Send TT experts to Dominica

Rather than inviting Dominicans to stay here for six months, Country FirsTT lead activist Daren Mc Leod says local experts should be sent to that island to help it rebuild following Hurricane Maria.

Responding to Prime Minister Keith Rowley's announcement that government will waive immigration regulations for six months to allow Dominicans to stay in TT while their country rebuilds, Mc Leod said he has serious concerns about the long-term implications of this offer.

"The PM offering help is noble but the format he is offering it in, can open the door to confusion. Can he measure the burden that is going to be brought on us if they decide to stay beyond six months? No."

"That's the concern; not that we shouldn't help," Mc Leod explained, "but that in a country where we already have upwards of 220,000 (undocumented) people, we don't know how this invitation, if taken up, is going to further burden the State's resources."

Instead, the former Local Government Councillor is recommending that technical experts be sent for three to six months in Dominica, helping in its recovery and rebuilding efforts. "That way, we could account for how much money was spent on salaries, equipment (et etcetera). By (Rowley's) invitation, he doesn't know who's going to take it up and what it's going to cost us in the long run because some of them may never go back home."