Ten years after taking on the responsibility of serving as Dominica’s Prime Minister, Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit is being described as one of the most dynamic and versatile prime ministers that Dominica has ever had.
Acting Prime Minister Hon. Reginald Austrie made the observation on Wednesday January 08th, 2014 exactly ten years after Prime Minister Skerrit took up the position as the country’s Prime Minister.
In an exclusive interview with GIS News, Hon. Austrie recalls that Prime Minister Skerrit was thrust into the position of leading the country following the sudden death of Hon. Pierre Charles back in 2004.
“The circumstances under which Roosevelt Skerrit became Prime Minister are well known to everybody, because he came in as a replacement to Pierre Charles, who had died suddenly, so there was no time for preparation for that position.
“He was also very young at the time, recalled Austrie, “and while he may have been involved in local politics he was not involved on a national level.”
Prime Minister Skerrit was sworn-in to the highest political office again in 2005, when he led the Dominica Labour Party to victory at the polls.
Looking back on the performance of Roosevelt Skerrit , as Prime Minister from 2004 to present, Hon. Austrie describes it as simply exemplary.
He says Prime Minister Skerrit through his leadership, has been able to expand on many programmes and policies undertaken by his predecessors Prime Ministers Roosevelt Douglas and Pierre Charles.
“The work that Roosevelt Skerrit has done is amazing. What he was able to do was to continue the work that was started under Rosie Douglas and Pierre Charles. We can say that Roosevelt Skerrit is probably one of the most dynamic and versatile Prime Ministers that we have had in this country.”
The development of social programmes in cushioning the impact of the global financial crisis has also been identified by Hon. Austrie as a hallmark achievement of Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit.
Hon. Austrie also spoke of the major achievements that Hon. Skerrit has been able to make in advancing Dominica’s foreign policy.
“Roosevelt Skerrit realized that our traditional foreign partners was not going to be sufficient to take us through this very difficult and challenging period because we were still in austerity mode when he became prime minister and he realized that we had to think outside the box and do things differently which attracted tremendous criticisms from various circles inside and outside the country.”
“For example, his moving from Taiwan to China was heavily criticized but today even the opposition is now beginning to say that if they get into office they will do what Roosevelt Skerrit did ten years ago to establish diplomatic relations with China.”
Hon. Austrie says Dominica’s move to extend its relationship with Venezuela was also initiated by Prime Minister Skerrit.
“We have had diplomatic relations with Venezuela for over 30 years but prior to Roosevelt Skerrit becoming Prime Minister, very little was heard about that relationship and Roosevelt Skerrit as Prime Minister deepened the relationship between Venezuela and Dominica which included getting involved in Petro Caribe and ALBA.”
Hon. Austrie added that apart from strengthening ties with Venezuela and Cuba, Dominica has been able to establish relations with a number of countries around the world.
“Yes we had diplomatic relations with Cuba but we have strengthened that, we have established relations with countries like Morocco and we have seen the benefits of that and we have established relationships with over one hundred countries across the world, making Dominica a household name in the international community,” noted Austrie.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit was the youngest head of government in the world when he first took office on January 8th, 2004 at the tender age of 31. He was again sworn in as Prime Minister on December 21st, 2009 at the age of 37.
