On line can be found at www.caribbeanaircrew-ww2.com photos of Dominicans such as Clifford Severin of Portsmouth who served in Royal Canadian Air Force training program during World War II, prior to being inducted into the Royal Air Force.
Other gallant Dominicans, such as Royal Air Force flyers Harold Cherberd Bryant, DFC (Uncle to the Armour’s of Dominica), Osmund St. Claire Alleyne (Uncle to Sir Brian Alleyne) and L.A. McCoy gave their lives over the skies of Europe, defending Britain in the battle to defeat fascism.
Our very own Dominican-born Baroness Patricia Scotland of Ashtal, the first female Attorney General of Britain since the position was established in 1315, has brought pride and joy to all Dominicans who are aware of her remarkable achievements.
Baroness Scotland, worked with us to promote our noble heritage in,:Caribbean Gloryy.
Has our government so honored her, or sought relations to so benefit the land of her birth?
We honor her, and all those whose dedication to duty, noble conduct and achievement make us all proud. That is the brand we exemplify.
Yet, the irresponsible and shameful conduct of Dominica’s government in selling passports and diplomatic positions threatens to undermine and unhinge any gloss to our image as a noble and worthy people in the eyes of the world.
Britain is now seriously considering visa restrictions on Dominica. That such visa requirements are now being contemplated is not unexpected, in consideration of the crooks who have been arrested with Dominican passports and others with diplomatic positions from the regime.
What is to prevent someone bent on terrorist conduct from using Dominica’s passport or diplomatic privileges? Dominicans are not known to have a history of terrorist conduct; can the same be said of those foreigners of ill repute who now walk around with Dominican passports as if they are bona fide Dominicans?
Grenada abolished its practice of selling passports in 2001, due to the concern that its documents could be used by terrorists and other criminals desirous of covering up their tracks. Despite that step, Canada imposed visa restrictions on Grenadians in December of that year.
In the online edition of Caribbean 360 magazine, Canada’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Peter Kent states: “We are aware of the visa issue and let me state that this has nothing to do with the relations between both countries but rather with individuals who took advantage of the economic citizenship programme,” said Minister Kent, promising to follow up on the progress of the review.
Caribbean 360 further went on to explain: That economic citizenship programme was introduced by Grenada in October 1997 to supplement government revenues. It allowed investors to acquire a legal second passport for a specified minimum investment in the local economy. However, the system came under fire from critics who said it allowed criminals to effectively adopt new legal identities for a price.
It was suspended indefinitely in 2001, with the Finance Minister at the time, Anthony Boatswain, saying it was too risky in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States. But in December of that year, Canada imposed the visa restrictions on citizens from Grenada, Dominica, Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, all of which sold passports. Before then, anybody holding a passport from one of those countries could have entered Canada without a visitor’s visa.
Dominicans are now in the “happy” company of the citizens of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu, places that most of us know little about – or have never heard about – in needing visas to visit Canada.
Our long established historical ties with Canada have been ruptured in part due to the irresponsible conduct of our governments, past and present, which engaged in the practice of selling passports.
Despite granting us a respite from looming visa restrictions in recent years, Britain is now said to reconsidering its position.
Now Britain, the land to which we owe our language, traditions in law, governance and heritage may well to disassociate from us by imposing visa restrictions. Why? The shameful conduct of our government where it has had crooks front for us as diplomats, is partly why.
That we are being now considered for visa requirements is a sad rebuke to our historic relations with Britain and is a reflection of a sordid brand that we have adopted of late. Why should our islands now become security threats and staging grounds for criminals?
Why should our people now be scrutinized as prone to criminal conduct such as money laundering, serving as drug mules, or allowing our islands to front for global criminal syndicates? Why? One would have thought that Pirates of the Caribbean was a movie, or maybe some reference to a bygone era of sea borne plunderers.
Recent events beg the question: are we capable of responsibly governing our affairs with the behavior we now abide, or with the leaders we now spotlight to the world?
We must re-brand our nation in keeping with our noble heritage rooted in the struggle for freedom and the excellence demonstrated by our noble sons and daughters. Our brand must be that of an honest, law abiding, peaceful, intelligent and competent people.
It is that brand of a peaceful and sincere people, not the profanity laced diatribes of government apologists, which will attract foreign direct investment.
Such a brand will attract many worthy persons to our shores, not the money laundering- prone casino industry and all the vice that comes with it.
All of our people, not least of all our government leaders, would do well by reading:The Marketing of Nations: A Strategic Approach to Building National Wealth, By Philip Kotler, Somkid Jatusripitak and Suvit Maesincee.
None of the nations noted, such as the Asian “Tiger” economies, built national wealth by selling passports or denying their indigenous people prideful place at the commanding heights of their economies.
In terms of control of our economy and national wealth – be it in energy or agricultural production – we are worst off today than when we were an associated state of Britain or during the 1980s.
In a world economy based on knowledge, why is our government bypassing its own indigenous knowledge-base and seeking out the criminal dreg elements of the underworld to represent our country as diplomats?
Why have we shown no respect to our many educated sons and daughters, with their far flung networks, with which to build Dominica? What is our brand? What do we want to be known for? Do we want to be known as that nation which sells passports?
The irresponsible conduct of the current Dominican regime led by Roosevelt Skerrit threatens to brand us as a rogue nation. Why? That regime has agents running around the Middle East – and other places diverse –promoting passport sales that is why. And the silence of those Dominicans who should know better, and can do better, yet fail to speak out against this practice is why our nation is sinking slowly into even more criminal conduct in high and low places.
In face of the evidence of arrests of our diplomats and sale of our passports – along with the reaction of traditional allies to these facts – regime spokesman Anthony Astaphan has the gall to ask for the “facts?”
Anthony Astaphan, as self-appointed Attorney General, Minister of National Security, Minister of Finance, Minister of Legal Affairs, Cabinet Secretary, Government Press Secretary and “Mr. Know it all” will not recognize any fact which runs critical of his master.
Let it be noted that Anthony Astaphan has no record of community development work, yet talks the loudest. When listening to his litany of excuses to excuse the inexcusable, be so guided. My people, the facts are there, where we have the courage to face up to it.
Let us demand that our government cease selling passports and diplomatic positions now! Let us demand accountability and transparency from our government – and seek to re-brand our nation for better – before it is too late.
(Source http://www.thedominican.net/2011/12/need-to-rebrand-dominica.html)
