Oct 22, 2017
Is he the right man for the job? On Monday Oct 16th 2017, in his address to Dominica, Mr. Skerrit spent a significant portion of his speech introducing Dominicans to another Advisor. This person, who is referred to as his 'Special Economic Adviser' on the recovery of Dominica, is Mr. Avinash Persuad. This, another external advisor, is supposed to serve as "principal of external funding and economic strategy". What exactly does that mean? Who knows? How is that type of expertise going to help Dominica at this time? Does Mr. Persuad have any track record of involvement in Development Economics? Mr. Persuad has an extensive resume. However, the only practical project that is available for public review, is the Four Seasons project in Barbados where he was hired to try to get external funding for the failing project; he failed miserably. He was unable to secure external funding for the Four Seasons Project and encouraged the Barbadian government to fund the project with millions of dollars from their pension fund INS.
Dominica needs a committee of experts at this time, rather than a one-man wrecking ball. This committee has to hit the ground running; there is no time for learning on the fly. Such committee will need to provide some security to a people who may have to face more storms in 8 months. No one disputes that Mr. Persuad has extensive theoretical experience in Finances. But, the rebuilding of Dominica is an entirely different entity as compared with financing a single project? He failed at the latter and a similar outcome is likely with his involvement in rebuilding Dominica. This massive project will not fit into Avinash's amphigory.
We've seen this movie before. Baroness Scotland promised to raise millions of dollars to assist with rebuilding following the passage of Tropical Storm Erika and the damage it caused in Dominica. To this day we have no record of any funds being raised.
Mr. Persuad is 'big money' and he certainly knows that there will be money flowing into Dominica; these funds are neither his nor Skerrit's. All Dominica needs is a big-time, fast-talker to spoil Dominica's already tarnished image. Or, maybe he senses a liquidation project, seeing that he is an expert in liquidating companies. Is he going to liquidate Dominica and share the spoils with the Labor Party? 'Avi' definitely does not have the expertise to lead the massive effort needed to rebuild Dominica. Time to go back to the drawing board.
