Govt’s economic plan should be made a public document — Walwyn
Myron Walwyn
If the government indeed has an economic pandemic plan to revive the territory, former legislator Myron Walwyn said he believes the Andrew Fahie administration should make the plan public.
Walwyn made the statement while speaking on the Umoja radio programme with Cromwell ‘Edju En Ka’ Smith recently.
“I know I have heard talk about a plan. I have not seen it. I don’t know if it exists and a reference has been made to it but if it does exist, I think it is important that it becomes a public document,” Walwyn stated
“Remember, it is not just the government that is in this by itself. There are businesses, there are health professionals, there are other people who have invested in the economy of the Virgin Islands that stand to lose significantly if we don’t get this right,” he explained.
Allows for stakeholders to weigh in
Walwyn said making the plan public would create an opportunities to allow for stakeholders to weigh in and strengthen the plan.
“All the ideas cannot reside in one place. When you elect persons in the government, nobody can really expect them to have all the answers. Life just doesn’t work that way,” he stated.
“So, if you create a plan that is a public document that allows other persons to participate, and you can get the views of other persons, then we can work through the situation together,” he added.
Social behaviourial modification model
Walwyn further stressed on the importance of having the plan available during this present period of curfew, stating that he believes a social behavioural modification model should be an integral part of the plan.
He said this would assist with conditioning the minds of residents to the new norm of co-existing with COVID-19.
“I think we are missing a golden opportunity now because we are on this lockdown period now [and] we have to go home at 1 o’clock. Now would have been a time where the use of social media and all the other things to roll out your social modification programme, so that when we open up the local economy again that it would have been ingrained in us sufficiently,” the former legislator explained.
“To simply say to people who, for their entire lifetime, are accustomed to being in clusters all the time to ‘go sit down [six feet apart]’ and they’re not listening, you can’t get mad at them. That is people’s lives. That is how you grew up so it is a whole learning process all over again,” he added.
The territory is currently under a 1 pm to 5 am 14-day curfew which is scheduled to expire on Wednesday, September 16.
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Must always give this young man credit for keeping focused on the real issues and lifting the standard of our deliberations by contributing well thought out and reasoned positions on pertinent issue.
Same government that lost the files for BVIAirways and refused to provide information in the HOA because it would “prejudice the deal“. I hate politics. Everybody just say whatever they want to suit their current agenda. They allow the rat to eat the cheese for 8 years now they setting mouse traps everywhere.
Everything to do with government should be public and accessible to everyone. After all it is the public money. The ministers aren’t running the territory with their own salaries.
What about the whistleblower law that we was promised?
The plan is to spend most of the social security money
It sounds like bald head would’ve done a better job than the dictator
Well sah! Look who is here now talking about public documents?
We will tell you once we get a breakdown of the wall, the 7.2million for the plane. How the pier park manage to overrun that money meant for fixing the sewerage in the 8th was used towards this. Why your party (NDP) passed a housing allowance of $2000.00 for living in your own house. There are others, we would like to include but trying to make it short.
I wish the BVI Airway deal, Pier Park deal, and High School Wall was made public before we blew almost $50 million combined but oh well I guess that’s just water under the bridge.
This one just came out the laundry clean as a whistle
Bold of you to assume there is a plan Myron.
You people are sick! What does the past projects have to do with the matter at hand? This is serious and the government need to get serious.
The past does not erase what was done. The money still gone. That’s money that could have bought more ventilators, mask and even go towards a stimulus plan to people that are affected by the same pandemic. The money could have gone towards an economic action plan. You don’t have to wait until a disaster happens to make a contingency plan. That’s why every office now practice drills every few months to stay ready For earthquakes and fires . With that said a good government like NDP should have had a plan a place 8 years ago incase there was a pandemic such as this. You don’t wait until the house burning down to run and go buy an extinguisher.
The NDP DID have a contingency plan. Where do you think all the money being spent by the VIP is coming from. All the time when the NDP was saving for a rainy day, everyone complained. a good government saves money as well as invests money. Yes the airline turned out to be a bad investment but at least they tried. What is the current administration doing about the future? We can’t even get a plan for 1 month out much less.
Government still bringing in revenue. Covid19 hasnt stop all the various government taxes from being collected and paid. No trust companies shutdown. Tourism is at a standstill but dont let anybody fool you into thinking that government just dipping into their savings.
If you go back, how come you don’t go further back, Greenhouses, signing a contract with BiWater even there had been a contract in place now which will cost us Millions for breach of contract… hard to remember all the way back, isn’t it?
what did this jack ever put out for the public when they had the power? BE QUIET AND STOP TRYING TO BE RELEVANT YOUR POLITICAL CAREER HERE IS OVER.
The country might be slowing heading towards an economic crisis like we have never seen before because of the shut down of … due to Covid .., What Myron is saying makes sense . Rolling out a plan to the public showing the country”s way forward is not jeopardizing the present and future state of the country . It would be more productive . It has nothing to do with wall..,pier park .,,plane ..,,We are all in this together and the public can make suggestions ….There is safety in the multitudes of ideas and solutions . Arrogance can be a recipe for national disaster .
Totally agree. We need to see a financial recovery plan. We need to have an idea when borders will open. Plans can always be amended to suit an evolving situation. Give people some HOPE!
This situation is fluid it is a hurricane. A hurricane strike and then stop and there was no plan after the hurricane. Stop y’all s–t. The NDP didnot do anything for this country after the hurricane. If it was not for Insurance a lot of people would have died. The Education minister’s only education plan was to put over 1200 children in CTL building with 2 bathrooms.
Never mind your petty politics – all administrations are corrupt at some level. But this time it’s life and death. This lot have failed to defend the borders, in spite of being forewarned and forearmed. This is the worst dereliction of civic duty in the history of BVI. They have sabotaged the re-opening of tourism, and will be responsible for increase in unemployment, evictions, crime. Heads should roll.
Myron you should be premier effected immediately. Andrew don’t have any plans for this country moving forward. The governor need to ask him to step down.
Please when ayo party was in nothing was made public, everything was hush hush or a cover up. Andrew & his team has been the most transparent government ! Until Myron & he people can tell we what went on wid the high school wall, the pier project, the air port and a long list of other scams I ain’t want to hear a next ting from he.