Prime Minister Skerrit Flirts with Dictatorship Attempting to Jail His Opponents

In recent times, Dominicans have witnessed the lengths to which Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was prepared to go to frustrate and possibly jail his opponents. Nowhere was that more evident than in the way he dealt with opposition members taking part in peaceful electoral reform protests.

In March 2025, the Electoral Reform Coalition (ERC) agreed on protest action on the day that Parliament was scheduled to pass watered down electoral reform legislation. Days before the protest Prime Minister Skerrit announced that he had instructed his security minister Rayburn Blackmoore to put the Regional Security Service (RSS) on standby to intervene.

This plan was thwarted when the Leader of the United Workers Party (UWP) wrote to the Chairman of CARICOM Prime minister Mia Motley denouncing the action and suggesting that any deployment by the RSS “will be viewed as a hostile act, a direct attack on the peaceful people of this country, and a challenge to our fundamental right to peaceful protest.”

The security services backed down and refrained from sending foreign troops into Dominica. However, on 19^th March local police forces dressed in military fatigues were deployed around the Parliament building. Hundreds of protesters from around the island descended on the capital Roseau.

After some mild jockeying over riot barriers the Police in a completely unprovoked manner attacked the protestors and opened fire with live ammunition and tear gas. A few individuals were hurt in the process, but none were fatally.

But it is the actions that followed that proved the dictatorial tendencies of Roosevelt Skerrit and clearly revealed his true intentions. Over the next several days, Police summarily rounded up 25 protestors including the Political leader of the UWP, Dr Thomson Fontaine and attorney Ronald Charles who was involved in representing earlier detainees. 

Some of the protestors spent several days in jail before being granted bail. Since March, the accused have made three court appearances and each time the cases have been adjourned, raising serious questions of due process and the willingness to circumvent the rule of law to squash dissent in Dominica.

Meanwhile, the Inter American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) sent a very strong letter to the government of Dominica over the high handed actions of the Dominica Police and expressed concerns over the electoral reform process in Dominica.

“The IACHR calls on the Commonwealth of Dominica to respect the principles of democratic participation and to end the targeting and criminalization of citizens exercising their rights to assembly and to participate in public demonstrations,” it said.

The March 2025 events were just the latest in Prime Minister Skerrit’s unrelenting attempts to jail the leadership of the main opposition party in Dominica. In February 2017 following a peaceful protest organized by the opposition calling for the resignation of the Prime Minister, several opposition leaders were arrested, and charged with incitement which carried a jail term of at least seven years.

This included the UWP leader at the time Lennox Linton, former Prime Minister Edison James and the current political leader Dr Thomson Fontaine. After eight torturous years of court appearances, a high court judge eventually threw out the charges, finding them to be wholly without merit, and ordering a permanent stay on prosecuting those accused. 

This included the UWP leader at the time Lennox Linton, former Prime Minister Edison James and the current political leader Dr Thomson Fontaine. After eight torturous years of court appearances, a high court judge eventually threw out the charges, finding them to be wholly without merit, and ordering a permanent stay on prosecuting those accused.