The Chickens Have Come to Roost – A Call to Action for Good Governance, Democracy, Law, and Order in Dominica

The Chickens Have Come to Roost

A Call to Action for Good Governance, Democracy, Law, and Order in Dominica

Gabriel J. Christian, Esq.

( 17 December 2025)-–

Dominicans and Friends of Dominica,

I write not in anger, but in urgency—and in hope.

On the evening of December 16, 2025, I was still at my desk long after normal working hours, attending to clients’ business, when a political commentator who closely follows Dominica’s affairs called me. He asked, almost incredulously, whether I had heard the news that the Government of the United States had imposed travel restrictions on Dominica.

I told him, quite truthfully, that most days I am in court or engaged in court-related matters from morning until evening, and that I often do not catch up on the news until much later, usually after returning home. Once I paused my work and confirmed the authenticity of the announcement, memory came rushing back—bringing with it the many warnings issued over the years about misconduct, corruption, and reckless governance by Dominica’s government. Warnings that I and many others had consistently made, cautioning that this very course would lead to ruin for our island and the destruction of its good name in the world.

Credibility and Reputation

Credibility matters. Reputation matters. In personal life, in professional life, and especially in the life of a nation.

As the full implications of the news settled in—at Christmastime, no less—I found myself deeply moved, and yes, brought to tears, for our beloved island and its people. This was not triumph or vindication. It was sorrow. Sorrow for a country whose dignity has been squandered, and for a people too many of whom sought to crucify those of us who simply refused to accept what was wrong, unlawful, and corrupt—those of us who insisted on calling a spade a spade.

For decades, and with increasing alarm over the past ten years, Dominicans of conscience at home and throughout the diaspora warned that the wanton and reckless sale of Dominica’s passports, combined with rampant corruption and profiteering at the highest levels of the current regime, would inevitably lead to national crisis. Those warnings were grounded in principle: that citizenship is sacred; that governance without accountability breeds decay; and that no nation, however small, can survive the corrosion of its institutions.

The chickens have come to roost

Today, the chickens have come to roost.

We must ask a hard and unavoidable question:
Why has Dominica become an exception among Caribbean nations as target for U.S. sanctions? Why Dominica?

The answer lies not in who we are as a people, but in what has been done in our name. The United States made its reasoning explicit, stating that:

“The restrictions and limitations imposed by the Proclamation are necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose, garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws, and advance other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives.”

This is a devastating indictment of governance failure. It signals that Dominica’s systems of transparency, accountability, and cooperation have been so compromised that a major international partner can no longer reliably trust the integrity of our citizenship or official documentation.

This outcome is all the more tragic given the remarkable reputation Dominicans built over generations—as intelligent, responsible, industrious, kind, gracious, and law-abiding people. That legacy is now imperiled by a cancer in public life: profanity in political discourse, abuse of power, the coddling of drug dealers, drug abuse among our youth, and corruption excused with a wink and a nod by those who profit from it—enabled by the negligence of too many who chose comfort, silence, or personal gain over conscience.

This is not what we sought independence for in 1978. We did not struggle to free ourselves from colonial rule only to sell our citizenship on the global market or to allow international bandits to parade as representatives of Dominica abroad. Independence was meant to elevate us—to anchor discipline, dignity, and responsibility—not to cheapen sovereignty.

We know who we are. We have been guided before by leaders such as Edward Oliver LeBlanc and Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, none of whom can be accused of presiding over the destruction of Dominica’s reputation or the hollowing out of its institutions. They governed with seriousness, restraint, and respect for the rule of law.

The truth we must now face is this: no one is coming to save Dominica. Renewal, if it comes, must come from us.

This is therefore a call to action for all Dominicans—at home and abroad—to return to the hard work of rebuilding an intelligent, law-abiding, honest, industrious, and noble republic. Our towns and villages are traumatized by crime, environmental degradation, and corrupt governance. Repairing them is the responsibility of all, and especially of our young people, who must now move from the spectators’ gallery of complicity to the front lines of civic duty.

Generational responsibility

This is the test of our generation.

The chickens have come to roost. What remains is whether we will choose reform over ruin, responsibility over recklessness, and national redemption over collapse.

With resolve, and faith that Dominica can yet be restored,

Gabriel J. Christian, Esq.

Visit this link to a CaribNation TV interview with Attorney Gabriel Christian, in 2017, warning about the Dominica CIB program.

[Gabriel J, Christian, Esq., is an attorney in Maryland and is a highly-skilled veteran trial lawyer. He is deeply involved in community service, offering his time to the citizens of Maryland, business organizations, religious organizations, the school system, and the Caribbean community. He is a patriotic native of Dominica.]

©2025 — The Ward Post / Gabriel J. Christian, Esq.