CEO finally appointed for recovery agency
Paul Bayley. (Photo Credit: Fiji Sun Online)
A Chief Executive Officer for the Recovery and Development Agency (RDA) has finally been appointed – completing the full list of persons who will sit on the RDA.
The board of directors for the RDA appointed Paul Bayley to the post recently. Bayley has been described as a development expert who has worked as a civil servant, military officer, and investment banker.
He is said to have worked in his field across several nations such as the Fiji Islands, England, New Zealand, Australia, and sections of Africa.
“He has experience as a permanent secretary in Fiji [and] led the recovery after a category-five cyclone devastated those islands [back in 2016],” said Premier Smith on Thursday at a joint press conference with Governor Augustus Jaspert and RDA Deputy Chairman, Clarence Faulkner.
Bayley – who is slated to arrive in the territory within a month – will be responsible for spearheading the RDA’s five-year mandate to manage the portion of the territory’s recovery process set out in government’s recovery plan.
According to Premier Dr D Orlando Smith, the RDA is working on behalf of government.
Dr Smith told journalists the government would have the final say if any potential disagreements arise between local government and the RDA.
Deputy Chairman Faulkner said though the Agency is accountable to government, it is still “independent of government and will execute its mandate accordingly”.
“Let me be clear, the RDA does not promote, intend, or wish to be a second government,” he added.
The Agency’s recovery mandate is expected to be a task costing more than one billion dollars.
Premier Smith has said government has sought financing from other banks besides the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which already has loaned some $65 million to the BVI for recovery. The Premier did not disclose the names of those other banks.
“There have been discussions with world banks but we have to get the arrangement with the guarantee from the United Kingdom before they can be finalised,” he said.
The full list of the RDA’s Board of Directors is as follows:
Paul Bayley – CEO
Robert Mathavious – Chairman
Clarence Faulkner – Deputy Chair
Maria Mays – Governor’s representative
Clyde Lettsome – private sector representative
Pastor Gregory George – representative for the sister islands
David Hancock – UK’s representative
Sharie DeCastro – youth representative
Monica La Bennett – CDB representative
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
no wonder the action man don’t want to seek reelection
U kidding, right !
Here comes the great white hope
What does white have to do with it. He has experience recovering island nations from storm devestation. The fact that you focus on color and not qualifications shows…
better great white hope to clean up big brown mess..
So 9 folks will make up the RDA.
The CEO is Mr. Bayley. The board comprises the Managing Director of Financial Services, a banker from the NBVI, the Guv’s Policy Officer, an employee of Oil Nut Bay(retired after 28 years with BVI gov), a real estate agent, a UK engineer, a youth and a banker from the CDB.
So it appears that 6 or 7 members of the board have full time jobs elsewhere so I guess they won’t need a salary or any form of compensation from the RDA. Hopefully these individuals will have enough ‘free time’ to perform their RDA board members responsibilities while maintaining their current careers.
a white horse looking over the black donkeys
What frustrates me is that they say he is arriving “next month”. So by the time he gets here and this body starts actually doing any kind of work, it will nearly be one full year since Hurricane Irma. We still have no High School, no Post Office, ports are dysfunctional, roads are a disaster, Airport still broke, ferry ports are even more broke.
What has everyone been doing all of this time? Do we not have a Ministry of Communications and Works?
So lets rush and f**k things up just because it looks good? It took Cayman 5 yrs to fully recover from Ivan, Grenada as well. While alot more should have been done the BVI doesnt look the worst after 1 year. Lets be patient and let the process work. Every single thing that has been rushed since Irma has been a total failure.
Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across.
And to present, they are still trying to recover. Persons are still homeless in Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina.
We were hit with a Category, Plus, Plus hurricane.
We will overcome this, just not so soon.
Agree
The count down start now 5 4 3 2 1. England’ is in the Building oh No !!!
LET US ALL TELL THE NDP THAT WE ARE NO LONGER QUALIFIED TO VOTE FOR THEM
lets hope he doesn’t emulate the government as we actually want some positive results for a change.He appears to have the experience needed and hopefully will be someone who delivers rather than just empty talk and promises in vain….
SMH strupes, here come dem white boy dem, what a ting boy
Why do we even need a recovery agency when we have not ideantified any significant recovery funding? All we have is a UK loan guarantee that one could argue we already implicitly had as “British” Virgin Islands. And realistically we have few viable options to borrow significant funds considering the primary pillar of our economy was recently undermined by the same UK imposing a beneficial ownership registry on our Territory. So exactly why do we need what is effectively financial oversight board to manage our “recovery and development”. Seems we gave up our economic sovereignty for absolutely nothing.
The UK is backing the lending so any default will be on the UK shoulders hence the agency. Stop being stupid for all to see! The UK as the backer wants the framework in place before approving the borrowing which is the sensible thing to do. The cowboy f**kry is over, lets get this place looking like a 1st world Territory.
The agency is required to keep hurricane recovery money out of the hands of local politicians who have demonstrated they are completely corrupt.
So if any loans were planned to go direct to govt. the people/businesses/institutions in a position to lend simply would not lend – because a quick glance at history shows that BVI governments are all about grafting money and hiding it away for the minister, and the next person down the chain, and the next and the next – all the way to the bottom where some low paid Santo Domingan gets paid almost nothing but is expected to turn a blind eye to some part of the job being done badly or not at all.
Corruption in these islands is epidemic and the only people that don’t think its a bad thing are BVIslanders and those others who just want a piece of every dollar.
RDA, we hope, watches every cent and gets us the results we need.
Always playing mickey mouse games when responding or giving infornation to the public
I completely agree with Curious George why are we still implementing this agency or even considering the UK loan guarantee when our primary econcomic pillar is being aggressively eroded, by the same source. Weren’t we told that the BVI was not accepting that loan guarantee and by extension no longer required the agency that was a condition attached to the guarantee? Why are we doing this??? What was the point of the march??? Are we standing by anything??? Or is it just talk?? Rhethoric?
Do you know what a loan guarantee is? Do a bit of research then come back and read your comment.
Give us your idea as to where govt will get over 200mil that is needed NOW without laying off civil servants, raising taxes etc. Do tell, we are waiting. One thing that is evident is that not one person who is against the agency and loan guarantee has put forward a workable alternative so in other words we should just fold up and die with our pride intact.
I thought Broderick Penn say this was his job. I guess the rest didn’t get the memo
And this agency work will cost 1 billion dollars? Did I misunderstand? For the administration of $400 millions UK loan? If true, somewhere the mathematics don’t work.
The RDA is a pimp slap for the NDP; it is a vote of no confidence. Essentially, itNDP) is a failed government. The UK accomplished what the Hon Fahie could not even get support for to bring to the floor, ie, vote of no confidence. The question is why is the RDA needed when there is a local government? The UK guaranteeing £400M is not the need seen for the RDA. It is poor financial stewardship and failed fiduciary responsibility. It is waste of taxpayers $$$$. It is poor leadership. It is lack of experience in effective financial management. And so on.
Now, there are 3 governments in the VI: RDA, Guv Office, and a wobbly local government . Is the NDP government embarrassed? It should be. Can it be trusted again with managing the people’s business? Have it earned the strikes to be re-elected? That is up to the voters. A teachable moment in VI politics. Let’s learn from it.