In a detailed public response addressing recent claims made by prominent local commentator Kenny Green, self-styled “Philosopher-At-Large”, former Dominica Association of Industry and Commerce (DAIC) board member Yvor Nassief has laid out the full context behind his recent resignation, rejecting allegations that he orchestrated the departure of former DAIC President Olive Strachan to install Vice President Tahera Musgrave Robinson in the top role. Nassief emphasized his choice to step down was a personal, principle-driven decision, rooted in what he described as repeated institutional inaction and fecklessness under Strachan’s leadership that undermined the private sector’s core interests. At the core of Nassief’s grievances was the botched 2026 electoral voter list rollout, which confirmed that as of October 14, 2026, only 60% of the total number of voters who cast ballots in the 2019 general election were registered to participate in upcoming polls. Nassief noted that a cross-party 3-month extension to complete the voter registration process was a reasonable, widely supported request among all DAIC board members with the sole exception of Strachan, who refused to sign any formal advocacy letter on the matter. He also clarified that the letter requesting the extension was neither written nor signed by Gregor Nassief, a point Green had previously misrepresented. Nassief went on to outline three high-profile incidents that cemented his decision to resign. First, he criticized the DAIC leadership’s refusal to push back against widespread public misinformation that the government’s 2026 budget decision to end cascading VAT on excise taxes would lower prices for most basic goods – a claim Green had amplified, which Nassief said created a false public expectation that would later be weaponized to unfairly paint the private sector as greedy for failing to deliver non-existent savings. Second, Strachan declined to advocate for strict protections for AID Bank client confidentiality after the Prime Minister publicly referenced sensitive borrower data in public remarks, a move Nassief argued violated fundamental financial privacy norms. Third, Nassief raised alarm seven months prior to his resignation over an un-tendered consultancy contract awarded to a firm linked to a sitting government minister for the Saudi-funded Roseau Improvement Project, a arrangement he decried as “incestuous and plantation-style”, noting the DAIC board under Strachan refused to launch even a basic inquiry into the procurement process. Pushing back against Green’s framing of Strachan’s MBE honor from Queen Elizabeth as an unimpeachable, above-reproach credential, Nassief dismissed the argument as a relic of outdated plantation-era mentality, noting his own family had arrived in Dominica 100 years after the abolition of slavery, with his Lebanese immigrant grandfather among the first local merchants to sell affordable footwear to rural residents and extend fair credit to small rural shopkeepers, lifting living standards for communities long neglected by the old Roseau merchant class. He also called out Green, a former DAIC president himself, for remaining silent during a previous scandal where then-Tourism Minister Robbie Tonge stayed in office even after the collapse of his family-owned First Domestic insurance firm left dozens of local hoteliers unable to access payouts to rebuild storm-damaged properties. Rejecting Green’s framing of a “politically agnostic” chamber as one that avoids public confrontation with the government, Nassief argued true neutrality means advocating for private sector interests “without fear or favor” across all branches of government, opposition, and civil society, rather than burying one’s head in the sand to avoid rocking the boat. He concluded that Green’s attempt to smear his motives and discredit current DAIC leadership was “cheap and shameful”, noting that only the DAIC board and Strachan herself could explain the circumstances of her subsequent resignation, not outside commentators seeking to discredit legitimate internal governance debates.