BVI being punished for its success — Flax-Charles
Junior Minister for Trade & Economic Development, Shereen Flax-Charles, has said she believes the BVI is a victim of its own success and suggests that the territory needs to work hard at finding ways of overcoming this challenge.
Speaking in the House of Assembly recently, Flax-Charles said: “We have to find a way and be innovative in how we we deal with the successes that we’ve had over the years.”
Legislators were at the time debating the extension of the government’s reduction in Customs duties offered as a result of the rising cost of goods and services, largely due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The junior minister pointed to what was seen as an unusual increase in the rates paid to international artistes who perform at the BVI’s annual Emancipation celebrations. She said the rates that those same artistes are paid for similar performances in other countries in the region are much lower. This, Flax-Charles indicated, is just one example of the ‘success curse’.
The issue of victimisation, Flax-Charles contended, is also reflected in the international aid that the territory receives as well.
“We speak about what happens in the other countries where they’re getting billions of dollars in aid. We again are being punished for being successful,” the Territorial At-Large Representative stated.
“We are a victim of our success,” she continued, “so, all of those grants and so forth that are being handed out throughout the entire Caribbean — and many of them in the millions of pounds from the very UK — we unfortunately are not eligible.”
The first-term legislator also expressed the belief that the public needs to be educated about what is taking place and how this victimisation is affecting the territory.
Flax-Charles also commented on the major increase in electricity bills currently seen in the territory and argued that even though the government has reduced levies on some imports, some of those savings are not being passed on to the consumers as a result of the other challenges that are being faced.
Easy to demonise businesses
In the meantime, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said it was easy to demonise businesses, but they too do not have it easy at this time.
With entrepreneurship embedded in the territory’s DNA, Premier Wheatley said the government, businesses, and consumers must all find a way to work together for the best life possible.
“We have lots of external factors which impact the cost of goods and services, but we have persons who are intelligent enough to come together and to take actions in our own best interest,” the Premier said.
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We are being punished because we allowed our legislators and public service to hand out the money that the people should have rightfully had in reserve for times like these available to them to their family and friends. We have been successful. That’s not why we are being punished. We are being punished because we have squandered our success. No outside force is punishing us. We have punished ourselves.
Perhaps you should ask your premier why his grandfather turned the aid away but allowed all of you to waste the billions in revenue on yourselfs
You punishing that ONE wig,sis.
They charge us more than others – um maybe because we book last minute and they get better treatment that is more orgainsed in advance elsewhere? You cam always not book them.
Hey UK please give us some grants….ohh wait BVI has a higher GPD per capita than the UK….
Smart lady…great to see some intelligence in the BVI ministers
BVI on paper is filthy rich and has been for about 25yrs, problem is that the bvi.gov.vg is as capable of running a country as a goat is driving a car
The first stage of grief is denial. Let’s move forward towards acceptance. We need leaders who can envision a new tomorrow and led us with confidence towards a drug free, corruption free, and demon free future. Amen.
ah, success is a curse is it ? So that will explain why she has done her best to make us unsuccessful.
What is this woman doing in a senior government job?
That is a very disrespectful comment but people like you serve our leaders who want to give away the country right. The BVI like many other countries including the USA and UK has had some very bad leadership for the last recent years. If you were local you wouldn’t have used that as your comment name.
But whoever you are and wherever you’re from keep living in your false world and mind games to make the Local believe that he can’t run the very country he built. A country that was declared a bird sanctuary that everybody now wants.
Always the victim … Complaining now that we are too successful to get hand outs?
Look at where the money has been wasted, how bad decisions have cost us and why past and present legislators are so wealthy.
We are only victimised by our own!
What success?
Why is food so much cheaper down in St Maarten? This has always been true. Some companies are making millions from their supermarkets. Oh, I know and that is why they can buy up other businesses. . .
World Food Programme has arrived in the BVI and they are out taking digital information on how hungry the BVI is, I can hardly wait for their BVI numbers to be published right next to the poorest African countries.
Why is this government bringing all these UN people to run, (read that ruin), the BVI? WHO rules us over quackzines and now WFP is going to solve our hunger problem, when Social Security could just pay a living amount to those who paid in. OH, wait the government, Slow and all took 45 million from SS and gave it to fishers, farmers and those who called themselves such but no one knew the truth. . .
The UN is evil, and we do not need them here in the BVI, if you think the UK is a threat, well think again about the UN controlling the BVI, they want to control the world. And our Unity govt is giving away the country to them on a silver platter.
This is what Flax-Charles said, We are a victim of our success,” she continued, “so, all of those grants and so forth that are being handed out throughout the entire Caribbean — and many of them in the millions of pounds from the very UK — we unfortunately are not eligible. Flax-Charles we are not eligible because we were better off than those countries the UK knew this but every Government we put in has use the money like its there own. You should be a shame to bring that up. All of you are the same.
The first-term legislator also expressed the belief that the public needs to be educated about what is taking place and how this victimization is affecting the territory. Don’t fool yourself the public knows what is going on, one thing for sure we dont need any education from the Government.
Sa**n woman that wears that black suit like man in black !! Go sit down. That wig sis ! Get rid of it .
Believe me, nobody wants the BVI. It would cost a fortune to turn this place into the ‘paradise’ that you all so wrongly think it is. The infrastructure is crumbling and this place would turn into another Haiti if it wasn’t for the finance industry. Good luck turning things around. All the sensible expats are leaving.
Racist?
Believe me, it wasn’t a Haiti before the financial services and we are resilient people who will survive. And as bad as it is we are a solid to average performing Government away to turn things around unlike wherever you are from that has so many social ills and negative practices not even a billion dollars injected in your economy can turn it around.
So go and take your lies and mind-controlling comments about nobody wanting the Jewel of the Caribbean who has provided jobs and light for many in the region and the world.
BVI being punished for too much young successful drug dealers flaunting their ill begotten fortunes.
Another aspect to this is that the people spending the government money do not seem to grasp the concept of VALUE FOR MONEY. They don’t fight for the best prices because it isn’t their money they’re spending. In any private business that attitude would lead to dismissal… but with the government it seems to lead to promotion….
you and other puppets agreed to everything your master said and you still trying to play holy ?,maybe our make up affecting your brain ?/ a lot of people thought you would brought some INTEGRITY to the party , but the OPPOSITE is correct
How on earth can you quantify how hungry a country is? You can work out how much food there is for how many people but being hungry is an emotion you cannot quantify. It’s like saying you can count grief.
All that money wasted on festival debauchery and not one science fair to encourage the youth to come up with a project on sargassum, renewable energy and information technology.
Two uncomfortable facts about this “success”:
– One – the financial services and tourism sectors were largely built by expatriates from all over, despite the incompetent government bureaucracy and inefficient or totally lacking infrastructure in the country. Successive governments have only spent and squandered the money that others generated;
– Two – You turned down aid offered after Irma because you were too proud and because you wanted to skim funds off the top for yourselves. Now your sins of pride and greed have come home to roost.
ALL of the members of this House of Assembly need to go and let honest people from the country instill good governance again.
This territory is a rat infested sewer, you have destroyed what should be a tropical paradise. This ain’t no post card.
If everyone in the BVI who has a big name was blacklisted things would change immediatley.
Being one of the names is a free pass for corruption.
The names don’t care why the nameless are poor.
Exactly
We spend our own money so stupidly why should anybody give us grants to also squander stupidly is best they keep it and do something useful for themselves with it; complete the damn COI recommendations and put in consumer protection and freedom of information. Make it a little harder to squander public funds in the bvi first then talk about grants.
It’s so unfortunate, billionaires don’t qualify for government assistance grants. Oh how we suffer!
So much discrimination against us rich, white, males.
What about us billionaires? We didn’t qualify for Covid relief or farming aid! We are being victimized! Rich, white men are being discriminated against, just for the crime of being rich, and white, and men! We should organize a march, now!
if you have nothing to say just keep quiet
Natural. NOT A WIG
It’s not a wig. Natural is best