BVI News

Five Acts left without assent across gov’ts! Four under Fahie’s watch

Seats inside the House of Assembly.

Spanning various governments, at least five pieces of legislation passed in the House of Assembly but have not received assent from the territory’s governors.

Four of those legislations have been passed within the last three years during the tenure of now-disgraced former Premier, Andrew Fahie.

Opposition Leader Julian Fraser previously called for an investigation into the number of bills that were not granted assent by BVI governors after they were passed in the HOA.

Yesterday, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley explained in the HOA that one of the bills – the Infectious Diseases Notification Act, 2011 – was not given assent initially, but a new bill bearing the same name in 2013 was subsequently passed and assented to that same year.

According to the Premier, the other bills that were not given assent by various governors were the Correctional Facilities Act 2018; Cannabis Licensing Act 2020; The Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act 2020; The Disaster Management Act 2021; and The Virgin Islands Air and Sea Ports Act 2021.

A governor must ratify any bill passed in the HOA before they can become law and be brought into effect thereafter.

Fahie previously related that the Disaster Management Act was denied assent because amendments to the bill infringed on the governor’s constitutional responsibility.

Two of the bills – the Cannabis Licensing Act 2020 and the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) Amendment Act 2020 – were sent to the UK’s Foreign Secretary after they were flagged for various concerns; a first in the territory’s history.

According to Fahie, all the necessary legwork – legal and otherwise – was done before the bills were sent to the HOA. He also insisted that the bills were thoroughly vetted before they came up for debate.

It is unclear why the Air and Sea Ports Act, passed in September last year, was not granted assent thus far.

The Act will see a merger of the BVI Ports Authority (BVIPA) and the BVI Airports Authority (BVIAA).

Fahie at the time disputed that his government intended to privatise those entities.

 

Shares

Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

7 Comments

Disclaimer: BVI News and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the comments below or other interaction among the users.

  1. Interesting says:

    After the recent turn of events these j****s could still question why these useless legislation were not given assent.

    England, please don’t let us down, please. Please dismiss the circus.

    Like 32
    Dislike 3
  2. 1 more step says:

    After the Governor assents to any legislation passed in the HOA the entire text of that documents MUST be published in the BVI Gazette. Once the legislation is published then it becomes law. During inmate Fahie’s term in office this last step in the process was ignored several times.

  3. Resident says:

    I am speculating, but I think the clue could be in the Act’s title so far as the Air and Seaports Act is concerned. Just sayin’!

  4. Licker and Sticker says:

    Slow wande and the Slopes (Unity whatever) they need to go. They are useless and lower than low. If you drop a razor blade, they can sit on each other’s shoulders and pass under it.

    Like 11
    Dislike 2
  5. waiting says:

    1: Its the governor job Disaster Management,last time the ministers all ran and hid
    2 & 3:The place if full of drugs already and now they want the ministers in charge tomake it legal…
    4: They want an avenue to move their drugs legally without being seen

    Get rid of these jokers now UK please!

    Like 9
    Dislike 3
  6. Pappyshow says:

    jumby crabs

  7. Just Asking says:

    What happened to the Amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2021 ushering in Unexplained Wealth Orders?

Leave a Comment