The Skerrit Era —Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit Dominates Dominica Politics Making Edison James A Political Footnote

If the period 2004-2025 in the Commonwealth of Dominica were to be named after the political figure who dominated it in politics, it would be called ‘The Skerrit Era.’

All Skerrit’s wins came against and at the expense of one political party, really—the  United Workers Party (UWP), with Edison James serving as either front seat or back seat driver.

Then Prime Minister James’s ruling UWP tried to recruit Skerrit as its candidate for Vieille Case in the 2000 general election but lost him to the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) of Rosie Douglas. James crashed Dominica’s economy and lost the general elections. On the way, he left his Elected Representative for Vieille Case out of Cabinet, after denying her a key request, the Blenheim to Vieille Case Road. That move put Skerrit in Cabinet. When Skerrit took over Prime Minister mid-term in 2004, he was chosen as the antidote to James.

Opposition Leader James would facilitate Skerrit lasting long by failing to win the 2005 general election, Skerrit’s first. Skerrit won 12 seats.  

Next, James would again enable Skerrit winning the 2009 general election, Skerrit’s second, by dividing his UWP when he picked Earl Williams as his successor. Skerrit welcomed UWP’s Deputy Leader Julius Timothy into his Cabinet. Williams fell mid-term, exposing James’s inadequate due diligence process and leaving Ron Green, the successor to Williams not enough time to prepare to challenge Skerrit, who won 18 seats to UWP’s 3.

In 2013, James pitchforked political novice and talk show host Lennox Linton into UWP Political Leader. Once again, James failed to do proper due diligence on his protégé. Linton was a high school dropout. Important because Linton used his talk show to taunt deceased Prime Minister Pierre Charles about not having higher education. In 2014, Linton lost to Skerrit but doubled Workers’ haul of seats to 6.

Hurricane Maria devastated Dominica in 2017. In 2018, for the second time, Skerrit invited a UWP Representative into his Cabinet. Joseph Isaac had bolted to protest the Party’s lack of patriotism. It helped to swing the 2019 general election Skerrit’s way, reducing UWP’s haul of seats back to 3.

On September 30, 2022, Lennox Linton abruptly resigned as UWP Political Leader with immediate effect, leaving UWP headless. Skerrit snapped the 2022 general election three years early. UWP boycotted the polls, ceding Skerrit his biggest win ever, 19 seats. With so much election space to maneuver, Skerrit started transitioning his successors into office for 2025.

No name has been cast in stone yet to inherit Skerrit’s DLP and the Prime Minister chair but what is written is that Edison James will forever be the footnote to Skerrit’s dominance.