The Youth Arm of the United Workers Party (UWP) Team Dominica has urged youths and Dominicans in general to condemn Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit and judge him to be unfit to lead the nation because of his crass verbal assault against the female UWP candidate for the St Joseph Constituency.

Mr. Skerrit, the Leader of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP), has shown a capacity to disregard his pledges and disrespect women while neglecting to apologise to those he has hurt directly, the Youth Arm said today.

The Youth Arm’s comments are in relation to remarks Skerrit made regarding Senator Monell Williams at a recent political meeting in Calibishie. Monelle Williams is a young single mother of four, one of whom died four years ago, at the tender age of one year.

Skerrit was caught on tape saying, “If I had a daughter, Ladies and Gentlemen, ….I would definitely not wish for my daughter to be a Monelle Williams….because I might end up short of a grandchild!”

It was subsequently reported that the DLP Leader, while addressing supporters at a St Joseph meeting said, “I want to say to you tonight that I withdraw that statement I made in Calibishie last week and I wish to apologize to anyone of you who was offended by the statement and I give you the assurances from hence forth you shall hear nothing like that from Roosevelt Skerrit again.”

Pointing out that the “withdrawal” of the statement appeared to be an apology to supporters instead of Ms Williams, the Youth Arm called on Mr. Skerrit to properly apologise to her and the women of Dominica.

The Youth Arm noted that this vicious attempt by Skerrit to besmirch Williams’ character came just days after the UWP and DLP signed the Code of Conduct for elections, which clearly shows that the DLP strongman and his minions were being deceitful and dishonest by embracing a code that they never intended to uphold.

The Youth Arm added that Skerrit’s conduct clearly shows that he is an unwholesome role model for youths. This is in sharp contrast to the UWP’s Leader, Lennox Linton who has upheld his pledge as stated in the Electoral Code of Conduct and who has avoided mud-slinging and gutter politics in the run-up to General Elections set for December 8.

The Youth Arm pointed out that Skerrit’s vile and baseless statement blatantly violated the Code of Conduct for national elections in which the contesting parties pledged to “avoid character assassination.”

This is no surprise to the UWP, the Youth Arm said, because the DLP’s words and actions for many years have been steeped in deception, dishonesty and utter contempt for all codes, rules, regulations and laws. They recalled Skerrit’s infamous declaration that no law and no Constitution can stop him from doing what he wants, another bad message for the youths of Dominica.

The Youth Arm asserted that the UWP and its Leader Lennox Linton, have the highest respect for the Code of Conduct for the elections and noted that Lennox Linton, as the party’s leader, had seen it fit to sign the agreement himself, unlike Skerrit who did not see it fit to do so.  They said it was instructive that the DLP leader opted to miss the signing and delegated an underling to sign the document for his party.

The Youth Arm urged youths and Dominicans in general to condemn Skerrit and judge him to be unfit to lead the nation because of his crass verbal assault against the female UWP candidate for the St Joseph Constituency.

The Youth Arm statement said that Skerrit’s perverse words about Monell Williams were nothing but another red flag that exposes his total disregard for the rule of law and his flagrant intent to spearhead his party’s abuse the electoral process in an increasingly desperate attempt to cling on to power.

The Youth Arm referred to the DLP’s expenditure of astronomical amounts of unexplained funds on an unnecessarily lavish campaign, noting that this sends the wrong message to youths. Linton, on the other hand, has undertaken a more frugal campaign based on respect and offering solutions for Dominica’s problems.

It is also clear that the DLP Leader is capable of carrying out even greater transgressions in his bid to undermine free and fair elections and usurp power again.

In light of Skerrit’s contemptuous breach of the Code of Conduct, the Youth Arm said it hopes the Electoral Commission and all right thinking citizens will be on high alert for other violations, machinations and manipulations in the DLP leader’s ruthless pursuit of power at any cost.

Meanwhile, the Dominica Christian Council (DCC) and the Dominica Association of Evangelical Churches (DAEC) Christian Council of Churches which spearheaded the Electoral Code of Conduct have expressed concerns about recent political statements made but have not condemned the specific statement made by Skerrit.