May 05, 2022, 21:50 pm
(This post was last modified: May 06, 2022, 17:06 pm by Resurgence. Edited 1 time in total.)
Thank you to RodneyYouPlonker for the background information to this story.
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Activists in the British Virgin Islands on Monday protested against a proposal to put the overseas British territory under control of the United Kingdom, days after the BVI premier was jailed in Miami on charges of conspiring to traffic drugs.
A report released on Friday that was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth's representative to the territory said governance problems are so severe that the legislature should be suspended and the territory effectively governed from London.
That report came just a day after BVI premier Andrew Fahie and the territory's director of ports were jailed following a sting by the Drug Enforcement Administration in a major embarrassment to the United Kingdom.
Hundreds of people rallied on Monday outside the office of Governor John Rankin in the capital Road Town on the island of Tortola chanting slogans and holding signs that said "No UK rule."
"Our message to the United Kingdom government and to the world: there will be no direct rule in this land," said Luce Hodge-Smith, who has previously held positions in government and whose Facebook page says she is retired.
The rally coincided with a visit by Amanda Milling, a British member of parliament who is also Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East, to discuss the report released by the commission of inquiry.
Its report found that millions of dollars of state funds were spent each year by politicians and ministries without proper process, along with serious dishonesty in relation to sales of public property and widespread abuse of appointments.
Fahie's administration had ignored principles of good governance, witnesses had been afraid to come forward, and that "the people of the BVI have been badly served in recent years," concluded the report, which is unrelated to Fahie's arrest.
The British Virgin Islands were conquered by Great Britain in the 1600s and were for centuries the site of sugar plantations worked by slaves who were forcibly brought from Africa.
The territory of about 30,000 people gained autonomy from the United Kingdom in 1967 through its first elections and the creation of its first autonomous government.
British Virgin Islands journalist Cathy Richards is interviewed about the protests and the overall situation there by presenters of the program Smile Jamaica, Television Jamaica.
Video Published: May 5, 2022
https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/news/br...100724601/
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Related News:
UK says action needed to strengthen governance in British Virgin Islands
Published: May 5, 2022
Britain said on Thursday action was needed to strengthen the foundations of governance in the British Virgin Islands, following a visit by overseas territories minister Amanda Milling to discuss the findings of a critical report.
“It isn’t a question of whether something should be done, it is a question of what should be done, action is needed now to strengthen the foundations of the territory,” Milling said in a video on Facebook.
Last week a report into governance in the British overseas territory said it should have its constitution suspended, its elected government dissolved and effectively be ruled from London.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/05/05/uk-b...er-britain
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Plan for direct UK rule of British Virgin Islands opposed by acting premier
Published: April 30, 2022
The Foreign Office is risking a political backlash on the British Virgin Islands if it goes ahead with plans recommended by an independent commission of inquiry to impose a form of direct rule on the islands from London after allegations of maladministration and corruption.
Natalio Wheatley, the acting BVI premier elevated to the office after the former premier Andrew Fahie, 51, was arrested on drug running charges in Miami on Thursday, said he opposed the plan for direct rule for two years, with the British appointed governor taking charge and being advised by a council of local politicians.
Fahie was arrested after an undercover operation conducted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling is due to arrive at the islands shortly where she will hold talks before the Foreign Office makes a decision on direct rule next week.
Wheatley is from the same party as the former premier, but is seen as independent of him. His objections to direct rule have the support of the opposition party, so the UK must decide how to set about reform of BVI governance if the elected assembly and government retain existing powers over domestic policy.
An inquiry into corruption in the territory, led by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, whose report was hurriedly published by the Foreign Office in the immediate wake of the premier’s shock arrest, argued direct rule is necessary because the allegations of systematic rule-breaking, stretching back over one or more administrations, were so serious that time was needed for constitutional reform to be introduced, and investigations to be held into specific examples of corruption.
But the retired judge submitted his report, including this recommendation, on 4 April, with what he said was a heavy heart on the assumption that Fahie would still be in office. Arguably, his detention in a jail in Miami, along with the head of the BVI Ports Authority, Oleanvine Maynard, will weaken any Fahie allies who wished to block reforms or specific corruption investigations. Fahie, according to a DEA affidavit, had boasted he used his powers of office to protect his allies.
Fahie was also resisting plans to introduce a public register of beneficial ownership, a means of lifting the veil of secrecy over the BVI’s tax haven status. The Foreign Office believes corruption on the islands is linked more to drugs than money laundering. Yet more than half the shell companies identified in the Panama Papers are registered in the BVI, Hickinbottom’s report found.
In an address on Facebook, Wheatley said he was gravely concerned by the anchor of the Hickinbottom recommendations – the partial suspension of the constitution and direct rule by the UK for at least two years.
“What this would mean in real terms is that there would no longer be elected representatives who represent the people of the districts and the territory in the house of assembly where laws are made for our society. There would be no government ministers to advance the public priorities or a cabinet to approve a policy. All of that authority would be invested in the governor.
“The benefit of representative democracy to the public is the understanding and responsiveness of the elected representatives to their challenges and also to serve as conduits of their views, especially on reforms.”
Hickinbottom had proposed an ad hoc council be formed to advise the governor.
Wheatley said the strengthening of the system of BVI government “can be achieved without the partial or full suspension of the constitution”.
He said extraordinary powers exist under the constitution that can be exercised if necessary and, in an olive branch to London, said he recognised that the governor had a duty to ensure the security of the territory, acknowledging he has authority to mount the necessary criminal investigations.
Proposing an alternative path, Wheatley said: “What is in the best interest is an enhanced cooperation mechanism to impose the reforms under a tight timetable without resorting to direct rule.”
He said there were already signs of a better partnership between the elected cabinet and the governor, pointing to the progress BVI and the UK had made in imposing sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, the inquiry found that elected officials “can and do make decisions – which expend huge sums of public money and affect the lives of all those who live in the [British Virgin Islands] – as they wish, without applying any objective criteria, without giving any reasons and without fearing any comeback”.
The report said these decisions include matters such as procurement of contracts, selling crown land and grants of residence.
Also highlighted was the scale of police corruption; the report pointed out that in November 2020, in a single operation, the Royal Virgin Islands police force seized 2.353 tons of cocaine from the home of a serving police officer who is currently under arrest. At the time the chief of police gave his evidence to the inquiry, “the RVIPF had nine officers suspended for various offences, including not only possession with intent to supply, but also possession of an unlicensed firearm, making obscene publications, handling stolen goods and indecent assault”.
The string of islands inhabited by 35,000 people, east of Puerto Rico, operates under a 2007 constitution that gives the islands limited self-governance under a governor who is the ultimate executive authority as the representative of the Queen.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/a...ng-premier
CARICOM members ‘deeply concerned’ by Britain’s response to BVI
Published: May 4, 2022
The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping Tuesday said it is “deeply concerned” at the recommendations by a one-man Commission of Inquiry that called for the British Virgin Islands (BVI) government to cease to exist in its current format for at least two years.
In a statement, CARICOM said it has taken “note of the release on April 29, 2022, of the Report of the British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry (COI) with its far-reaching recommendations”.
It said that the BVI, a British Overseas Territory, has been an Associate Member of the grouping since July 1991.
“CARICOM supports the decision of the duly elected Government of the BVI to welcome the recommendations for improving governance and their commitment to work with the United Kingdom to address the weaknesses identified in the COI report.
“CARICOM agrees that the people of BVI and their duly elected representatives have the responsibility to ensure good governance with full transparency and accountability and should work together to achieve mutually acceptable solutions to address the concerns highlighted in the COI report,” it added.
Last Friday, Governor John Rankin said that the Commissioner, Sir Gary Hickinbottom, had recommended “a return to Ministerial Government and an elected House of Assembly as soon as practicable, with the Governor taking regular advice from the Advisory Council and others on the earliest practicable date on which such government can resume.
“Secondly, the Commissioner recommends an early and speedy review of the Constitution with the purpose of ensuring that abuses of the type he has identified do not recur, establishing a Constitution that will enable the people of the BVI to meet their aspirations, including those in respect of self-government within the context of a modern democracy.”
Rankin said overall, the Commissioner, in his report, finds that the elected government, in successive administrations, “has sought to avoid good governance” and that “in terms of governance the people of the BVI have been served very badly in recent years and that almost everywhere the principles of good governance such as openness, transparency and the rule of law are ignored”.
“He concludes that it is highly likely that serious dishonesty may have taken place across a broad range of government . . . . He makes recommendations for further investigations and possible criminal prosecution in several areas.”
The Governor said that the COI made 45 specific recommendations on how to address each of the areas of concern that his report identifies.
On Monday, people in the BVI took to the streets outside the Governor’s official residence protesting the recommendations. Their actions coincided with planned meetings involving UK Overseas Territories Minister, Amanda Milling, with local stakeholders on the COI report.
“We come here today because we are serious and we are determined you will not suspend our constitution . . . we are not going back to 1949,” said Bishop John Cline, who had organised the protest, adding “the fight is about our homes, our legacy, the fight is about our political progress, the fight is about our future.
“So let’s say to you with God’s help we will win by any means necessary we will win,” Cline said, urging London and CARICOM said it is “deeply concerned by the Report’s recommendation to suspend “those parts of the Constitution by which areas of government are assigned to elected representatives” and taking the retrograde step of restoring direct rule by the Governor in Council as existed in Her Majesty’s colonies during the colonial period.
“CARICOM supports the BVI government and people in their objection to this recommendation,” it said, adding that the “imposition of direct rule, and the history of such imposition in the Caribbean was never intended to deliver democratic governance or to be an instrument of economic and social development of our countries and peoples.
“CARICOM believes that any action to suspend the House of Assembly in the BVI and impose direct rule from London would be inconsistent with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Accordingly, CARICOM reminds the United Kingdom of its international obligations in respect of United Nations Resolution 1514 of 1960 – the United Nations Declaration on The Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.”
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/ne...ponse-bvi/
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Activists in the British Virgin Islands on Monday protested against a proposal to put the overseas British territory under control of the United Kingdom, days after the BVI premier was jailed in Miami on charges of conspiring to traffic drugs.
A report released on Friday that was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth's representative to the territory said governance problems are so severe that the legislature should be suspended and the territory effectively governed from London.
That report came just a day after BVI premier Andrew Fahie and the territory's director of ports were jailed following a sting by the Drug Enforcement Administration in a major embarrassment to the United Kingdom.
Hundreds of people rallied on Monday outside the office of Governor John Rankin in the capital Road Town on the island of Tortola chanting slogans and holding signs that said "No UK rule."
"Our message to the United Kingdom government and to the world: there will be no direct rule in this land," said Luce Hodge-Smith, who has previously held positions in government and whose Facebook page says she is retired.
The rally coincided with a visit by Amanda Milling, a British member of parliament who is also Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East, to discuss the report released by the commission of inquiry.
Its report found that millions of dollars of state funds were spent each year by politicians and ministries without proper process, along with serious dishonesty in relation to sales of public property and widespread abuse of appointments.
Fahie's administration had ignored principles of good governance, witnesses had been afraid to come forward, and that "the people of the BVI have been badly served in recent years," concluded the report, which is unrelated to Fahie's arrest.
The British Virgin Islands were conquered by Great Britain in the 1600s and were for centuries the site of sugar plantations worked by slaves who were forcibly brought from Africa.
The territory of about 30,000 people gained autonomy from the United Kingdom in 1967 through its first elections and the creation of its first autonomous government.
British Virgin Islands journalist Cathy Richards is interviewed about the protests and the overall situation there by presenters of the program Smile Jamaica, Television Jamaica.
Video Published: May 5, 2022
https://www.saltwire.com/halifax/news/br...100724601/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related News:
UK says action needed to strengthen governance in British Virgin Islands
Published: May 5, 2022
Britain said on Thursday action was needed to strengthen the foundations of governance in the British Virgin Islands, following a visit by overseas territories minister Amanda Milling to discuss the findings of a critical report.
“It isn’t a question of whether something should be done, it is a question of what should be done, action is needed now to strengthen the foundations of the territory,” Milling said in a video on Facebook.
Last week a report into governance in the British overseas territory said it should have its constitution suspended, its elected government dissolved and effectively be ruled from London.
https://www.euronews.com/2022/05/05/uk-b...er-britain
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan for direct UK rule of British Virgin Islands opposed by acting premier
Published: April 30, 2022
The Foreign Office is risking a political backlash on the British Virgin Islands if it goes ahead with plans recommended by an independent commission of inquiry to impose a form of direct rule on the islands from London after allegations of maladministration and corruption.
Natalio Wheatley, the acting BVI premier elevated to the office after the former premier Andrew Fahie, 51, was arrested on drug running charges in Miami on Thursday, said he opposed the plan for direct rule for two years, with the British appointed governor taking charge and being advised by a council of local politicians.
Fahie was arrested after an undercover operation conducted by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling is due to arrive at the islands shortly where she will hold talks before the Foreign Office makes a decision on direct rule next week.
Wheatley is from the same party as the former premier, but is seen as independent of him. His objections to direct rule have the support of the opposition party, so the UK must decide how to set about reform of BVI governance if the elected assembly and government retain existing powers over domestic policy.
An inquiry into corruption in the territory, led by Sir Gary Hickinbottom, whose report was hurriedly published by the Foreign Office in the immediate wake of the premier’s shock arrest, argued direct rule is necessary because the allegations of systematic rule-breaking, stretching back over one or more administrations, were so serious that time was needed for constitutional reform to be introduced, and investigations to be held into specific examples of corruption.
But the retired judge submitted his report, including this recommendation, on 4 April, with what he said was a heavy heart on the assumption that Fahie would still be in office. Arguably, his detention in a jail in Miami, along with the head of the BVI Ports Authority, Oleanvine Maynard, will weaken any Fahie allies who wished to block reforms or specific corruption investigations. Fahie, according to a DEA affidavit, had boasted he used his powers of office to protect his allies.
Fahie was also resisting plans to introduce a public register of beneficial ownership, a means of lifting the veil of secrecy over the BVI’s tax haven status. The Foreign Office believes corruption on the islands is linked more to drugs than money laundering. Yet more than half the shell companies identified in the Panama Papers are registered in the BVI, Hickinbottom’s report found.
In an address on Facebook, Wheatley said he was gravely concerned by the anchor of the Hickinbottom recommendations – the partial suspension of the constitution and direct rule by the UK for at least two years.
“What this would mean in real terms is that there would no longer be elected representatives who represent the people of the districts and the territory in the house of assembly where laws are made for our society. There would be no government ministers to advance the public priorities or a cabinet to approve a policy. All of that authority would be invested in the governor.
“The benefit of representative democracy to the public is the understanding and responsiveness of the elected representatives to their challenges and also to serve as conduits of their views, especially on reforms.”
Hickinbottom had proposed an ad hoc council be formed to advise the governor.
Wheatley said the strengthening of the system of BVI government “can be achieved without the partial or full suspension of the constitution”.
He said extraordinary powers exist under the constitution that can be exercised if necessary and, in an olive branch to London, said he recognised that the governor had a duty to ensure the security of the territory, acknowledging he has authority to mount the necessary criminal investigations.
Proposing an alternative path, Wheatley said: “What is in the best interest is an enhanced cooperation mechanism to impose the reforms under a tight timetable without resorting to direct rule.”
He said there were already signs of a better partnership between the elected cabinet and the governor, pointing to the progress BVI and the UK had made in imposing sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, the inquiry found that elected officials “can and do make decisions – which expend huge sums of public money and affect the lives of all those who live in the [British Virgin Islands] – as they wish, without applying any objective criteria, without giving any reasons and without fearing any comeback”.
The report said these decisions include matters such as procurement of contracts, selling crown land and grants of residence.
Also highlighted was the scale of police corruption; the report pointed out that in November 2020, in a single operation, the Royal Virgin Islands police force seized 2.353 tons of cocaine from the home of a serving police officer who is currently under arrest. At the time the chief of police gave his evidence to the inquiry, “the RVIPF had nine officers suspended for various offences, including not only possession with intent to supply, but also possession of an unlicensed firearm, making obscene publications, handling stolen goods and indecent assault”.
The string of islands inhabited by 35,000 people, east of Puerto Rico, operates under a 2007 constitution that gives the islands limited self-governance under a governor who is the ultimate executive authority as the representative of the Queen.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/a...ng-premier
CARICOM members ‘deeply concerned’ by Britain’s response to BVI
Published: May 4, 2022
The 15-member Caribbean Community (CARICOM) grouping Tuesday said it is “deeply concerned” at the recommendations by a one-man Commission of Inquiry that called for the British Virgin Islands (BVI) government to cease to exist in its current format for at least two years.
In a statement, CARICOM said it has taken “note of the release on April 29, 2022, of the Report of the British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry (COI) with its far-reaching recommendations”.
It said that the BVI, a British Overseas Territory, has been an Associate Member of the grouping since July 1991.
“CARICOM supports the decision of the duly elected Government of the BVI to welcome the recommendations for improving governance and their commitment to work with the United Kingdom to address the weaknesses identified in the COI report.
“CARICOM agrees that the people of BVI and their duly elected representatives have the responsibility to ensure good governance with full transparency and accountability and should work together to achieve mutually acceptable solutions to address the concerns highlighted in the COI report,” it added.
Last Friday, Governor John Rankin said that the Commissioner, Sir Gary Hickinbottom, had recommended “a return to Ministerial Government and an elected House of Assembly as soon as practicable, with the Governor taking regular advice from the Advisory Council and others on the earliest practicable date on which such government can resume.
“Secondly, the Commissioner recommends an early and speedy review of the Constitution with the purpose of ensuring that abuses of the type he has identified do not recur, establishing a Constitution that will enable the people of the BVI to meet their aspirations, including those in respect of self-government within the context of a modern democracy.”
Rankin said overall, the Commissioner, in his report, finds that the elected government, in successive administrations, “has sought to avoid good governance” and that “in terms of governance the people of the BVI have been served very badly in recent years and that almost everywhere the principles of good governance such as openness, transparency and the rule of law are ignored”.
“He concludes that it is highly likely that serious dishonesty may have taken place across a broad range of government . . . . He makes recommendations for further investigations and possible criminal prosecution in several areas.”
The Governor said that the COI made 45 specific recommendations on how to address each of the areas of concern that his report identifies.
On Monday, people in the BVI took to the streets outside the Governor’s official residence protesting the recommendations. Their actions coincided with planned meetings involving UK Overseas Territories Minister, Amanda Milling, with local stakeholders on the COI report.
“We come here today because we are serious and we are determined you will not suspend our constitution . . . we are not going back to 1949,” said Bishop John Cline, who had organised the protest, adding “the fight is about our homes, our legacy, the fight is about our political progress, the fight is about our future.
“So let’s say to you with God’s help we will win by any means necessary we will win,” Cline said, urging London and CARICOM said it is “deeply concerned by the Report’s recommendation to suspend “those parts of the Constitution by which areas of government are assigned to elected representatives” and taking the retrograde step of restoring direct rule by the Governor in Council as existed in Her Majesty’s colonies during the colonial period.
“CARICOM supports the BVI government and people in their objection to this recommendation,” it said, adding that the “imposition of direct rule, and the history of such imposition in the Caribbean was never intended to deliver democratic governance or to be an instrument of economic and social development of our countries and peoples.
“CARICOM believes that any action to suspend the House of Assembly in the BVI and impose direct rule from London would be inconsistent with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“Accordingly, CARICOM reminds the United Kingdom of its international obligations in respect of United Nations Resolution 1514 of 1960 – the United Nations Declaration on The Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.”
https://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/ne...ponse-bvi/