Every senior gov’t post must be held by a local under new constitution
One major change that will be included in the upcoming review of the Virgin Islands Constitution will be that all senior government posts must be held by a local.
Premier Andrew Fahie made that abundantly clear while addressing the House of Assembly on Tuesday, June 23.
“It ain’t only the post of AG (Attorney General) going in there as a Virgin Islander. Every single post that we have that is a senior post; that has to be attached to it. The Financial Secretary, the Controller of Customs, Immigration, Commissioner of Police — all of those senior posts have to have inside of it that it must be a Virgin Islander,” the Premier said.
In cases where there are no qualified locals available to sit in a senior post, Fahie said the revised constitution will have provisos mandating that the first Virgin Islander who qualifies must get the job when the incumbent expat’s contract ends.
Multiple senior posts such as the Commissioner of Police, the Superintendent of Prison, the Chief Environmental Health Officer are all occupied by non-Virgin Islanders. Up till recently, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the CEO of the BVI Health Services were non-locals.
The constitutional review
The constitutional review, in the meantime, is to be led by a Constitutional Review Commission, which will be implemented upon approval from the House of Assembly.
The nine-member commission is expected to host public forums to garner feedback then submit a report to Cabinet six months after commencement.
Upon completion of the constitutional review, it will be presented to the United Kingdom government. Cabinet only decided to move forward with the review this month.
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Doomed.- This should read ALL jobs should go to the most qualified, experienced, educated individuals so the country can make transparent, forward thinking, non bias decisions with a proper economy, infrastructure and standard of living for all residents not just Belongers.
And the BVI has qualified, experienced, educated locals. So this should be a non-issue. Right?
I don’t normally agree with this corrupt VIP regime. But he is not wrong in doing this. However, the contradicting fact remains that the BVI has a high nepotism rate due to locals being highly related to each other. This can lead to corruption without any need for a bribe.
You sound so stupid about corrupt VIP regime. Unlike the NDP that behavior never have shown its ugly head in the VIP government so talk facts.
In your country as well. Those who live in glass houses should throw stones!
No worry , we recruit taxi men and bush men in those positions, take back VI to 1820s , Worst decision
Yup. Couldn’t have said it any better. But…in the racist BVI there is no room for outsiders unless they are treated like slaves. It’s sad to see what’s happening. Our only hope is that the Belonger numbers dwindle down to where there are only a few. Let’s hope
Racists will always call you a racist when you identify their racism.
To love yourself now – is a form of racism. We are the only people who are criticized for loving and looking out ourselves.
And. some people think when you love yourself you hate them. No, when we love ourselves you become irrelevant to us.
lol.. Virgin Islanders racists i wonder who thought them to be racists. Maybe it was on that long boat ride a couple years ago.. take a seat bro.. its only right the government try to make provision for all the students they have overseas.. aint our fault you were selling while the boats were shipping humans.. now you want play a race card because your great great forgot they would have grand kids coming to the same islands they only used for monetary gain.. which you still benefit from.. and you got the guts to call us racist because we are trying to accomplish a goal set before us from the examples of real racist…
Plenty of those overseas do not born here they born in the US. So i hope fahie just who born here and not tola so called last names. Since most of them born in the US countries.
Truth is this a small place you cant have everyone from all around the world come in, an make the BVI community culture & citizens second class in their own country.
Majority of the population is not local which is even more reason for the BVI to enact such polices to preserve the interest of the people especially now considering many persons benefited from the fast track belongership initiative.
The BVI Belongs to BVIslanders. At least it’s supposed to.
Which country does that??
Now this is a premier with vision. Should have been in the constitution before but better late than never. Great move mr premier. You have to put your people first. I remembered a few yrs back i went to my homeland to visit and talking with a lady in a bank she said oh we just got a new CFO so i asked her where is that person from forgetting i wasn’t in the bvi.she said to me what do you mean where is he from. Do ypu expect him to be from somewhere else than here. I said sorry i forget i wasn’t in the British virgin islands. Please mr premier look out for these beautiful virgin islanders.
Only problem is that them will still give the job to whoever in their party. Half the time they not qualified. So another local who really qualified still will not get the top job. So still a huge problem and this government famous for putting people in position who have no qualifications. Just look at all the boards! Airport, Port, Tourism, college not none of them have qualified people on the board. Just vip supporters.
The cronyism is real. There are qualified people here. However, the non-qualified cronies who get the managing positions are afraid to hire them or give them positions that match their competency levels. So round and round we go on this jolly ole carousel, not getting anywhere. This place is nothing more than a cartel at best; at worst, it’s a travesty.
Sounds Great!!!!!
Continue talking f**t….
I with you
YAAAYYYY!
Finally!
BVIslanders, FFIRSSTT!!
YAAYYY!!
Is a racist term. So is Down-island people. Anyone registering this?
What does belongership or nationality have to do with the color of a person’s skin. Y’all does be talking out the anus.
What way you different from trump
This place too small to have local Police Comm. I agree in principle to promote our own, but police?
Its obvious a BVI Comm would have all kinds of calls, favours coming to him from family members, people he or she has known for their entire life to show mercy on those prosecuted. We need the law to apply to all our citizens equally and having a BVI Police Comm is a recipe for disaster and a watering down of justice for all
@ don’t include Police Commissioner: the BVI has one of the smallest population compared to other overseas territory of the UK and independent Caribbean countries. Are you saying that only a white Commissioner from the UK is qualified to be the COP of my British Virgin Islands? What the h**l I hearing hear. We need a qualified born BVIslander to fill that post. As a BVIslander I am unapologetic for stating that we need qualified nationals in these positions.
He said nothing about a white commissioner from the UK. He said not a local, period, and gave his reasons.
not white, not black, not brown or yellow – this is not the point. A qualified Top Cop who has little ties in BVI is what we need. All must agree this is by far the best way to go – it’s a no brainer!
you dont have to tell these moomoos dont include commissioner of police, the uk will never entertain them on that, but fahie talking like we have a new constitution, the uk will never allow what he asking for, waste of time, the uk own the bvi, what they says goes.
its not about race – read my post and stop being racist! We all want to help out those we know and love and being the top cop is no different. It happens all through the world. Its not what you know its who you know and we all know each other or have connections in a 28k population. To fight crime, which is paramount for our territory, we must have the law as a foundation and leave no cracks for corruption to filter in
Fam take a seat you trying tell me a man will sell out his own family, his own neighborhood and everything else for a few dollars???.. sounds like this man can be from anywhere.. a foreigner might do this s**t quicker if you ask me.. if money was the motive from the start
Actually its the other way around look at how many cases involving Government that is swept under the rug. Tolians don’t cover for each other so easily.
Whenever you all get in your corner you talk about how locals does fight down each other. But when you come out with anything to say you say we coverup for each other and we should not hold key positions in you all country which is more corrupt than ours. What is wrong with some of you?
The force has majority ex-pats and you all always talking about the organization curry favoring locals which is not true.
You all just don’t want bvislanders to be in control of their own country. It is alleged that corruption is rampant in several of these organizations headed by nonlocal who wouldn’t do their jobs.
Look at post office and the gun threats what was done?
You all did cover for her and we all know it. Next please
The Police are run by the Governor not the Government. So a local Police Commissioner is unlikely to happen.
Premier you are spot on.
Please don’t forget that we had two local commissioner of police before.And i must say that they had performed very well for their time in office. Ain’t nobody going to hold these positions and not come in for criticism not one. I am an expatriate and strongly believe that locals should always be in the top position in their own country especially when it comes to government appointments. Look at the other islands like the windward and leeward islands and you bloggers tell me who holds these top government positions?? . Only a few non nationals hold top jobs in government. Our first local commissioner was not perfect but he look out for his people and many get promoted under his watch so they can have a decent pension.lets say he tried with what he had.we also need to recruit locals to the force.the time has come .we have enough locals here to fill the void all we need is better recruitment drive. The present commissioner is diversifying the police force to much. In the long run it is going to have a serious effect on the local population. This is not the United kingdom where you have to have a multi cultural police system. This place is to small for that.so soon we are going to see Pakistanis and Afghans and Iranians in the police force to??
Exactly they forgot when the force was headed by a non local and they were shooting into the police station and shooting officers in the streets and outside their homes because they felt the management of the force during the 80’s were ignoring the police corruption and brutality that was been carried out on the public especially against locals allegedly.
They forgot. These people have mountains of issues in their own country so much so they are ven starting to refuse us help. You all marching about black lives matter there was a time where police brutality was a serious issue here and it was ignored by the UK Commisioners until it boiled over.
If a local is qualified give it to him but some of you all always want to think that locals should not be good enough for anything no matter what they have done for you.
Cronyism at play here. And increased potential for
Corruption
Its own people should run every continent, nation, island and or islet.
Such is god given and universal right. Only an invader who wants to rule and control the resources and its people would think differently.
And further, only one who hates the inhabitants and wishes not to see the realization of the advancement of the local population would also think and advocate differently.
This is the elemental core from which any constitutional reform must be approached.
As, neither the co-or neocolonialist is going to give us our complete inalienable rights of and to complete economic, psychological, political affiliations and socio-politico freedoms.
Trollop. Who are “ it’s own people “ should Maoris run New Zealand, The Apaches run the USA. Only Celts and Saxons run the UK? “ It’s own people “ means anyone who makes their life there, invests their labour and or money and conforms to the laws and morals of the place. Anything else is racism.
Wow! A wolf in sheep’s clothing. Dam’n!1
Please don’t forget that we had two local commissioner of police before.And i must say that they had performed very well for their time in office. Ain’t nobody going to hold these positions and not come in for criticism not one. I am an expatriate and strongly believe that locals should always be in the top position in their own country especially when it comes to government appointments. Look at the other islands like the windward and leeward islands and you bloggers tell me who holds these top government positions?? . Only a few non nationals hold top jobs in government. Our first local commissioner was not perfect but he look out for his people and many get promoted under his watch so they can have a decent pension.lets say he tried with what he had.we also need to recruit locals to the force.the time has come .we have enough locals here to fill the void all we need is better recruitment drive. The present commissioner is diversifying the police force to much. In the long run it is going to have a serious effect on the local population. This is not the United kingdom where you have to have a multi cultural police system. This place is to small for that.so soon we are going to see Pakistanis and Afghans and Iranians in the police force to?? The present commissioner set out on the wrong foot and no one tried to stop him.he had full reign and the governor was behind him .in the long run the local population is going to suffer. But again i want to asked is this recruitment of so many different nationalities in the police force done on purpose with the intention that one day the people of these islands would be no more?? Is this what other Caribbean and Europeans want to see the local population dwindle that they do not have any say in their own homeland?? I wouldn’t like to see what is happening here happen in my country of birth. What has these beautiful people done to us??Accepting us from the sixties up to present in their homes in their business and we now trying to take over and criticize every single thing that their government is trying to do to protect its people. Most of us if not all don’t have a say in the country of our birth but coming here raping the this small island that i call home and when things don’t go our way bvi lander’s are the worst.what kind of people are we?? Are these local people not black to ?? Do there lives not matter? Please look out for you people mr premier. If the other members of your cabinet don’t want to do it you do it.
Consolidating the corruption.
“Democracy under threat”
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in authoritarian behaviour by governments around the world, posing a growing threat to democracy, hundreds of former prime ministers, presidents, Nobel laureates and lawmakers have warned.
“Authoritarian regimes, not surprisingly, are using the crisis to silence critics and tighten their political grip,” wrote some 500 signatories, including more than 60 former leaders, in an open letter organised by the Stockholm-based Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA).
The outbreak has already led to the postponement or cancellation of 66 elections worldwide, a third of them national polls, according to IDEA. Nearly 50 countries have imposed some form of restriction on press freedom, 21 of them democracies.
“Democracy is under threat, and people who care about it must summon the will, the discipline, and the solidarity to defend it. At stake are the freedom, health, and dignity of people everywhere,” the signatories wrote.
Fellow citizens, sounds remarkably like independence coming soon. At least plenty of new jobs for belongers in the new diplomatic service. Start with BVI Ambassador to England, Scotland & Wales and Consulate general to China
We may loose the US $ but we can rely on a new crypto-currency to stash the cash in our own international Bank of Anegada
@Query, why do you think if the VI were to attain independence, that it would lose the use of the US dollar as its legal tender currency? Check out the term dollarization. Any country can substitute the US dollar for its own currency or used it as legal tender currency, eg, Panama, Ecuador….etc and I think it does not have to get the US permission. The downside to using the US dollar as the legal tender currency is that it (VI) will not have the control to manage its currency, for it will not have a central bank; Federal Reserve manages the US dollar.
No problem with top jobs going preferably to the best qualified locals, provided that the qualifications are effectively, fairly and reasonably set. Every country takes action(s) to protect its own; if any country does not protect and take care of its own, who will? President Trump earlier this week signed an executive order temporarily halting permanent residency (green card) visas, H-1B visas……etc to protect American jobs during the Covid—19 pandemic.
Some may see this proposal as all kinds of things, eg, unfair, racist, discriminatory….etc. However, which of you in your home countries don’t get ticked off when you see jobs going to others that locals are qualified to do? Why not what is good for your home country(s) is not good for the VI?
Everyone migrate to the VI and immediately expects and wants the same rights and privileges as locals and if it does not happen, the territory is berated. The VI is a small territory of 59 square miles and cannot conduct business with same flexibility as larger locales.
Define “LOCALS” if you’re speaking of just big family belongers then this is wrong and more discrimination against the majority of taxpayers
Mr Premier that is your vision, you have not hold talks with the UK yet, you have no idea what they will turn down and what they will accept, i dont expect you to get much, if anything at all, they way you want it, another thing, i hear you mention something about the police, dont waste your breath my brother, the UK wouldnt even hear you.
Yes …..Hon. Premier but remember they are locals, belongers or Bvilanders who blatenly discriminate aganst their own …us Bvilanders I have seen it first hand in fact ..I experienced it ..If they dont like you or your family or dont like the way you dress.no matter how well you carry out your duties .. they will never promote you …in fact if anyone even mentions it they will say not he or she …you aii got to personally look at who you all putting to head up government department…some of us employees are dome and no one is doing anything to help us and ministries knows what is going on in these departments but are brain washed and lied to by these same persons who are treating us like pigs and dogs…
There are lots of qualified, educated BVIslanders. They should always get first preference If they are available.
If Diaspora’s comment can be considered pro BVI, pro local and pro home grown which it is, why is it then that the thumbs up feature on it and that of similar comments are disabled? One can only wonder now, given the frequency of this occurence, whether, this BVI News Organization, or individuals within the organization unknown to management are anti BVI and anti local?
This situation is of a daily occurance now. The public is seeking rectification or an explanation.
I think someone in the same office as you has already clicked on the thumbs up or down.
It appears that only one like or dislike from a single IP address. Reason for this is that you can’t keep hitting the like or dislike to pump up or down the likes. (like the other side – hahahah)
All businesses should have someone who is a lcoal at the top. The trade license system has got slack and allowed all these epats to steal the to jobs at trust companies, law firms, the accountancy firms, creaming off the money off the back of others’ labour, and sending it out of the country.
I don’t normally agree with this corrupt VIP regime. But he is not wrong in doing this. However, the contradicting fact remains that the BVI has a high nepotism rate due to locals being highly related to each other. This can lead to corruption without any need for a bribe.
So in the new BVI. If Trump is Premier, we first will have Melania as head of immigration, Jared head of finance, Eric – Police Commissioner Barron – Prisons, Ivanka – Governor. Tiffany – Registrar. Fred – Customs. Barr- AG. Don Jr – Speaker. And other positions Fraser -Head of Bush Cutting. Willock TRC and Media Control. Vanterpool – Park and Ride Comptroller. – Customs and Border Control – Tambu Frett. etc. etc. Fahie and friends taken care of by Trump. No prosecutions, judges and magistrates jobs for all, Top private jobs doing nothing (better that way), etc etc. BVI been looking to america for ideas for way too long.
Now if BVI run by a BVIslander that loved the BVI and all the people who lived there why would it look like that, but it will.
I beg to differ! We as a people is OUR own problem. “I from here and we custom ah doing it this way” that’s why, roads bad,garbage clean up, poorly managed government offices, hospital in chaos” and on and on. Time to send home dem old stooge and bring in refresh, vibrant,and new blood.
Who can be averse to the notion that, politics not withstanding, that the best qualified and interested local should have preference for every position in the territory from being the Premier down to the non-skilled worker. As Diaspora and other bloggers have noted, other countries, territories, locales…..etc make this a national priority and so should the VI.
Therefore, to make this a reality, the territory should invest heavily and effectively on education, training(formal, on-the-job) and provide experience-earning opportunity(s) for its human capital, its most important resource, to attain the qualification and experience for all job opportunities. It should aim for qualifying if not a critical mass of at least a host of people.
Moreover, when any Virgin Islander succeeds every Virgin Islander and the VI succeeds. Each one teach one (Black-American proverb) and each one should help one. Further, if it were to be a requirement in the constitution that all top jobs must go to locals, there must be the flexibility and ease to hire (temporarily) when either a local is either not interested nor qualified for a position.
On the fence as to whether personnel hires should be in the constitution. Personnel hiring/staffing should be a routine administrative action for the local government. Transferring civil service under local control should be an item in the constitutional review. UK may not want to relinquish the control issues, eg, civil service, police, internal security, prison(partial), court….etc. Wonder why there is a Her Majesty’s Prison but no Her Majesty’s High School?
@E. Leonard, “ Wonder why there is a Her Majesty’s Prison but no Her Majesty’s High School?” Curious and puzzled about the cryptic message. Where you going with this?
Many studies have indicated that it is more economical to educate than to incarcerate yet many locales spend more on average per prisoner than on a student. Locking and warehousing people, especially minorities, is and becoming big business. Minorities are jailed in higher proportions than their percentage make up in the population.
Stats show that BAME(Blacks Asian Minority Ethnic ) makes us approx 14% of UK population but approx 25% of prison population. Similarly, in the US, Blacks adults make up approx 13% of the population but make up approx 33% of the prison population.
Moreover, closer to home in the Anglophone Caribbean, persons of African descent were enslaved to build the economies of the West, eg, UK and US. And there also seemed to have been a propensity in Caribbean Anglophone countries to incarcerate the beasts, ie, “penned” as animals, not educate them.
And, though I have not been to all Anglophone Caribbean countries, my cursory research indicate that most, if not all, have a Her Majesty’s Prison. However, though there a few schools named after royals, I have not located any Her Majesty’s High Schools. There may indeed be Her Majesty’s High Schools in the region and if so that info can be shared with us.
@E. Leonard, this commentary was about protecting top BVI jobs for locals. Though that was myopic, xenophobic, discriminatory…..etc proposal, it was the topic. However, now the discussion meandering aimlessly into slavery and jail. Why every d..mn thing has to be about slavery? Slavery was a long time ago and is ancient history. No one alive today was a slave nor is anyone alive today owned slaves nor is anyone alive today benefitted or is benefitting from slavery. Why should I pay for the sins of my forefathers? True, there may be more minorities jailed than in proportion to their numbers in the general population but if they commit more crimes what is the wrong?
I agree that’s why the new — is making so many errors and brought in a Jamaican who doesn’t want to go magistrate court because he is to big for that and we locals have to do his work
Why dont you send home the expats and populate the workforce with bvi islanders and let’s see what happens to your economy dont only give them top positions. Let them work in the hotel industry and the cleaning industry for $6.00 an hour and see how fast your economy will take off. Encourage your landlords not to rent there houses to expats remember trust company employees are expats. Send them all home and give the bvi islander what they want. The world is in a crisis and is being targeted by racism and I think it is time to speak up, you all open your mouth and put down the people from other islands using the term, “you not from here go back where you came from” yet you are christian not racists. You put belongers in high positions and under them are junior staff who have more degrees than them whether they are from here or not you. How about investing in your education sector, push your locals harder and make education a priority. That way you can appoint locals to high position in the future not based on there last name but on there own merit of qualifications and standards. How about teaching your people that we are all from one human race and as a country with tourism being one of your main economic pillars you should embrace outsider dont make them feel like they are trash because at the end of the day they are doing what you are too proud to do. Cleaning up after yourselves weather it be in the hotels or at your homes. You step on the small man to make yourselves feel better but little do you know that the tourist’s best advertising method is word of mouth and while the BVI is naturally beautiful it is equally prejudice. Nepotism is your main bias and racism on a broad spectrum is your culture. Together they are the perfect recipe for failure. Encourage your your people to educate themself and with less ignorance and arrogance maybe the future of this country will be a very bright one.
@ Sins of forefathers, Indeed you are benefiting from the sins of your forefathers. Whites have benefited and are still benefiting immensely from the Slave economy that was fueled by Slave labour. Slave labour built both the UK, US and other countries economy; the only people that didn’t and isn’t still benefitting from Slavery was the Slaves and their descendants.
For example, the UK borrowed approx £15M to compensate some 3000 Slave-owning families in the UK; neither Slaves nor their descendants have yet to get a “hapeney.” In the Southern US, tens of millionaires were created from Slave labour(civil war fought over the lost of Slave labour) and neither Slaves nor their descendants have yet to get a penny. I’m not impressed by the often trotted out canard, ie, that no one alive owned slaves or no one alive was a slave or no one is benefiting from slavery. That is dishonest.
Moreover, Whites continue to benefit from Slavery; they benefit from White privilege. Every White advantage comes with Black disadvantage. Slavery created two separate but unequal societies———Black and White. Whites had a 200+ years head start on Blacks; with such a bad hand and horrible start, it was difficult to catch up much less pull ahead. Whites had a head and shoulders advantage over Blacks in getting into high schools and colleges/universities, finding decent and affordable housing, access to adequate healthcare, finding good paying jobs, procuring a mortgage, playing professional sports, opening and operating businesses, procuring a business or personal loan, voting, serving in the military, attending church, where and how they could live, eat, ride the bus, attend a movie ….etc. Whites didn’t suffer the disappointment and setbacks of these things not happening.
Further, on the issue of Blacks being jailed at a higher rate because they commit more crimes. That too is a canard. True, Blacks do commit crimes and do the time. However, if the justice system is biased against Blacks, Blacks received higher sentences than
Whites for the commuting the same crime(s), Blacks are arrested more readily and frequently for committing the same type and level of crime, the Broken Window Theory is applied more aggressively against Blacks/Black community than against Whites, Black communities are policed more aggressively than White communities…..etc. surely Blacks will be jailed at a disproportionately higher number than their % in the population.
@E. Leonard, Lawd, easy nah. Nah kill dem wid fact for it nah good fuh dem health.