Qualities of a Prime Minister

In response to the call by Dominica's Minister Roosevelt Skeritt for Dominicans from all walks of life to define the qualities of a Prime Minister, permit me to comment as follows. As a student of politics, a close friend and ally of Prime Minister Dame Mary Eugenia Charles and Prime Minister VC Bird, Sr., an ardent follower of the politics of President Nelson Mandela, President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama; and as member of President Obama's Organizing for America Campaign in the last two national elections in the US, and as a leader of organizations and people all my life, I feel eminently qualified to talk on this subject.

A Prime Minister must first have inert leadership skills. True leaders are born, not made.

A Prime Minister should have a minimum of a University education at the bachelors level or better. A Prime Minister has to be able to relate to his peers from both developed and developing countries.

A prime Minister must have a high level of integrity in both public life and private life. A Prime Minister should never bring the office of Prime Minister to the gutter by disrespecting women (young and not so young) in the office of the Prime Minister of the country.

A Prime Minister must have the capacity and desire to unite the people of his country and refrain at every opportunity from dividing the people for political reasons.

A Prime Minister must want to see every citizen, every business in his country succeed and prosper and should do every thing legally possible to assist in ensuring that.

A Prime Minister should never place the interest of his political party or his personal interest above the interest of the country and its people.

A Prime Minister should see general elections as a cricket match and not as a battle and should never call on the citizens of the country to "prepare for battle and to put on amour".

A Prime Minister should work to make every citizen of his country independent in their thinking, their actions and financial means.

A Prime Minister should work hard to ensure that democratic institutions are alive and well, that free speech is practiced and protected.

It is unfortunate that in these times of the Internet, I-Phone and the I-Pad, every time I listen to the Prime Minister of Dominica, I think of ignorance and hooliganism- the despotic times of Prime Minister Patrick John. Labour Party has a skill of producing and saddling Dominicans with them.

May God have mercy on Dominica and all Dominicans.

Peter Azille, Sr.