Dominican Pesident calls on Linton provide constitutional provision to remove PM

ROSEAU, Dominica, Apr 3, CMC – President Charles Savarin has called on the Opposition Leader Lennox Linton to state what constitutional provision which will allow the Head of State “lawfully to act” in removing Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit and his cabinet from office.
In a letter sent to Linton and dated March 27, Savarin said “you may wish to bring to my attention the provisions of the Constitution or any law on which you rely to make such a call on the President and more particularly, which would allow the President lawfully to act as you propose”.
In his four-page letter to President Savarin on March 9, Linton also criticised the Head of State over his address then to the nation in the wake of the unrest that followed the public meeting of the main opposition United Workers Party (UWP) and the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) calling on Skerrit’s removal from office.
Several businesses were looted and burnt and Prime Minister Skerrit said the actions were designed to remove his ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) government by force.
Linton had claimed that the UWP executive deemed Savarin’s address as “prejudicial and quasi-judicial, calculated to prejudice the minds of the Dominican citizenry against the minds against the Officers and members of the United Workers Party”.
In his response, Savarin, noted that Linton’s letter had been posted on the social media before it reached his office and that “as President of Dominica, I am available to receive and have an exchange of views with any and all Members of Parliament in a civil manner on matters affecting the governance of the State and/or of public interest.
“However, regrettably, your four-page letter is replete with accusations and allegations against the Honourable Prime Minister and the President at the end of which you call on the President to Dismiss Prime Minister Skerrit and his Cabinet from their offices in the Government of Dominica,” said Savarin, whose response was posted on the Facebook page of the Opposition Leader.
He said in the letter, Linton had also called on him to “appoint through the Constitutional process and based on agreement between the political parties and civil society organizations a government of national unity mandated to run the affairs of state for the benefit of all Dominicans; criminalize the sale of diplomatic passports and the use of diplomatic immunity privileges for criminal activity; set up a Commission of Inquiry into the operations of Dominica’s Citizenship By Investment Programme; facilitate completion of electoral reforms to ensure elections with integrity; and prepare for general elections within 12 months”.
In his letter, Linton called on savarin to “act purposefully for security, peace, progress and prosperity in our isle of beauty and its family of nations around the world”.
The opposition has been leading a campaign for the removal of Skerrit claiming that the Citizenship by Investment Programme (CIP) through which foreign investors are provided with citizenship in exchange for making a significant contribution to the socio-economic development of the island is filled with corruption.