48 COI recommendations fully implemented – Premier
The government has completed the implementation of all 48 recommendations from the 2022 Commission of Inquiry (COI) report and submitted its Self-Assessment Report to the United Kingdom government.
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley made the announcement in the House of Assembly on Thursday, saying the submission marks “another milestone in the governance transformation of the Virgin Islands”.
The Self-Assessment Report is one of four submissions required by the UK as it reviews whether to lift the Order in Council, which threatens to partially suspend the Virgin Islands Constitution. The other submissions include a final review by the Governor, input from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and feedback from the public.
“The journey of the last three years has not been an easy one. We were on the brink of erasing over one hundred years of governance progress had we allowed the recommendation for direct rule to happen,” Wheatley stated.
He said the government had taken the opportunity to push beyond the COI requirements. “In many instances, the reforms implemented extended beyond the scope of the COI Report recommendations as the government prioritised nation-building over a box-ticking exercise,” Premier Wheatley explained.
The Premier said areas like public assistance, residency and belonger status, and crown land management were addressed through longstanding plans that were integrated into the COI framework.
Dr Wheatley also credited public officers for their efforts in implementing the reforms while managing the day-to-day operations of government. “Our public officers developed and implemented the structures, processes, and procedures necessary for the reforms to be carried out and executed them whilst simultaneously managing daily operations of the public service,” he stated.
The Self-Assessment Report accompanies a Governance Reform Transition Plan, approved by Cabinet on 30 April 2025. The plan includes 17 new laws and nine major policies, along with a public education campaign on the changes.
Dr Wheatley said he expects a decision from the UK by the end of June. “The OT Minister committed during his November 2024 visit that this would be decided by 30 June 2025. It is my expectation… the Order in Council would be removed,” he asserted.
“Today is a day we should all applaud,” Premier Wheatley added. “It symbolises our collective resilience and commitment to the ideals that make us Virgin Islanders.”
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S!0wW@nde hasn’t explained how you can complete the COI and have over 300 recommendations still live re the Governor’s review of a couple weeks ago. Unless S!0wW@nde willing to capitulate on those recommendations and grant those powers to the governor in order to progress on the initial COI report. All S!0wW@nde want to do is stay in power so I don’t put that past him
will remain in suspended effect until all the recommendations in Part I June 2024 and II April 2025 of the Review of law enforcement and criminal justice bodies in the BVI are completed.
Ha Ha Ha
The alternate reality report.
So… where is my residence? I’ve applied over 30 months ago and all I keep hearing is that Immigration Dept will call me back… soon I will be here for 20yrs and still nothing…
CONGRATULATIONS on taking 3yrs to do what you should have been doing all along! Well done on having to be threatened by the UK to actually force the changes that as a government you should have proactively carried out as your duty. Now there is just the small matter of fixing the hundreds of other areas lacking in the BVI. The government are a joke here!
OH BERTHA – Ha Ha Ha – Ooh Wee
by Tafari Zharr
Oh Bertha
Don’t Gotta Sing You No More
I know I Been Away Too Long
Time For Guava Berry And Rum?
Petitioning For VG Bomba Shack Fun?
To COI In Twenty Twenty Five
To Sighs And Highs
Ohhh Weee
To Rusty Old Boots
To Buyers Beware And COI Blues
To Bothered, Blotched And Bruised
To Laid-Off Or Laid-Up
To About To Be Brought Up Or Booked
To Friends With Audacity
To Fake Jacked-Up Camaraderie
To The Happy Mix To Your Mingle
To The Jingling Feet Without Defeat
To Upbeats For The Meritorious
To Revamping Over Playing Of Hands
To Moving Up , On, And Coming Out Strong
To Comebacks Neither Braking Banks Nor Backs
To Memories, Remedies, Opposition Fracas
Xenophobia Roasting On Open Floor
Political Parties Descension and Fire
To Chapel’s Satire Replay As You Require
To Grand Encounters & Escapades
To Perpetual Patience Properly Placed
To Genuine Compromise & Peace
To Deciphering The Moral Decay Or Purity
To Seeking A Meaningful Life Not Its Lure
To Inwards Outside Of Lux and Lust
To Penetrations Beyond The Obvious
To The Incalculable Element In Existence
To No Shortages Of Touch And Love
To Justify Kissing-In-The-Wind
To Live With Laughter And Fulfillment
To Life & Everything In, Out & Between
To Unlocking Longing & Grinning
To Maniacal Egos Ergo The Thera-pute
To Forced Menus By Abject Attitudes
Gotta Appreciate VG’s Latitude
To Celebrating Lil-Willingness
To Accept Your Actions Over The Caress
To Tapping Lefthand On Right Shoulder
Swiping Leftovers
Here’s A Toast To A Definitive Goodbye
Not Mired Oversight Wink And Blink To COI
Or Limping, Lingering, Thrusting On 2025
To Giving Us What You Think We Need
Premier The Piano Lesson Is A Must See
Some Feeling Like A Sucker Again
“Ha! Ho! Ho!
Meanwhile VG remains Under Parliament
Bought And Spent
For The Power Trip Of Sowande
Constitutionally Locked In
Do You Got Him Buying Sh*t Again
Oh Bertha, Hahaha, Ohh Wee
In The Words Of Artist Michael Lizzmore
You Need Us To Hang On A Little Longer
How Much Longer And Farther
Just “Promise That You’ll wait?”
While deep down inside
You got a poem from a friend
You Must LetterDaddy Again
It’s been a long way till The End
Begin Again
Oh Uncle Charles
Copyright © 2025 By Tafari Zharr. All rights reserved.