BVI constitution should be decolonised — Troy Christopher
Former President of the BVI Chamber of Commerce and Hotel Association (BVICCHA), Troy Christopher, said there is a need for the territory’s constitution to be decolonised.
“We should have, at minimum, started to decolonise the constitution and make sure those practices that everyone has said is outdated — those things should be removed from the constitution,” Christopher said on the Umoja radio show recently.
Christopher described the unnamed practices as being blatant and argued, among other things, that the constitution expresses that the territory is interested in following democratic principles.
He also questioned whether the institution of the monarchy was conducive to achieving these principles based on its structure and said residents at some point need to take into consideration the reality of their relationship with the monarchy and determine that their situation is undemocratic.
”If you want the public to help you to understand and you want to explain to the public what is taking place, they have to truly understand what it is we are dealing with,” Christopher argued.
With the BVI remaining in a colonial structure, Christopher questioned whether residents have really and fully discussed the issue of the territory’s independence, among other things.
“To me, we haven’t really engaged in the options that are open to us in an educational format, so that when the constitution review comes… we’ve fleshed out all the areas already,” Christopher said. “Whether we can express [what we want] in a document and have it worded in a way that is called a constitution is something else.”
Christopher’s comments were made in the context of the territory’s constitutional review discussions with residents. The Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) has been holding public consultations and one-on-one meetings since October 2022.
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Let us stop all this foolish banter! There are provisions for the BVI if we want to consider independence. A referendum should be done and let the results be our guide. If the people vote for independence then we get along with it and see how it ends. As it stands, we are a Territory of the UK, that’s that! If we don’t like it then there is something to do about it but are we going to do it or just sit back playing victims? We cannot expect to remain a Territory of the UK while bashing and complaining about everything UK. If we don’t like it then get the independence movement going. If we are going to just keep talking and not do anything about it, what’s the use? It’s really annoying now.
Agreed 10000% Let’s do it and do it right this time.
Knew we have the intellectual and kowledgeable minds to stair our ship.
We have all the knowledge we need. What we missing are honesty, integrity, compassion and selflessness, hence the reason, I don’t see us changing things willingly, it has to be done by force like it is now,.
Rile up people with no specifics……Lots of words that say nothing.
I am for self-determination, but we have to know what we want, how to articulate it and the people who are trusted by the public to implement it out.
Your a** can’t even spell what ship are you going to stair the word is steer spell it right next time.
First of all we are far from independence.we have no recourses.look at most third world nations,most of them have recourses.yet majority of their population are impoverished.because of corrupted leaders.first thing we doesn’t have good leaders,no recourses,and anything that is need for an independent nation.let’s not make that mistake like our Caribbean naighbours have done in the past.don’t our leaders push us in doing so.
And you can explain to future generations why they cannot have a British Passport.
First hurricane without UK support and its all over. Nobody else coming to help you. Why should they?
Ha,haaaaaa!!! To early in the day to display a very limited thoghtless mind.
I agree with you 100%, not one of them talking has any thing to put toward the movement. A set of hot air.
99% Ideology 1% Sensible
A very small percentage of people are eligible to vote and those are the ones who have put us in this situation.
of the knowledge @ ANONYMOUS, it’s about INTEGRITY / HONESTY and the right people who is willing to work together for best for their people and in the best interest of the country , but POWER goes to some people’s mind, and thats where we are now , sharks / piranhas/ alligators / crocodiles and snakes are in the minds of some of those aristocracts ,and while those hypocrites are fighting , the people are feeling the pain ,of their inability work together as human beings
The only country do good if we go alone is China.
We will be begging china to save us an our corrupt
a** leaders will get paid off to let them control us.
Slavery
Freedom
Inter island movement
Badmindness
Corruption
Prejudice
Injustice
Corruption
Class and cultural prejudice
More corruption
COI
Mental , confused slavery
More discrimination
Is this BVI ladder to progress
Eff all this bs
All these guys coming out of the woodwork talking crap. Nobody is coming with specifics and articulating why. What are the real benefits to going independence apart from to say we are in charge and putting some big rats to rape our small cheese. There is no honesty or integrity in this ruling class. It all about what can we get while we are in charge. There is no plans or aspirations about building a nation. This reality sums up our idea of nation building. There is a pothole on Decastro street about 8inches deep. Looking into the pothole there is about 2 inches of asphalt sitting on a pile of mud. There is no base to this road so it cannot last more than a few months. Similarly, there is no base being established to act as a springboard for nation building. We just like to say we are a developed country, while we have no features of a developed country apart from the fact that we have a high GDP which is the most skewed indices of development.
Wake up from the elusive dream and do what is needed. Not one legislator talking about food production, only medical marijuana which is a sedative or tranquilizer to make people go further into a stupor, killing what pain, I don’t know. But everybody has to eat, rich and poor alike. Nobody can eat money. We need to be growing food on the farmlands. Food shortage is coming, containers will be empty one day. And all we hear about is bushcutting jobs, no food planting. All these council people in the food business not saying anything about developing the agriculture industry. This may sound like a ramble to some, but its is serious. GOOD LEADERSHIP MATTERS, THAT IS WHAT WE NEED MORE THAN INDEPENDENCE.
If you’re not eligible to vote it’s not your “situation” to be in.