EC14MillionForAWorldCreoleMusicFestivalPartyWhileTheNationStarves
Once again this year, the government of Dominica has allocated EC$13.4 million (USD $5 million) of our tax dollars to host the World Creole Music Festival (WCMF), an event that, after 25 years, still cannot sustain itself.
Accountability. The Government of Dominica has routinely shelled out over USD$1 million per artist to headline acts like Wizkid and Burna Boy, and this year, it is spending EC$4 million on
Vybz Kartel, lavish payouts to foreign entertainers, while Dominican citizens are left struggling to buy food, pay bills, send their children to school, or even access basic healthcare.
This is not mismanagement. It is exploitation. A government so out of touch that it throws millions at a stage show while classrooms crumble, hospital beds go empty, and our young people flee in search of opportunity. That is not national pride; it is a national disgrace.
Let that sink in: our country, which is drowning in debt, reliant on Chinese loans and international handouts, is spending 14 million on a three-day party. Meanwhile, nurses, teachers, and police officers are underpaid and leaving the workforce, and parents are being charged EC$400 to register their children for Dominica Grammar School, on top of buying uniforms and books.
Where Is The Outrage?
Skerrit stands on television and proudly announces an increase of EC$4 million more than last year, so he can overpay Vybz Kartel to appear at the WCMF, as if that is a badge of honour. In reality, it is a symbol of reckless spending and misplaced national priorities. Why are artists who contribute nothing long-term to Dominica’s economy being paid sums that could transform our education system, pay teachers a livable wage, or fund critical social programs?
And yet, some Dominicans still praise this government for doing “something great.” Great? What is great about celebrating mediocrity while the country suffers? It is bizarre on paper and outrageous in reality. This is not development. It is a distraction wrapped in glitter.
Let us be brutally honest, Dominicans are being bought off with free tickets, fooled into thinking a Labour government-sponsored concert/rally is a blessing while they spend their own hard-earned money on food, drinks, and transport, essentially giving it back to the government and propping up a broken cycle. It is not just a festival; it is a trap of political optics and public complacency.
And where is the opposition? The United Workers Party, Uniter Progressive Party and the Freedom Party – SILENT!
No one dares question this absurdity, revealing just how deep the rot of corruption and complicity runs in our institutions. This is not just politics; this is called POL-A-TRICKS, and we are all being played. Imagine what EC$14 million could do:
- Provide free schoolbooks and uniforms to every child in Dominica.
- Increase wages for essential service workers.
- Invest in agriculture, infrastructure, or youth training programs.
But instead, we are dancing in the streets for three nights while our long-term development burns in the background. Dominica, how much longer are we going to keep falling for this? Is the illusion of entertainment worth watching our country crumble? It is time to scrap the World Creole Music Festival.
After 25 years, if it can not pay for itself, then it has no business existing. Has no one realized that no reputable international businesses want to sponsor it, because they see what we refuse to admit, that it is a bad investment? Just a glossy distraction while our national potential is thrown away.
The first step toward reclaiming Dominica’s future is recognizing that we cannot afford to keep throwing away 14 million on unsustainable vanity projects. We need leadership that values education, healthcare, and economic development, not empty celebrations and overpriced performers. Dominica is not poor; it is just poorly managed. And until we stop accepting breadcrumbs disguised as blessings, we will never rise.
Where Is The Conscience Of This Government? $14 Million For A Party While Our Children Go Hungry?
The World Creole Music Festival is not an “investment,” it is a blatant insult to the struggles of our Dominican people. Here’s the cold, hard truth:
- 13.4% of Dominicans are not getting enough food every day.
- 34.4% live with moderate to severe food insecurity.
- 5.8% face severe hunger, going entire days without eating.
- In a baseline study, 34.6% of households said they had to cut children’s meal sizes because they could not afford enough food.
- 45.5% admitted their children simply were not eating enough.
- 58% could not provide a balanced meal for their children, not because they did not want to, but because they could not afford it.
So, how, in the face of all this suffering, does this government justify burning $14 million on three nights of imported performers and stage lights?
Where is the outrage? Where is the conscience?
While Dominican children go to school hungry, this government spends millions of U.S. dollars importing lower-tier foreign performers who have no relevance to our people or our culture. That is not development, that is criminal neglect disguised as “culture.” This is the brutal reality: the poor are funding the party. Every dollar spent on this festival while our children go to school on an empty stomach is a slap in the face to every mom and dad struggling to feed their family.
And the opposition? The United Workers Party, United Progressive Party and the Freedom Party are silent because they have normalized this madness!
But the Dominica Reform Party refuses to stay silent. We say: shut this waste down. Redirect those millions into school feeding programs, healthcare, teacher pay, and food security.
$14 Million Burned For Three Nights Of Entertainment While Our Schools, Hospitals, and Police Fall Apart, That Is Corruption!
For 25 years, the so-called World Creole Music Festival has been a niche event serving a narrow audience, unable to sustain itself, draining our economy, and masking failure with lights, sound, and imported acts. “World Creole?” Time to be honest again, it is not “world” anything. It is a pigeonhole event with no real international appeal that only survives off the backs of hardworking Dominicans who pay 14 million while their children’s schools fall apart.
The Dominica Labour Party and United Workers Party have no shame in throwing $14 million into three nights of noise while hospitals lack nurses, teachers are underpaid, and our police officers flee for better wages abroad. The Dominica Reform Party sees it for what it is, another vanity project funded by the people and profiting the few.
And of course, the diaspora will rush to defend this madness. They will say there is “nothing wrong with it,” that this issue is not even open for discussion. Why? Because for them, the World Creole Music Festival is a vacation perk. They fly in from abroad, see and stay with family and friends, enjoy entertainment, party for a few nights, and then return to comfortable lives overseas. For them, the cost of a VIP ticket is pocket change. Airline tickets are cheap. Hotel stays are nothing.
But for the local Dominican, this is a completely different reality. The very same Dominican whose tax dollars funded the EC$14 million is then expected to pay EC$700 for a ticket just to enter an event they already paid for. That is not culture; that is double taxation disguised as celebration. It is outrageous that locals are priced out of an event funded by their own suffering, while those who do not bear the daily consequences of poor governance get front-row seats and call it “progress.”
And let us be honest, the diaspora will not say out loud: outside of these few days of imported entertainment, Dominica offers very little because development has been neglected. That, too, is a separate but necessary discussion – one that the people who leave and return briefly do not have to confront. They get the party and leave the problems behind.
But the Dominican people do not get to leave. We live with the underfunded schools, the struggling hospitals, the unaffordable food, and the stagnant wages every single day. We are the ones paying for this illusion. So no, this is not about hating culture or music. It is about justice, priorities, and dignity. A nation cannot keep burning millions to entertain visitors while demanding sacrifice from its own people. That is not patriotism. That is exploitation.
The Dominica Reform Party will not accept this cycle. We will not be silenced by those who benefit from it while living abroad. We stand with the people who stay, who struggle, and who pay the price. Enough is enough!
The Dominica Reform Party will dismantle the outdated WCMF model and build something far greater, an annual event that attracts international audiences, fills hotels, generates real tourism dollars, and puts Dominica on the global map, not just the regional one. No more wasting public funds for private gain.
This is a wake-up call. If you are tired of recycled failure, tired of watching your money wasted while your children’s future hangs in the balance, then trust the Dominica Reform Party. Not because we ask you to blindly follow, but because right now, you do not have any better choices.
None of these other party’s see nothing wrong with wasting your money. The Dominica Reform Party sees everything wrong with it. We will prioritize our people, not the party. This is not just a policy failure by the Dominica Labour Party, but a moral collapse. Join the movement. Raise your voice. Rally behind a future that makes sense.