Accepting COI report was a big mistake
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has posited that the initial acceptance of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report has opened the door for the UK to label the BVI government corrupt and publish damning reports such as the new review of local law enforcement agencies.
Last week, all elected leaders used their time in the House of Assembly to reject the report which identified corruption in BVI’s law enforcement bodies and suggested that key offices be placed under the governor’s purview.
While issuing his rejection of the assertions in the UK document, Walwyn said Britain was only able to craft such a negative report because the BVI leadership accepted the COI report that was handed down in 2022. That report labelled the territory corrupt and threatened to take power away from local leaders if its recommendations weren’t enacted.
At that time, the government and opposition members of the House formed a unity government with Dr Natalio Wheatley as the Premier. They agreed to implement the UK’s recommendations.
But according to Walwyn, that was the first mistake.
He said leaders should have sought help from legal experts in the Caribbean, who could have helped them to understand the future implications.
“But we accepted the recommendations without reading them, without understanding the ramifications,” Walwyn bemoaned. “Was it that we were too happy to hold on to premiership and leadership that we didn’t have the courage to stand up? That was when the courage was needed to say no, we won’t accept your report,” the Sixth District representative said.
He said the recent UK review of law enforcement agencies that has offended many, was created pursuant to recommendations of the COI. And he said any rejection of the new report is simply futile because the damage was already done when the COI recommendations were embraced.
“So we have this report now and we’re getting a heart attack but the reality is our utterances would make absolutely no difference. So what we’re doing is an exercise in futility as far as I’m concerned,” Walwyn further explained.
No widespread crime here
Walwyn also rejected the report’s assertion that the BVI is a hotbed for serious crimes, adding that the territory’s problems are similar to those that regional neighbours face.
“I must not know where I live. Maybe something is wrong with me. I walk about and every pan knock I’m there. Where is this widespread corruption and serious organised crime? Unless they are doing it and I don’t see,” Walwyn argued.
He added that the UK’s report has the potential to hurt the territory’s tourism, which is known as the second major pillar of the economy.
All elected leaders and some sections of the public have rejected the UK’s new report. However, it’s unclear what actions may be taken if the territory fails to implement the report’s recommendations.
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Voting for fu+*y man was a big mistake
Thank God for the same fu**y man to help us out the mess we in. If it wasn’t for him to read through those bills and highlight the traps I don’t know where we would have been. But of course you ain’t watching that because you are too filled with hate and jealousy.
Unfortunately, there are members of the BVI government who are corrupt
So name them and specify the actual corrution. Actual Corrution usually end in convictions, where are the conviction and people being locked up?This is merely guilt by insinuation nothing more . And the UK knows that , it understands that it can say something without actually saying and and achieve the result it is looking for.
Natalio in his haste to become Premier accepted the recommendations without understanding their implications. He just wanted to be Premier.
The HOA should have been dissolved and people returned the polls to decide who they want. Now look at the mess that we are in.
But the political elites and their enablers are corrupt! It’s noted in the COI and is plain to see by the common man. Facts are facts – all the people are asking you to do is change and put our country first!
Now humble yourself and let’s get our country to where it should be!
So everbody got one head now that their cookies being threatened lol this country mehson
Where is the report that the government contracted and paid a deposit on?
Opposition ayo sleeping.
It was a major mistake. They are waiting for something major to happen again to put us under their control. Just wait.
The BVI was in a great negotiating position at the time.
Not only had we had a whole series of really dreadful examples of corruption and maladministration covered in detail and very effectively by Higginbottom and Rawat; we had just had Fahie and the Director of Ports arrested for conspiring to help Hezbollah import cocaine.
Sl**ande must have had those Brits right where he wanted them! It’s astonishing the constitution wasn’t suspended. How bad does it have to get?