Roseau, Dominica (TDN)
- Dominica’s prime minister, Roosevelt Skerrit has announced the pending formation of a bi-partisan post Maria consultative body to be approved by the country’s parliament.
The announcement was made at a press briefing in Roseau on Wednesday and comes after the prime minister admitted that he welcomed public pronouncements made by the Leader of the Opposition Lennox Linton following the passage of the storm.
“Although he [Linton] has not written to me directly but he appears to be constructive in his engagements,” Skerrit added.
Earlier this week Linton had lamented “the government’s laissez-faire approach to recovery and reconstruction in the housing sector.” He went on to suggest a series of measures that the government should undertake to accelerate the recovery.
Skerrit appears to be also reacting to public criticism for failing to involve Parliament and more specifically the Parliamentary Opposition directly in the country’s post disaster recovery plans.
According to Skerrit the consultative body will comprise of three members appointed on the recommendation of the government and two by the opposition United Workers Party.
Talking in general about the role of the consultative body prime minister Skerrit insisted that its main focus will be to aid in steering the recovery of Dominica post Hurricane Maria.
The country was devastated by a category 5 hurricane on September 18, 2017 and has since struggled to return to a state of normalcy. In spite of millions of dollars pledged by foreign governments and aid agencies very little of that money have reached the island.
It is expected that Parliament will meet in February to discuss and iron out the formation of the consultative body.
