it has to be bullied as it confounds common sence and insults the inteligence of right thinking people.
people are the enemies of themslves and this is so easliy proven that this ignorance in the basic realities of common sence will be the downfall just wait and see, rank, power,and political alegience will count for nothing, actions speak louder than words, and these actions will finish them, who ever advised such garbage that they believed that Dominicans would accept without question are ill advised, never disgrace the office you are about to accept for you may be assured it will never disgrace you, can Liverpool before God and man say that tje answwer in NO
It just shows the complete disregard this present regime have the country's Constitution!
Dominicans wake up before you are stripped of your god given rights & stand up to what
seem to be a dictatorship in the making and take back control of the country!!!
The President, i believe, was supposed to boos tthe image and integrity of the Grand bay people,
raise the status of the village of Grandbay and the hopes of all small villages or communities that one day someone from any little village can be president too, but alas Mr Liverpool lack the moral fibre, the consciousness, the integrity and the self respect we all thought he had based on the acholades laid upon him when he was introduced to the public. therefore I suggest we Dominicans one and all must stop looking for high qualities in high places, just like we diid in appointing the IPO commission. It is with this awareness in mind that i beg to nominate for president in favor of Grand bay, the man UNICEF. and on the IPO, the man BLESSINGS/ let us stop standing on our heads and looking for different results from the same actions.
The problem is the system of goverment and the power of the Prime Minister. There are no checks and balances like an Executive Branch or an Independant Judiciary, or an Independant Parliament. Really speaking Dominica's system of government is in fact a sham democracy, where the members of the Vielle Casse constituiency nominated Skerrit the labour party paying mebers appointed him party chief and a few thousand people (say 75% of the electorate of the constituency) made him Prime Minister. In his position he has ultimate power and like Patrick John it will go to his head and things will get much worse (just anothe egomaniac know it all like most politicians. Liverpool has no power he is pupit that can be replaced on a whim by Skerrit. You need to change the system of goverment to one more like the one in France or Israel.
That is truer (not true) democracy.
scratch my back.ill scratch yours.