The second attempt to get Jason Fontaine sworn-in on the LaPlaine Village council failed yesterday January 17, 2019. That was the second attempt in two months. The sole reason being that government nominated (unelected) walked out of the meeting and deliberately created the lack of a quorum.
Meanwhile, a call made at about 2:30 pm yesterday by the Chairman of the Dominica Association of Local Community Authorities (DALCA), Yolande Jno Jules, for the La Plaine Village Council to allow Councilor-elect Jason Fontaine to take his oath and resolve the situation, fell on death airs. On December 13, 2018 two members of the La Plaine Village Council walked out of a statutory council meeting preventing Fontaine from being sworn in. This was the first statutory meeting of the council since the October 1, 2018 by-election which Fontaine won. The departure of the two members left the council without a quorum resulting in Fontaine being unable to take his oath as a Councilor as required by law. Jno Jules said, attention must be given to the implementation of Local Government Reforms which is long outstanding in Dominica, in order to get some councilors and councils under control. He added that “The only thing that can help solve problems, for instance, like the situation in the east presently, where people are walking out when a meeting is called for one councilor to take his oath, is the implementation of the local government reform which will take care of anybody who will be contesting or who is intending to contest a village council elections.” Jno Jules continued, “there is nothing preventing anybody that commits an offense, who spent time in prison, or has been charged with an offence, from running for a village council election, and if the villagers vote for him he must take his oath”. He indicated that the only other solution is to dissolve the whole council, “and Jason Fontaine may jolly well contest again, and win.”
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