There are many issues in Dominica that are not addressed by the current administration, according to economist Dr. Thomson Fontaine.
Dr. Fontaine has suggested that there are no plans or desire to address these issues affecting the country’s citizens.
He has compared the Grenada and Antigua and Barbuda governments with what obtains on the part of the Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit-led Governing Dominica Labour Party.
Dr. Fontaine contends that there are no signs of decisions on the increase of prices on fuel or even the challenges small business owners are facing.
“It’s almost like there is no plan, it’s almost like there is no desire to do anything,” he stated on the ‘Workers Voice’ program on Thursday evening on Q95. “I mean, you talk about the lack of a stimulus, of just focus. I mean there is so much happening now, with the COVID pandemic, with the Russian/Ukrainian war, events that can seriously undermine whatever little resources the people of Dominica have at their disposal. But I get the sense that there is no type of effort to deal with it and to plan through. If you compare the approach of this government with, for example, that of the Antiguan government or even the Grenada government, you can see that they are actively thinking of how they can cushion the blow to the consumer.”
He continued, “I don’t hear discussion for example about what is going to happen of the price of fuel continues to rise, I don’t see discussions about what is going to happen if small businesses continue to suffer the way that they are suffering. There are a number of small businesses in Dominica that are barely surviving. How do you at least give them that ability to go through and to survive this perioud, so that they can thrive later on?”
Dr. Fontaine is also Economic Consultant to the Government of South Sudan.
