The Ministry of Education recently launched a ‘Let’s talk’ parenting program as part of Health &Family Life Education Week. The program which was launched at the Goodwill Primary School on Tuesday evening runs January 24 – January 29 2016.
Chief Education Officer Melina Fontaine says the initiative is expected to improve communication between the home and the school while strengthening parenting skills.

Fontaine says it is important that parents understand their roles and responsibilities in the lives of their children.

Chief Education Officer Melina Fontaine

Dominica’s Opposition wants to know who was the portfolio manager for the NBD $18 Million investment that could not be verified by the independent Auditors, in a recent audit of the consolidated financial statement of the National Bank of Dominica for 2015, as released by KPMG, where an amount of over $18 million including investment securities from June 2015, was unable to be verified by them.
 
Linton said the National Bank of Dominica (NBD) is the people’s bank, despite Government’s attempt to give the impression the bank is a private entity. 

A national physical plan to serve Dominica for the next two decades is being developed. While attempts to develop a plan dates back a few years, officials say the passage of tropical storm Erika made it more urgent. Planning Minister Dr Collin McIntyre told a one-day consultation Wednesday, the national plan will provide government with a comprehensive framework for informed decision making.

Minister for Planning Dr Collin McIntyre
​
Consultant of Dylan Consulting Ltd of Canada Rorie Baksh is facilitating the workshop. He says the national physical plan for Dominica will also provide clear guidance on several aspects of the country’s economic development.

​Consultant of Dylan Consulting Ltd of Canada Rorie Baksh

LIAT, The Caribbean Airline, announced today the complete removal of fuel surcharges on all new tickets booked, effective 1st March 2016.
Chief Executive Officer David Evans said oil is now trading at a 12-year low, ending a decade of high jet fuel costs, which has impacted the price of tickets.
While the price of oil has been trending downwards, Mr. Evans explained that the effects of crude oil price reductions take some time to impact on the cost of aviation fuel.
Mr. Evans said the surge in oil prices since 2003 had turned fuel into one of LIAT’s largest costs. 

Opposition Leader Lennox Linton says while the DLP government argues that the Citizenship By Investment program is the solution to Dominica’s failing economy, he questions where are the investments which are meant to boost Dominica’s economy.
 
He says while there have been clear increases in CBI Citizenships, there are no corresponding investments that have created the jobs or foreign earnings that were promised, as a result the blatant sales of Dominica’s passports.

Linton disagrees with claims by Dominica’s UN Ambassador Vince Henderson, that the CBI Program is well managed. He questions the speed with which former Nigerian Petroleum Minister Alison Madueke was given a diplomatic passport, and very shortly thereafter, she is facing criminal charges in a UK court, notwithstanding claims by Prime Minister Skerrit that due diligence was done before she was issued a diplomatic passport.

Meanwhile, a United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) Report, having confirmed Dominica’s economy as being the most sluggish in the region, Opposition Leader Lennox Linton notes there have been no obvious efforts made by the government, to expand Dominica’s economy.
 
Linton argues that the Dominica’s drastic economic contraction was solely due to the passage of Tropical Storm Erika, which damaged several sections of the island on August 27, 2016. He contends that Dominica’s economy has been underperforming for quite some time. Linton further expressed his growing concerns about the absence of job creation in the economy.  

Dominica has officially signed an agreement with The Cuban-Venezuelan eye surgery program Mission Milagro (Miracle Mission), which provides free care for patients living in poverty, and suffering treatable blindness and other vision problems.
 
After the Agreements for Miracle Mission Dominica were signed, Minister for Health & Environment Dr. Kenneth Darroux, thanked Cuba and Venezuela for creating such a program, and allowing Dominica to participate in it.  He said over the next few months, Dominicans suffering with ophthalmologic pathologies, will be identified and treated free of charge, by specialists from Venezuela. 

The Sun Dominica Newspaper has published the following article, based on an interview with Francis Osborne Riviere, former Dominica Labour Party (DLP) Government Foreign Affairs & Trade Minister, which indicates he has “slammed his former colleagues in an exclusive interview with the Sun. Riviere said the government that he was part of has now left him to fend for himself in difficult health circumstances”. The article further stated as follows:
 
“Riviere, 83, who retired from active politics in 2005 recent underwent eye surgery in Cuba and on his return home suffered two major strokes; his speech is now impaired and his left side is partly paralyzed.
 
"When you are sick that is when you know who your friends are," Riviere said. "A man like Ambrose George who I used to assist in the Bath Estate area is yet to come see me and doesn't know if I am alive. When you have friends like that you don't need enemies. They just forget me totally.
 
"I was in the hospital when I came from Cuba and a guy next to me that I don't know at all said he expected people from the Labour Party to come visit me. I responded saying you see how it is in life…the first week that I came back from Cuba I had two strokes. I am not bothered about these guys; I don't take those things to heart because if I was I would have been dead already."
 
Riviere said he was never part of Prime Minister Skerrit's "inner circle" and he has paid the price. "I never knew that he was that type of person, selfish. Those two fellas (Skerrit and Vince Henderson) are nothing easy and bad for the country. They were in a hurry and I can tell you that it was a mistake to make him (Skerrit) Prime Minister of Dominica but I think we are better off with Skerrit as PM than Vince. It would have been worse for us…those two fellas were in a hurry in the political world. This country is lost," Riviere said.
 
A close friend of late Prime Minister Pierre Charles, Riviere said his friend "was crooked" and that he must be now moving in his grave given the allegations of corruption now being levelled at his Labour Party government. "I was very strong on the issue of corruption and so those guys did not like me. In fact, they had their little gangs in Dublanc and Bioche against me…I had it rough," he said.
 
Riviere added: "We broke diplomatic relations with Taiwan and went to China and up till now the people of the country do not know the reasons. "Skerrit is running the country via remote control. In fact, I don't even know who is running the country. I am sorry for Skerrit."
 
Describing himself as currently "a-political", Riviere disclosed that he is no longer a member of the DLP. Nonetheless, he asked for medical assistance from the government to return to Cuba for medical attention and he was told that he had to apply.
 
"I am a former government minister and that is what I was told," Riviere said. Many calls to DLP president Petter St. Jean for a response to Riviere's charges were not answered or returned”.

The Chairman of the ECCB Monetary Council, the Honourable Victor F Banks will introduce the new Governor of the ECCB, Mr Timothy N J Antoine, as the newly installed Governor, who will then have his first engagement with the regional media.
 
New Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), Mr Timothy N J Antoine, will engage media practitioners in the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU), on Monday February 1st from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm, at the Maltin Moving Conference Centre, ECCB Headquarters, in St Kitts & Nevis.
 
The event will be transmitted via videoconference to the ECCB Agency Offices. 

A report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean disclosed that Dominica’s economy was the most sluggish in the region, having contracted by 2.7% in 2015.
 
Radio Talk show host Angelo Allen believes that most people in Dominica do not read sufficiently, which makes it easy for politicians to fool them, because they will easily accept whatever politicians say to them.

Allen compared Dominica’s weekly newspaper circulation, to other Caribbean islands whose newspapers circulate daily. He stressed that many Dominicans do not enjoy reading, and that is apparent in the sale of only two local newspapers, once weekly.