Donaldson R E Romeo

Donaldson Romeo known to many as “Premier Romeo” was born January 13, 1962 in the village of Salem, Montserrat. He comes from a family of staunch Christian faith and socially conscious business, with a background in Business, Activism/Journalism and Art. As a teenager, he and his siblings worked in the family-owned Romeo’s Hardware business that was started by his father Donald. Premier Romeo is the father of five children, four boys and one girl, and is married to Alicia Fenton Romeo.

Premier Romeo is an alumnus of the Salem Primary and Montserrat Secondary Schools (MSS). At age 16, after completing Cambridge O Level exams at MSS, he moved overseas to attend George School, a Quaker boarding high school in Pennsylvania, where he graduated at age 18 and thereafter enrolled at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. As fate would have it, in his second year of Temple University’s pre-med/dental programme, Donaldson returned to Montserrat to run the family business to assist his father who was battling cancer.

After two successful years in the hardware business, Premier Romeo moved to the UK to continue his education and also became a Portrait Artist in London’s urban scene. It was in London that Premier Romeo had his first involvement in politics after receiving a deportation order. In challenging the deportation order, Premier Romeo won the support of the UK’s most prominent MPs at all ends of the political spectrum, from Ken Livingston on the Labour Left to John Carlisle on the Conservative Right. He took to the streets with a video camera, collecting interviews and supportive letters in support of his case from other street artists, night club owners, journalists, radio personalities, his Natwest Bank manager and the curator of the National Portrait gallery.

Distraught at the horrible conditions of volcano evacuees in shelters, while still playing a major role with the family business, Premier Romeo took on and led the fight with the local and British government to support fellow Montserratians in the shelters. Using his past political experience in London, as well as his art and business background, Premier Romeo became a film and media journalist and social activist. He played a major role as an advocate for less fortunate Montserratians, sometimes negotiating directly with British representatives for better housing and increased financial aid and other assistance for those most impacted by the volcano crisis. In one instance, his brief but effective proposal won the first million dollars for replacement housing. Premier Romeo’s passionate and unrelenting involvement eventually led him to officially run for political office in Montserrat.

In 2009, Premier Romeo was elected as an independent member of the Montserrat legislature nand eventually became leader of the Opposition. His accomplishments as leader of Opposition were the creation of the Opposition Office, increasing welfare benefits, prioritizing housing for hundreds of evacuees, and highlighting Montserratian’s rights as British citizens. He eventually led the new People’s Democratic Movement (“PDM”) to a successful win in the 2014 General Elections, and became Premier of Montserrat.

Under his leadership, Premier Romeo and his administration obtained an unprecedented EC$ 100 million CIPREG economy rebuilding programme, plus an additional EC$ 100 million of UKCIF and EU funded projects. The EC$ 200 million worth of projects include the long awaited hospital, sea port and breakwater, undersea fiber optic cable, airport tower and improvement, design for housing programme, solar energy, tourism and other projects.

As Premier, Donaldson Romeo brought Montserrat squarely to the UN table where he made strong arguments for a renewed, more timely and fair level of delivery of UK aid to Montserrat through his many statements before the UN Assembly, UN Committee of Twenty-Four on Decolonization and the UN General Assembly 4th Committee.

He concluded his five-year term as Premier, with his most landmark and potentially revolutionary achievement — in October 2019, he made the cardinal request that after the UN’s December 2019 field visit to Montserrat, the UN C24 and Fourth Committees work with the UK and the Government of Montserrat to establish a framework, a timeline and funded action programme for the full decolonization of
Montserrat.