Historic move underway to make House of Assembly independent
House of Assembly
Leaders in the BVI are taking a historic step to make the House of Assembly fully independent of the executive branch, a move Deputy Premier Julian Fraser says will transform how the territory’s legislature governs itself.
Fraser introduced the proposed bill entitled the “House of Assembly Management Bill”, a law that will dictate the administration, staffing, and finances of the House. Fraser said the proposed structure mirrors the United Kingdom’s Parliament, where the legislature operates independently of the government.
“This bill seeks to establish the House of Assembly Management Commission,” Fraser said. “The commission is outside the jurisdiction of the executive, the public service and the Public Service Commission.”
In practical terms, this means the Governor, Premier and the UK would not be able to tell the House what to do in its internal operations.
“No longer will you be sitting in Standing Finance begging the Minister of Finance for a buck,” Fraser told the Speaker. “This House, for the first time, is taking its destiny into its own hands.”
The new law will establish a Commission to oversee the House’s finances, prepare reports for public debate, and ensure the legislature’s independence is matched by transparency and accountability.
Fraser said while this shift is new for the BVI, it reflects the norm in democracies modelled after the Westminster system. “The Parliament of the United Kingdom is independent,” he explained. “Their system is the system that we are following. Parliaments across the Commonwealth that are not there yet are moving in that direction.”
He added that BVI delegations have visited the UK Parliament to study how independence functions in practice and confirmed that all 13 elected members — both government and opposition — support the bill, which he described as a milestone in the territory’s 75-year journey of parliamentary development.
Fraser said the move does not weaken oversight but strengthens democracy. “We were cautious and judicious enough to know that with independence comes responsibility,” he noted. “We made sure that we put in place all the legislation necessary to govern the behaviour and operation of the House of Assembly.”
A fully independent legislature has been a longstanding call in the BVI, with many leaders over the years arguing that the move would ensure the House is adequately resourced with all the tools that would empower all legislators and not just those of the sitting government.
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So both the premier and the deputy premier,thing that they are in control.but rem,God humble those who exalt themselves.these two are trying to dictate,without the anyone consent.they are truly dictators.for years we are bless with a comfortable living standard,now they are trying to mess up everything.remember,God still sit upon his throne,let us look to him.not our government.amen.
what we need is the judicial branch to start doing their job and lock up the crooked ms. i so fckn sick of these man
lock these theifin, no vision, no conscience ms tf up!
This is the main issue the BVI is facing; insufficient freedom of action for our outstanding and effective House of Assembly.
Perhaps then they can then get more secret pay rises through….
Exactly…
Let’s wait for all the comments from people who have no idea what this means but because it’s Fraser and VIP it must be something bad.. in 3…2..1…
There is a high degree of ignorance in the Virgin Islands. This is something that should have been done years ago and I applaud the move. It’s not about the VIP or any political party.
Also,take down the pictures of white men and women from your political sancuries, halls of power, churches and walls and elevate your own Black men and women in honor.
But make sure we leave the picture of Big Andrew on the wall though! Convicted felon and drug kingpin who sold out the BVI. What a crock!
That is the point. Everybody should know what it means before such a Bill is passed in the House. After all who is this huge step going to affect, the elected 13 or the whole country?
You can’t have a problem with persons getting upset over this kind of behaviour from our legislators. We should not be finding out about this while the Bill is passing through the House. Just like how they like to get on the radio during election time and wax poetic about piss they didn’t do, they should get on the radio and tell us about Bills of this magnitude that they intend to pass that will affect the spending of our tax payers dollars. And, yes, the VIP are very guilty to making these types of moves. So let the people speak and be silent about we don’t know. We don’t know because nobody felt it necessary to explain to us what the h*ll they are doing.
So you are telling me that HOA is LIVE each session where this is being discussed and this very news article outlines what it’s about and there is still an issue? Don’t you think that’s the big problem here, i.e. people are so focused on political nonsense that they are just emotionally and academically lazy hence they never understand or want to understand anything? What should the Ministers do? Go to every district, meet everyone, talk to everyone, break it down to everyone? We know more about the trending celebrities who don’t give a shit about us because that is where our energy is focused. The people that want to understand what is happening in their country would do just that.
I which country in the globe does the electorate understand anything? The day after the people in the UK voted to leave the EU Brexit was the most googled term. I understand but be real. As long as people can eat they never really give a hoot.
ah yes anything to prevent the elites from making more money or setting up more schemes
So if you dont have to beg the premier for a dollar, where will its finance come from? Personally I think things are fine as they are.
They’re slowing trying to force independence and won’t see what the outcome of such independence will look like until it happens and the whole country loses all UK investments. Good luck on crime hopefully the BVI has enough funds when it’s all said and done.
The UK doesn’t have crime under control!! Look at all the stabbing. Give me a break. The UK constables can’t even keep the prison population in line.
The fact that BVI blames the UK for crime as if the people doing the crime aren’t locals or that crime is a UK problem but the UK invests it’s money into police and prisons and funds the police. But it’s never a policing issue or a problem with guns being imported into the BVI under the BVI eyes. Do you really think that BVIs crime would get better without the UKs funding for police and prisons???
If the dirty HOA13 can’t get Independence one way they will get it another.
This ai all part of the plan to get past the will of the people and to exercise the will of the DICTATOR under the disguise that it is the HOA.
Ask Fraser. He describes in the COI how the VI DICTATORSHIP works.
We are heading fast to the New Colonial era where people work for practically nothing with no rights and the elites and Masters reward themselves handsomely. Remind you of anything?
I find it hard to believe that no one sees or want to admit that the drastic changes in the social structure is behind the serious increase in criminality we are now experiencing. The persons who sit up in their glass houses and look down on everybody and everything need to recognize the fact that status in the underground after hour night club and sleezy bar domain is dependent on who can flirt the biggest wad of cash to impress the females whose charms are the magnetic forces at play here. Until this underground economy is de-commissioned and put out of service it will continue to attract and lure young males and females into this life of debauchery and criminality. Pruce and Wheatley can continue to act like they don’t know while spending more and more of our limited budget to address the symptoms while leaving the real problem to continue to grow and fester. I refuse to believe that you guys don’t have sense enough to recognize what is going on but using these tactics to destabilize the country while using sad ass excuses to implement stricter UK control. The beings that feed off of blood sacrifice and fear are having a carnival… in other news the morons at the Pier Park are planning a wuk up Christmas we just need to separate the parents from the children…y’all so lost its a shame.
Can Willock or Aaron pilot a bill through the house of assembly? Ask yourself that question people of the 3rd district!
More Asian banks will get Millions and no one wuestioned
This will be the new area of more dictatorship
More people suffering
More crimes
More unemployment
More curruption
The Governor stands between more suffering. And more nepotism
With him gone no one has ant time to be transparent to the people
Everone to his order
See how tgey secretly stayed quiet with the raise
There would be more of this no accountability