The Cut & Thrust
Dr. Philbert Aaron
On January 8, 2019, Prime Minister (PM) Roosevelt Skerrit will become the first Dominica PM ever to complete fifteen years in office, sealing his position as the longest-serving PM in Dominica’s history. Skerrit became PM on January 8, 2004. Before Skerrit, Mary Eugenia Charles became PM on July 21, 1980 and retired on June 14, 1995—five weeks shy of fifteen years.
It’s hard to become Dominica PM and harder still to stay in the saddle. Only two PMs of seven have been re-elected—Skerrit and M. E. Charles. Longest time served is a marker of persistence in office. So, why has Skerrit endured so well in office?
A big part of the explanation is Skerrit’s approach to PM. Skerrit sees PM as a “job” and actually calls it a “job.” Hearing Skerrit call PM a “job” was one of my biggest shocks working with him for ten years. Turns out, calling PM a “job” is revealing. It tells that Skerrit knows political leadership to be a learned behavior. That sets him apart from Dominican political culture, hence my shock.
Dominicans look at political power and political leadership mechanistically. They don’t see them as socially constructed. They don’t see political leadership as learnable. It is probably why Dominica has a nursing school, a teacher’s college, and a police academy to prepare nurses, teachers, and police officers. Yet, nowhere is political or any other type of leadership taught in Dominica’s schools—at any level.
In 2011, I was elected the Spokesperson for Skerrit’s ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP). Before me, Skerrit’s defenders had four leitmotifs. One, God sent Skerrit to deliver Dominica from crisis—the Dominica Moses. Two, how handsome Skerrit was. Three, how kind Skerrit was—Skerrit cares. And, four, how great a leader he is. At the time I was voted DLP Spokesperson, I already held an operational job in Skerrit’s Government—Ambassador. For ten years (2008-2018), I sat in an office three doors down from the PM’s.
I noticed that in Dominicans’ understanding, all PMs were equal. Former UWP Elected Representative Joseph Isaac even contended that Dominica’s first PM, Patrick John had been more popular than Skerrit. Fact: at John’s peak, in 1975, Premier John had received 49% of the popular votes and sixteen of twenty-one parliamentary seats. At Skerrit’s peak, in 2009, Skerrit had attracted 61% of the popular votes and eighteen of twenty-one seats. No contest!
I pointed out the distinction in Dominica’s only two multiple-term PMs. I published more than three hundred articles in The Chronicle newspaper and appeared on hundreds of radio and television programs, explaining, promoting, and defending Skerrit as distinctive. I made this contribution to Dominica political knowledge: All PMs are not equal: their performance varies. On January 8, 2019, Skerrit will reach a historic milestone in terms of time on the job.
During my tenure working in the DLP government, I wanted to understand why, in Dominica, two PMs could be re-elected twice while five other incumbents were never re-elected. Previously, I had been a professor of curriculum. Curriculum’s fundamental questions are: Who is taught? What? When? Where? Why? And, How? I re-focused those questions from teaching to learning and from school subjects to Dominica prime ministerial leadership. I studied how a civilian learns to be Dominica PM.
Remember Skerrit calling PM a ‘job?’ It became a clue to Skerrit’s distinction. Here’s why. The average employee is scared of losing his job and obsessed about pleasing his boss. Well, so, too, is PM Skerrit. Except that his bosses are the voters. So, the last thing on his mind at night and the first thing in the morning is pleasing voters. Importantly, it is Skerrit’s political learning that makes him see PM as a job.
Specifically, Skerrit learned that both power and political leadership are socially constructed. This implied that political leadership could be learned. In Dominica, the place for learning to lead? On the job; not in school, or as Skerrit would say, not “in theory.” It is on the job that Skerrit learned that Dominican voters prefer close political relations with their leaders rather than aloof leadership. Consequently, they quickly dismiss a regime such as PM Oliver Seraphin’s and PM Edison James’ for being out of touch and PM Patrick John’s for being high-handed.
Pleasing Dominican voters requires knowing them intimately. This is especially so because Dominican prime ministerial leadership is driven not so much by large economic development projects but by outreach to individuals and families and symbolism. This changes what it means to represent people politically. Per Skerrit, to lead people, you must first love them. Consequently, Skerrit leads navigationally.
He learned to take ‘direction and control’ as minute-to-minute decision-making. An apt analogy is the bus driver who takes control of the steering wheel, directing the bus, avoiding potholes, collision with other vehicles, and most importantly pedestrians, thereby delivering his passengers safely to their destination.
Skerrit learned this so well. One of the main reasons I found is that political leadership is activated in Dominica first in families, in political parties, and trade unions. Skerrit, for example, was adopted by his maternal aunt’s family. They were political activists whose activities ignited in young Skerrit a passion for public affairs.
Skerrit would later be elected his high school’s Head Boy. Head Boy Skerrit even led the entire student population of the Dominica Grammar School to walk out of classes and into the streets of the capital, Roseau to protest unhealthy fumes from a nearby grapefruit juice-canning factory. There, already, on display was Skerrit’s charisma as well as his penchant for bold political action that is triggered by personal reasons.
Further, on becoming PM on January 8, 2004, three qualities emerged in Skerrit that help him to maintain voter support. One is emotional intelligence, specifically, an ability to keep calm under pressure or provocation. PM John lost power by losing his cool. Two, is unswerving focus. By M. E. Charles’ third term, Press Advisor Parry Bellot published a warning that administration had pulled her Government away from politics. Not Skerrit! Three, even as a boy, Skerrit showed strong empathy, raiding the family pantry to serve up to his needy friends. Close political relations are emotionally taxing to leaders. However, both emotional intelligence and focus will see a leader through.
Finally, time on the task: with so much opportunity to learn political leadership resulting from practicing leadership from so early in life, it is not surprising that Skerrit would develop into the second youngest Dominica Elected Representative ever, at age 27; youngest PM in the world in 2004, at age 31; and on January 8, 2019, Dominica’s longest-serving PM, at age 46!
Dr. Philbert Aaron was Dominica’s Ambassador to Venezuela, National Coordinator of ALBA, and Dominica Labour Party Spokesperson. He is a Scholar of Leadership and a wonk in how civilians learn to be Dominica Prime Minister
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