Gov’t says COI’s reason for 3-month delay is ‘puzzling’
In a response to the three-month extension granted to the Commission of Inquiry (COI), the government said it is “puzzling” that the main reason cited by the Commission is the need to decide which parts of sensitive documents should be withheld from publication.
The government said in a statement yesterday evening that all the documents it provided to the COI are accessible by the governor in unredacted form and could be supplied by the Commission to the governor immediately and without any change.
“It is understandable that the Commissioner wishes to prepare a report in publishable form, but it is also surprising that the Commission should complain about delays in ministerial indications about which parts of thousands of pages of documents should be withheld for good reasons such as national security,” the government’s statement read.
Commissioner yet to do what he promised ministers
The government recalled that Inquiry Commissioner, Sir Gary Hickinbottom, had said on October 22 that in recognising the scale of the task, he would let ministers know which documents he would quote or rely on in his report.
“Despite requests from the Attorney General on 25 November 2021 and 2 December 2021, as well as on 30 December 2021, this has yet to be done,” the government further noted.
It continued: “The ministers are anxious to enable as full and fast publication of relevant documents as possible and expect, as they have already promised, to be able to obtain Cabinet consent for any redactions which are needed within 10 days of being informed by the COI which documents they should be looking at.”
“Therefore, if this is really the only issue causing this delay, then notification by the Commissioner about those documents on 4th January 2022 would still enable the Report to be published by the previous 19 January 2022 deadline.”
Regrettable delay
The government then noted that it continues to seek to co-operate with the COI in every way possible but said, “it is regrettable that this further delay in the process, which already consumed very considerable amounts of government time and resources in 2021, means that there will be further calls on these well into 2022 – and further unnecessary harm may continue to be done in the meantime to the reputation of these islands”.
Earlier this week, Governor John Rankin announced he had informed the Premier that he had granted the COI an extension to April 2022 to enable the Commissioner and his team to prepare and deliver his final report.
The governor said he believed it is right that this process is completed carefully and methodically to ensure that a complete report is delivered into the areas of concern that the COI is addressing.
He mentioned good governance is paramount to the success of any country, and he remains committed to supporting the COI in helping to achieve this for the Virgin Islands.
According to the governor, the extension is because of what he indicated to be the large volume of documents the COI must comb through to deliver the final report.
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The COI is trying to pass the buck due to their wicked plans not coming how Gus and them anticipated.
VIP ayo will get what’s coming to ayo, either from the COI or the voters
GET READY FOR A RUDE AWAKENING
More millions for Silk Law??
I bet F*T A****T wants everything to do with the barges redacted as a matter of national security. Truth is that alleged massive no-bid contract was just one of many kickback schemes he and his band of thieves coordinated. He should be grateful he will get another 90 days before they take the MoF away from him – he and his friends can not be trusted with the national purse.
My people back home in BVI please understand that the UK cares about the UK. They only tell the Overseas Territories they are partners because it plays well in the international media. They want everything their way at all times and will do whatever they have to do to ensure such even if means calling a COI to be the front for the recommendations the UK wants to come forward with but needed a cover or a front to do so.
Because their ancestors went around the world taking/stealing lands and claiming them as their own, and exterminating all of the humans/people they met on them, the stinkinbottom and the asperts, who are no different in mentality than their ancestors, now brings the same violence against BVI people as their ancestors did, but in a different more subtle form.
They hate us then and now, and it disturbs them beyond sanity that we did not lay down die while, after they were compensated for enslaving our ancestors, the enslaved wretched souls who produced all the work and wealth, got nothing. They went back to the UK and left them here with not as much as a penny, to eat sand and rock stone and wash them down with sea water..
We worked our way up to where we are today with no help from them except a prison.. Now that we are controlling huge sums of money, they are back wanting to dictate and take that away from us.
We built this economy, standard of living and the rest from scratch. Now the haters and greeders want to COI it all away from us…..We must defy them by any means necessary!
I hear all that but we are our own worse enemy. Look at our country…It is falling apart. Is that the white man’s fault too? At what point do we take responsibility for our own actions?
An age-old tactic! Play dumb when you know what you did.
Of course, the government is puzzled. When they realized how bad the COI was for them they went into a frenzy trying to get rid of documents and cause more confusion. Now they trying to act like they looking forward to the report.
Oh to be a fly on the wall.
Word on the street is the VI looking at election ? for August. Sources out of the COI are saying that the Virgin Islands ?? current government have been operating unconstitutionally after violating subsection $&!? of the constitution where each elected official must declare all assets before taking his or her seat. Therefore, they are recommending that the government must dissolve within a 3 months time frame after making the amendments recommended by the COI and go through the elected process with transparency that the Premier and his government swear to uphold.
When asked why aren’t they allowing the government to complete the four year term, the response was they are already operating unconstitutionally, and the purpose of the COI is to look into whether corruption, abuse of office or other serious dishonesty may have taken place amongst public, elected and statutory officials in recent years; and to make appropriate recommendations as to governance and the operation of the law enforcement and justice systems in the BVI. This and past governments has clearly violated the constitution and going forward must be held accountable for their actions.
When asked if they were any other pending issues to be defined in the report that related towards corruption. They responded that the actions by the elected officials failing to declare their assets on time is a pívot to the many other unconstitutional actions taken by current and past officials that led to the abuse of the public purse with many major and minor capital projects.
The decision for the dissolution of government is for the public to decide the faith of current and future representatives and that the constitution be upheld with transparency and accountability in the most honorable mannner.
If your source(s) is(are) correct, then the month to look towards for its accuracy is August. As the saying goes, time will tell.
Now, I’m not sold 100 on the notion that because government ministers did not declare their interest prior to assuming office, they having been serving in an unconstitutionally manner and by extension the entire government was serving unconstitutionally as well. Seems quite a stretch.
Based on the COI hearings centered about this matter of declaration of interest, it was clear that practically most if not all of the government ministers past and present had failed at some point to declare their interest in a timely manner.
Certainly this is an area going forward that’s needs redress in the spirit of good governance; however, it’s hard for me to swallow that the entire government was unconditional based in whole or in part because of those discovered failures.
As I stated earlier, time will tell.
What I take away from this 3 months extension is that the COI needs that much time to go over all the various pieces of evidence, and produce their final report.
Apparently, your sources are saying something else. Again, we shall see.
@ Breaking News, this is what we call ” FAKE NEWS. “
This made me laugh…. how can you publicly say that a 3 month, ANNOUNCED AND TRANSPARENT, extension is puzzling when you have people CONTRACTED by government that still have not been paid since 2018. When you have government announced project deadlines been and gone for YEARS with no progress and no announcement as to when work will start again let alone finish. When you have work permits renewals still in process 6 months after application and the only answers you get are ‘it’s not ready yet’ and you ask for any specifics and the reply comes ‘it’s not ready yet’….. Ever heard of the phrase don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house?!? SMDH.
all blondie good for is ,smear tactics using racism to hide his deceptive campaign SHENANIGANS ,just like csc ,who turned ghost overnight , but they are being exposed by their own actions
@Breaking News is Fake News, of course. Govt was legitimately elected, Members then had to declare interests on taking office and all have done so. Any delays are a matter for the House only and maximum penalties are short suspension from House under current law. Any suggestion that this could create an unconstitutional Govt is BS.