Governor confident increments coming in June
Governor John Rankin has expressed confidence that public service workers will be paid their long-outstanding increments next month, as was promised recently by Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley.
Rankin, who serves as head of the public service, gave his take on the highly contentious issue recently after being asked to confirm on the Talking Points show that the proverbial ball surrounding the issue of payments was now firmly in his court.
“It is. I’m responsible for the public service,” Rankin responded. “If my memory serves me correctly, the agreement in Cabinet was that the first tranche of the increment payments should be made by June and I’m confident that those payments will be coming forward within that time period.”
Premier Wheatley recently expressed that those payments are now out of his hands after previously assuring the public that Cabinet had approved payments for public service increments earlier this year.
When asked whether his office may have dropped the ball on advocacy for public servants’ increments, even as he offered assent to the Retiring Allowances (Legislative Services) Amendment Act, 2021, Governor Rankin explained that the much-derided law, popularly known as the ‘Greedy Bill’, was not in violation of the constitution nor in breach of the BVI’s international obligations.
“In those circumstances, as governor, I can advise as to the wisdom of legislation. I can advise as to how this may be perceived by other persons, but it is not a circumstance in which I would normally refuse assent,” he commented. “The judgment on the merits or otherwise of that piece of legislation will not primarily be for me to make.”
In the meantime, Governor Rankin raised the question of why the increments were left to be rolled out so shortly ahead of the just-completed general elections, noting that this is something for which he will leave others to make a judgment.
The governor added however, “It does depend on the money being made available and it was only once the Cabinet and Ministry of Finance agreed to make that money available that actual decisions could be made to make those increments payable.”
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Thank the VIP Government for staying true to their promise & allocate the funds needed to pay the increments and it is the Governor’s responsibility to get it done as the public service is under his responsibility. He has failed miserably in this and all areas under his responsibility. As far as most of us seeing the Governor has an agenda that is not in the best interest of the people of the BVI. His main interest seems to be the following:
1) Give away Belonger status like crazy to his own kind so the BVI people and our Caribbean brother and sisters can be outnumbered as voters and residents in the BVI thereby championing their Global Britan mission to take over the politics with their numbers and turn the BVI into a little UK. This is not what the people of the BVI want but he could care less.
2) Pass the police Act with laws that will infringe upon our democratic rights and democracy and turn the BVI into a police state because it is another means to cripple us as they truly believe all of us in the BVI of Caribbean decent are crooks, criminals, and thieves. With the passing of what he wants in the police bill and having a likeminded Uk Commissioner of Police in the BVI, they do not need proof to come at anyone and go in their accounts or a warrant to enter homes and search. Many innocent people will get caught up and some jailed but that is the plan especially if you speak out against them. If they get want, they want they will turn the BVI into a war zone under the false pretense that they are fighting crime. Please note I am 100% against crime but I am also 100% against abuse of power with no laws to protect citizens rights. They have organized a BLOODLESS WAR to aid their intended unjustified takeover.
3) He wants to have all the COI recommendations implemented without discussions with the people as not all of them are in the best interest of the people of the BVI. Also, the deadlines given to implement all those many COI recommendations are unrealistic and will broke the treasury where nothing meaningful will get done for the needy people in the BVI. He will then blame the leaders and use this as his reasoning for enforcing the order in council to run the country and trust me, it will only get worse. WHAT A SET UP!
Save these three and check back in a few months and you will see this is accurate.