Governor Rankin departs! HOA members absent for farewell ceremony
Governor John Rankin departed the territory today, concluding his tenure as Governor of the British Virgin Islands. However, no members of the House of Assembly were present to see him off.
Rankin delivered his final public address as governor during his farewell ceremony held at his now-vacant residence in Road Town this morning. Several members of his support staff and other public officers were present at the event.
Extraordinarily, the Premier of the territory, Dr Natalio Wheatley, was absent.
In an invited comment to the media this morning, a representative of the statement said: “As is customary, the only House of Assembly members invited to the Governor’s farewell ceremony were the Premier and Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition sent his apologies in advance.”
The elected leaders’ noted absence comes amid unresolved tension between Rankin and themselves because of his statement that he (Rankin) may have to seek additional powers for his office from the United Kingdom (UK) to help implement the Commission of Inquiry (COI) good governance recommendations.
Rankin said his request was necessary because there has not been sufficient drive and determination across the various ministries and departments to deliver on the agreed-upon COI deadlines.
However, the government pushed back on this assertion and accused the governor of overreaching and encroaching on the powers that have traditionally been held by elected officials in the territory.
Both the government and Opposition leaders have rejected the Governor’s threat, saying such a move would cause the BVI to regress politically instead of moving closer towards greater autonomy.
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I am so disappointed in them all. They are a bunch of children. They have not learned the art of diplomacy. They have no skill, no tack….bunch of boys and girls running our affairs.
Agreed. This is only a sample of how unprofessional, unskilled and unqualified all of them are. Kinda scary that they represent us; we need to do a better job of choosing persons in elections. S!0w W@nde and the A$$ C!0wn Brigade (including the opposition in this bunch)
I thought that this Governor did a good job and was a decent man. Hopefully the new Governor will be similar and not like Jaspert who was the worst Governor we have ever had.
rubber duck should change his name to rubber clown for that trash comment, jaspert and his coi, saved the bvi by exposing all the corruption so we can clean it up, if he didn’t care he could’ve left us to hang ourselves, he gave us a chance to do better and I for one am grateful for what he did
Do you know if they were all invited? Youshould seek information before you talk.
Wah branch you fall off from with your nonsense
Would you all quit with this lame excuse of who was not invited…Do you think that everyone who showed up was invited? As someone said, learn the art of diplomacy.
If our speaker Would be elected or sent by Britain we Would have a better and more ethical and unbias HOA. The lack of that makes the Governor job even more importante create that balance and fair over sight a country needs. Imagine if our Governor and speaker were selected by our Govt. We Would have been a 100% dictatorship state. The abused of Xpats, our treasury and those we don’t like Would be rampant and out of control With little or no recourse..
If they were locked up for giving away taxpayers money and breakibg laws, we would have not to deal with them.
Democracy is when you elect people. We did not elect that stale porridge lookin Mf.
This is what ayo get when ayo voted for a bunch of children runner our government, this is a shame to the bvi people’s, how embraceinng is this ….WOW
I assume you realized by now that Ronnie and the others also didn’t show up
Agreed .. protocol
It’s hard to not see this as a slight against the Governor giving the COI inquiry, the snafu surround the implementation of the recommendations, and the Governor seeking additional powers.
I don’t know what their excuses are/were. The Premier and Opposition Leader reportedly had other obligations. However, I am of the thinking that giving the circumstances and the tension between the government and Government House, perhaps a little bit of diplomacy could have helped.
I don’t expect the government or opposition to capitulates to all the governor’s demands, but there is a place and time for everything in my view.
Whatever their reasons, not showing up for the governor’s departure is sending a message, one that may not be helpful in the long run.
Surely all were aware of the Governor’s departure, but still apparently place their other commitments first.
Unfortunately, I do not think this slight (which it is imo by design or otherwise) does not help the overall situation the country faces, and perhaps aggravates it a bit more.
IMO, I think they should have showed up even if they had 5 minutes to spare out of respect for the office of the governor if not for the individual.
Don’t be mad at people when you done blanked up.
Nevertheless, despite what seems to me as a slight against the departing Governor, I think and hope he is politically mature enough to overlook it and not try to communicate with the UK and incoming Governor negative thoughts that would make matters worse.
It’s politics after all.
So long as we maintain the current relationship with the U.K. whereby these governors are rotated in and out every 4-5 years, we have to deal with them unless that relationship changes.
The Governor is the local representative of the King, therefore, the slight is not against the Governor, but the king. History is not kind to people who got on the wrong side of the monarchy.
@ Common sense.
You are quite right.
Forty years ago, when my matter of right of access was raging, governor Peter Penfold gave my lawyer a letter to hand to the Chief Immigration Officer. On presenting the letter, he was asked, from whom the letter is from. My lawyer carefully observed the crown embellished envelope and replied, Madam, it’s from the Queen.
I am disappointed in the Hon. Opposition Leader. If he couldn’t attend, could he not suggest someone else in the Opposition to attend on his behalf?
At least his response of regret may soften the blow to his end, BUT Hon. Premier, I have absolutely no words for you. The New Governor surely was taking notes yesterday.
Acting the blasted fool while the UK is keenly watching our every move.
Please note that none of these people speak or act for me.
My Honourable friends can you please take my picture out of your friends section your making me look bad quick as you can , I know longer know you.
All the house slaves lined up to bid Massa farewell.
2024 and still using phrases like “house slave” pathetic!
2024 and we still have house slaves. Pathetic indeed.
If they are house slaves, what does that make You?
We all know this act of not showing up is going to bite all of them in the arse and will seem like the bvi is really out of control if the leaders themselves can’t even do the bare minimum
Comedy at its best
Immature government officials like a junior high school mean girl episode
THEY WEREN’T MISSED , AND AFTER HOW THEY STILL USING JASPERT AS A SCAPEGOAT , AND HAVING EXPERIENCED FOR HIMSELF THE KIND OF HYPOCRITES SOME OF THEM ARE , HE TELL HIMSELF IT WAS BLESSING IN DISGUISE FOR HIM . OR THE ICING ON THE CAKE , IT EXPOSED TO THE OUTER WORLD WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW / AND WE HAVE THE CANARY ON THE YELLO SITE SPEWING OUT HIS RACIAL LYRICS DAY & AND NIGHT AS A MOUTH PIECE , SURELY THEY DID HIM AND THEMSELVES A FAVOUR BY NOT ATTENDING ■ SOME MAY NOT GET THE MESSAGE NOW , BUT HE MAY HAVE GOTTEN THE LAST LAUGH ALSO ~ WHEN YOU GET RIGHT DOWN TO IT
FAVOUR
This shows the pettiness of our leaders. They can’t even practise diplomacy. This proves they’ve already lost the battle. May God help us.
We only talk in this place. This is weakest leadership and no professionalism, no diplomacy, fail representation on both side of our HOA. The same Way Foy lead us down hell path They not learning they allowing Sowande to do the same. This is so sad and shameful.What are they trying to achieve?
We are bot ready for wirld stage diplomacy .
We are a bunch of spoilt immature unprofessional people who have no sense of what Democracy and Diplomacy realky means . They used the opening of the school as a ploy not to see the Governor off.
The civil servants who were there are not slave they are using wisdom
Wake up and learn that the BVI cannot feed itself no agriculture
No military force cannot defend itself
Financial Services is dependent on the same colonial beings
Tourism depends in other nations and nationalities
Where is the diplomatic branch ???
My country leaders acting very irresponsible. Shame on all of you
You have revealed the depth of gutter mentality / it is a good thing that tmyour are seeking to yourself and not the decent people of the bvi / it’s obvious , you were dragged up
We are a nation run by fools. This latest misstep will cost us dearly. We just laid out the carpet for the uk return.
What a pitiful sad site!!
The term “house slave depicts a person with a mental psychosis psychological disfiguration.
Sir
I hope you the best in your future
I wish You well Mr Rankin
Still on the plantation
Go the hell home!! Tired of smelling suntan all the time!! Make me want to vomit!!
The king does no wrong, neither does he has to explain his actions to his subjects.