Vagrants in Dominica prove to be a nuisance.

Dominica state College

Brandon Joseph

Miss Nadine Riviere

Vagrants in Dominica prove to be a nuisance.

Nowadays the problem of vagrants in Dominica is a burning issue. Many people have
been complaining for years on such an issue and how it poses a serious problem for the
reputation of our nature island. This poses a threat to many of the industries in Dominica,
which create an integral part of our national income, and affects the entire society in
general. Vagrants have a serious negative impact on the economy of Dominica, as they
pose a strain on the government and increase the dependency ratio of the country. They
also have an indirect negative impact on the tourism industry, which is currently the
islands main source of foreign exchange and a major contributor to the GDP. Labour
productivity is also hindered and thus contributes to the lack of business development
within the island. As more and more of the youth drop out of school and turn into
vagrants, both talent and skills are wasted and the economy continues to remain at a
standstill. Vagrants therefore can be seen as a serious problem within Dominica; a
problem that needs to be eradicated as soon as possible. According to Health Minister, Dr
Kenneth Darroux, who spoke at a concert held at the Acute Psychiatric Unit building of
the Princess Margaret Hospital addressing the issue, It is common knowledge and no
secret that the vagrancy situation is having a negative impact on our visitors especially
those from the cruise ships.

To begin with, vagrants seriously negatively impact the economy of Dominica, especially
where the tourism industry is concerned. The capital, Roseau, is plagued with countless
vagrants, the numbers that keep increasing by the day. Vagrants are usually very smelly
and unhygienic, and due to their regular consumption of drugs, are very unpredictable in

terms of their behavior. Tourists often see these vagrants as a threat and feel unsafe
surrounded by such people. When visitors come to Dominica they are out of their element
despite the fact that they love the island, which means that they will always have their
guards up as they are in a foreign land. Vagrants often harass and beg the tourists and
even locals, which is very annoying, and the tourists become afraid and feel threated as
they do not know what to expect from a random, drugged out, dirty stranger. There have
already been numerous cases where tourists have reported being brutally attacked or
stalked by vagrants, many cases in which their belongings have been stolen or
vandalized. This poses not only a threat to the visitors but moreover this poses a serious
menace to our tourism industry here in Dominica. This simply makes it unwelcoming to
many of the strangers who come to Dominica to spend and visit and bring others with
them, as the sight of the vagrants disgusts them. Tourists do not want to visit a country
that is socially unwelcoming and in which they feel unsafe and threatened in, but a
country where they can truly relax and enjoy the natural environment around them
without being disturbed by nagging, dirty and harassing strangers.
Additionally on several instances, vagrants have victimized tourists where they
were robbed or attacked. This leaves a bad reputation on Dominica and our society. The
large influx or vagrants in the city and other places make it very unsafe for these visitors
and word has its way of spreading and people are aware of the cases of robberies and
attacks by the vagrants. This poses a huge concern as this highly threatens our industry
and reputation. This could ultimately lead to cruise ships no longer making stops in our
island and greatly affecting our economy bringing less and les tourists into our island and
less and less money into our pockets. This can destabilize our government finances and

ultimately lead to a drop in our already dwindling economy causing people to lose jobs as
their would be no use for as many tours since the visiting population would have
dropped, also vendors on the bay front and other places such as the old market, would
have less and less people to cater to meaning they would sell less products and have a
large surplus therefore incurring a loss in their funds. This would also affect the vendors
internally at the natural sites who survive of the money that the tourists spend.
Furthermore when it comes to the economy, these vagrants have caused many
issues and can draw a pressure of economic strain, which would be a difficult wound to
heal. The vagrants living on the streets of Roseau Dominica do not have jobs therefore
causing them to be forced to live off the incomes of the working class. This affects others
as they are not employed and the issue of the people who have worked very strenuously
to earn a living have to simply take that money and give it to a hopeless individual on the
street who is most likely going to take that money and invest in the black market through
drugs. There is also social dislocation among families whose members have turned into
vagrants. These families often cannot just abandon their close relatives on the streets and
are therefore still forced to financially support these people. This causes a problem as the
money that should be invested into taxes and other national finances are now being given
to the vagrants and then put into non legally profitable market which instigates the risk of
having more vagrants on the street as more drugs are being invested into therefore more
people are exposed to the drugs causing them to, if they are not mentally stable enough,
to one day end up becoming vagrants themselves and crippling the potentials of other
who could contribute greatly to the economy of Dominica through their various skills and
talents. He drug market only draws more and more strain on the economy which is

practically fighting to stand on its feet. Vagrants are only a problem and are of no help to
the economy of Dominica, as a matter of fact it is only a help towards economic downfall
as they only create problems and assist in destroying the probable chance of building up a
stronger economy and drawing more finances into the salaries of individuals and the
building of new roads, new public facilities and educational facilities.
Not only the vagrants pose an issue of just begging and taking away physical
levies from others but they also pose a problem of vandalism and diminishing the
qualities of public places and land areas. In many cases such as the one on the bath road
near The RIC basketball court, health center prior to its renovation, the baracoon building
and many other cases, vagrants have destroyed public facilities and decreased the quality
of many public places and land marks due to their undisturbed conscience causing people
to draw a foul impression of these places and decreasing the value of these areas. The
vagrants are often found sleeping in the old market and places such as peebles park and
they leave all sorts of garbage around and a foul odor in all of these places that they are
making it unsanitary and inhabitable to other people who want to conduct commerce and
other forms of recreation. Vagrants have destroyed many public facilities such as toilets
and stand pipes causing economic strain on the government. The money, which is used to
remedy these issues, could have been placed in other capacities to draw development
however due to the problems brought about by the vagrants money has to be used to
replaced these dysfunctional items wrecked by these mentally dysfunctional individuals.
Many national and historical landmarks such as the old slave quarters The Baracoon
building for example has been vandalized by vagrants. On a regular hot day passing by
this area its as if the slaves are still residing on the interior of the building as the vagrants

have created a serious faeces and urine discharge issue for passers by, as there is a
severely malodorous waft in the area of the building and this is not welcoming to people
who would like to visit the spot, and if anyone does it is not a good reputation or
impression of the building. Moreover directly across the street from this building is the
ferry terminal which brings in visitors to Dominica and this in its self is a very poor
representation of the island as its one of the first places that you notice as it is very
flamboyantly painted and big.
Another example of such is the old market. Located in the capital city, the Old Market is
tourism hub, where visitors go to and purchase items and locals set their stalls to conduct
business. However, at night the vagrants sleep and do drugs in this area, also passing
urine and faeces, making it very unsanitary. This also takes place boldly during the day
where they urinate on the side of these areas making it very unpleasant and
uncomfortable for people there. As a result, these vagrants pose a hindrance to the
development of the old market and environs, a hot spot for both locals and foreigners
alike, disturbing the would be normal flow and business and interactions between buyers
and sellers. Any, future plans of development of the area would first have the daunting
tasking of eliminating the vagrancy problem creating an extra cost and responsibility
which would otherwise not be an issue. Many of the historical land marks and public
facilities placed by the government paid for by tax payers money are being destroyed by
these vagrants creating financial problems not only for us but for the government and
these are very unnecessary losses. Vagrants are a nuisance to society and all infrastructure
in the city and only incur more expenses and costs on the government making it much
more difficult than it should be for the upholding of national development. This problem

only hinders external investors from looking at our island as a clean place to capitalize
their money into as the vagrants are only making the place dirty and unsanitary and not
welcoming to other people who could possibly assist in our financial development.
The more vagrants that are on the streets of Dominican simply mean there are less
individuals to contribute to the labor force on island. Each person hold potential to work
and create but when one has completely lost hope and makes a decision to sit on the
highways and streets to beg and be a complete annoyance to others all of this potential is
being put to wastage. All of these people simply just live off others and lowers chances of
a country working at its full capacity. The ability to produce more goods and services and
boost the economy is lesser because of the people who are on the streets wasting away
good potential and abilities skills and talents. If the vagrants would make a complete 360
turn around then this simply mean that our labor force in Dominica would extend and we
would be put in a position to make more money as there are more workers to produce
more services in different industries, where ever he or she is skilled and talented to work
within. But as long as there are vagrants on the streets the complete opposite is taking
place, where they are begging, cursing, harassing others, threatening people and living off
the incomes of the working class. The absence of these people in the our work force
means that we will continue to work, not at full capacity, disallowing maximum profits
and encouraging diseconomies of scale for Dominica.
Dominica could be much further if the vagrants were actually being useful and working.
The upsurge of the vagrant population is becoming a grave and quickly increasing
health issue. Due to improper and unhygienic living situations and inadequate admittance
to healthcare amenities, the vagrants are exposed to several infectious illnesses. Vagrants

are mostly uneducated and make several unadvised decisions. Many vagrants use infected
syringes and needles therefore contracting diseases such as HIV and AIDS and other
communicable diseases. Also the majority have no access to condoms and other forms of
protection which means that when sexually active, they are forced to face infections
diseases. Systematic vaccination against hepatitis B virus, hepatitis A virus, influenza,
Streptococcus pneumonia, and diphtheria are not widely available especially to those who
reside on the streets and are not aware of certain heath issues, therefore making it very
probable that they will contract these illnesses and consequently spread it to other people
both within the communities and the island as a whole.
In conclusion, it can be firmly stated that vagrants pose serious negative effects on
Dominica both socially and economically. The major problem can be seen as the threat
posed to the tourist industry. Dominica strongly relies on tourism for foreign exchange
and economic growth, and cruise ship tourists make up the majority of the islands
tourists. However, this industry is being threatened through the growing number of
vagrants on the island especially in the capital, Roseau. These vagrants are a safety
hazard to the tourists and are a very unwelcoming sight to both stay-over tourists and
cruise passengers. Additionally, vagrants hinder economic growth within the island, as
much money is wasted on financing and supporting the lives of these dependents, and
labor supply is lost rather than contributing to the growth of the various industries in the
country. Furthermore, vagrants can be seen as a major source of spread diseases within
the nation and often are the reason why it becomes difficult to mitigate and properly
eradicate such diseases. Finally, the social problems which vagrants bring are endless.
They cause social disparities among families and a strain on the communities which are

forced to support them. It is therefore integral that everyone becomes aware of the
negative impacts of vagrants on our nation, and that everything in our power is done to
help mitigate and solve this serious issue.