New Party, Expired Knowledge

In Opposition party politics in Dominica change, the more things change, the more they remain the same. Recently, a new Opposition party launched, the United Progressive Party (UPP), the country’s fifth.

            UPP is new but it has introduced no new knowledge on how to lead Dominica in any of the materials it has published so far. Also, among its senior leadership team is an overexposed former Member of Parliament and ousted Joshua Francis, who crashed out of the leadership of the Deputy Leader position of another Opposition party,  the United Workers Party (UWP).  For one, a main spokesperson of the party is Joshua Francis, the rejected Deputy political Leader of the United Workers Party (UWP).

            The trouble is, the UPP seems not to understand that reintroducing a figure like Francis who has been roundly rejected before robs a new party of best assets—its newness. Additionally, UPP seems unprepared to deliver on expectations of voters that a new party would be brimming with bold new ideas. 

            Time and time again, be it the introduction of APP or UPP, the new entrants into the political field show no deep insight into how politics is done in Dominica. 

           By contrast, Roosevelt Skerrit, leader of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) is the longest-serving Dominica Prime Minister (PM), twenty years and counting. Behind Skerrit’s success are two pieces of knowledge. One, Dominica operates a one-of-a-kind political model that is based on small size. Two, winning there calls for organizing around the power and sentiments of the people.

            I see no sign that UPP is aware of these basic facts. At the time of their launch, Skerrit was headed to the Virgin Islands to thank Dominicans there for their ‘ironclad support.’ Talk about organizing around the people!

            Too bad, even the newest Opposition Party is operating on expired knowledge.