Cabinet waives tender process for Premier’s Special Advisers
Cabinet has now confirmed that it will continue with the policy of having Special Ministerial Advisers for the Premier and has waived the tender process for two such advisors on the way to achieving this.
This information was disclosed in a June 15 post-Cabinet meeting statement that was released yesterday.
According to the statement, the Cabinet agreed to waive the tender process and award new contracts to both Mr Sunil Ramjitsingh doing business as Moksha Consulting, and Mr Kevin Smith doing business as K Carlisle.
The contracts are retroactive from May 6 and are each valued at $120,000 per year.
The Cabinet statement further noted that this move to extend the tenure of the Special Advisers was further to a policy decision taken on July 8, 2021 under the former Andrew Fahie-led Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration.
According to the Cabinet statement, the approved contracts set out the overall terms and responsibilities for the contractors and were sent to be vetted by the Attorney General’s Chambers before they were signed.
While the move to appoint Special Advisers in government had previously been widely criticized by members of the public, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has repeatedly defended the hiring of such advisors suggesting that it should not be viewed by the public as anything extraordinary.
COI found no issue with Advisors
Premier Wheatley also indicated recently that under his administration, the post of political advisors will not be disbanded.
And while responding to questions at a recent press briefing, Dr Wheatley pointed out that the recently released Commission of Inquiry (COI) report found no issue with the post.
“In fact, the United Kingdom, their ministers have Special Advisers. It’s standard practice in the United Kingdom and we are going to continue to have Special Advisors to assist with the very strenuous work and voluminous work that exists in the Premier‘s office and throughout government,” Dr Wheatley stated at the time.
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When is election?
Some things will never change. It’s in their genes and cannot be changed. Such a vile and reprehensible people.
People don’t be mad. The boy needs to hire people that can read and write for him. Where exactly did Slow Andy get his PhD? … Just hope he hired Non Belongers otherwise same s**t. Governor isn’t this in direct violation of the agreement Slow Andy signed with the UK. Enough of this c**p. Governor throw them all in jail and take over. Everyone knows they aren’t going to meet the time frames. This is a slow and agonizing death and the good people of the BVI taking the brunt of this madness.
How dumb are they?
Same sh** different day.
Sick and tired of this nonsense and waste of money.
Sunil bring VIP to power and then write all them great speeches with F*T A****T telling us what “Your Government…” was doing for us. Same s**t, same day, groundhog day. Nothing changing in BVI – SlowAndy will make sure of that.
Same ish different day
The student has surpassed the master
as long as c s c isn’t one of them
Didn’t they just push legislation restricting this or frowning on this??????
Unity Government has to go. But why should we expect anything different? It is the same buffoons conducting business.
Are you reading this nonsense? They will NOT LEARN until properly punished for their criminal activities. Contract >100K should always be tendered!
Governor Rankin was sitting at the table when this was approved.
and the unity government continues to wave the same flag that the VIP was waiving
different day
AND THE BEAT GOES ON
These guys are somethingelse. A little power and they lose their minds. More of the same. Unreal.
Makes sense. Ever leader has advisors and that shouldn’t be part of tender especially for those who advise well and already have the position. It just has to be made public.
So stupid they still don’t understand, keep doing the same
These fools just beggin for the british to com tek over.
So in the end, the people you elect need an Advisor to make the important decisions
that you elected them to do in the first place. Maybe we should just elect the Advisors and cut out the middlemen.
SMDH…
The only problem is that the Advisors aren’t Belongers. They are actual smart people that can read and write. That’s why they being hired.
Yes so the former premier first brought the issue to the table and yes the CoI had no issue with it. But- there is a thing called common sense and logic. Look at where we are. Schools crumbling, people out here suffering and the nonsense spending continue. How much advisement do you need from non advisors right now. They will advise youall to do what.
This united un-united government just like the past VIP government and its leader, calling for prayers but keep missing the answer to the prayers. Like we need another prayer meeting just to ask for wisdom for you guys.
The government seem to have money for what they want to have money for. Go right ahead
These two advisors were already working for the Premier’s Office. They only had to do this because the Premier changed and so does the actual contracts.
Should they really be retained based on the value of the advice given to the previous Premier? Or was he with one accord with Oscar Wilde who said “The only thing to do with good advice is pass it on. It’s never of any use to oneself”.
They are not practicing what they are preaching
He is only taking advice from his brother
This is share bulls**t.The only and most honrst advisers these assholes need is we the people.Come to us with open forums lets meet halfway with our ideas as a people going forward.Dont come with.halfbake ideas then try to force feed us.We who put you there come to us feel what we are feeling lets dialogue .UK PLS COME THIS IS PURE BS.
Not learning anything are you! Things in my beloved territory just aren’t going to change without the UK taking over.
Mr Governor, please jus5 make the recommendation needed. We suffering far too long!!!!
Is it that the Permanent Secretaries, Attorney General, Auditor General etc are unqualified, or is this an extra perk for them and or the chosen few? SOLUTION=No Square Pins or Pegs in Round Holes.(Practical Experience coupled with Book Sense)
what the actual f@#$k?
Time for election. This so called leader is placing us the people straight into what Britain wants to do to us.
So these incompetent and co**upt politicians are getting their co**upt deals in just before the CoI deadline against such deals, which they agreed to. The hypocrisy of these people is stunning. Get rid of them all!
Did any of these advisors help him with his COI recommendations-implementation-proposal to the UK?
I keep asking why run for elections if you know you cannot do the job. Foolishness. So we vote you into office for you to have an advisor. Is best we had vote for those advisors cause is them running the country. And some of them running it straight into the ground. Do the job you were selected and paid to do.
The governor was sitting at the table when this was approved.
The beat goes on. No Wonder The UK in our Craw.