Roosevelt Skerrit, the Honourable Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica
Roosevelt Skerrit (born June 8, 1972) is the Honourable Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Dominica as well the Member of Parliament for the Vielle Case constituency. In addition to being Prime Minister, he holds the ministerial portfolios of Finance, Planning, National Security and Overseas Nationals. Regionally, he is the Caricom Lead Head of Government with respect to Free Movement as part of the implementation of the CSME. Skerrit is an alumnus of the Dominica Grammar School. He began his college education at New Mexico State University and transfered to the University of Mississippi, from where he graduated with a BA in English and Psychology. As a high school senior he was elected 'head boy', President of the Student Council. While at New Mexico State University he was also president of the Dominica Students Association.
He was initially a member of the youth arm of the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP), the Young Freedom Movement, but became a member of the Dominica Labour Party (DLP) when he returned to Dominica from college. He was an English lecturer at the Clifton-Dupiny Community College until he was elected to parliament for the Vieille Case constituency in the February 2000 elections. He initially served as Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, and upon the death of Roosevelt Douglas he was made minister of Education, Sports and Youth affairs. As Minister of Education, he established the Dominica State College. He also led a secret mission to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Barbados, irrespective of the fact that Dominica already had diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on Taiwan.
On the death of Pierre Charles on January 6, 2004 he was nominated to be the country's prime minister and was sworn on January 8, aged 31. After becoming prime minister, he was elected as the Leader of the Dominica Labour Party. Skerrit is currently the youngest head of government in the world. In April 2004 Skerrit established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, severing relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). As part of the move Beijing agreed to give the country an aid package of over US$100,000,000. In the 2005 General Elections he retained his seat by an even wider margin and his party gained one seat in the Parliament. His party won 12 seats in the parliament and 52% of the popular vote. The DLP defeated the Edison James-led opposition United Workers' Party who won 8 seats and 44% of the popular vote. The opposition sought to criticize his age and relative inexperience, as well as pointing to the country's generally poor economic performance since the 2000 elections. The DLP response was that the poor economic performance was due to irresponsible borrowing during the UWP administration. Further, he noted the country's aid package from China and used his young age to mobilize youth voters.
Skerrit has forged a close relationship with leftist leaders Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, which has resulted in Dominica receiving substantial aid from Cuba and Venezuela. Dominica is set to play a major part in the Petrocaribe initiative; crude oil from Venezula will be stored on the island for distribution to other islands. Further, the Venezuelan government has given Dominica a US$10.1 million grant for the expansion of the Melville Hall Airport and forgiven the island nation's US$1.5 million debt to Venezuela. On February 16, 2007 Chavez paid a state visit to Roseau, rare visit by a major head of state to the island, where he inaugurated a fuel storage tank as part of the Petrocaribe initiative. Skerrit's administration agreed to join the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas. In addition, Skerrit announced that his government had agreed to the construction of a $80,000,000USD refinery on the island.
The proposed refinery has prompted criticism from some environmentalist groups that an oil refinery is inconsistent with the island's image as an eco-tourist destination.
A Caribbean Development Research Services Inc (CADRES) poll conducted between February 2nd and 5th 2007 found that Prime Minister Skerrit was the most popular leader in the country with 58% of respondents favoring his leadership.
