House of Assembly meetings aren’t irregular, says Premier

Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has responded to those who’ve complained about irregular meetings of the House of Assembly (HOA), saying his government has done nothing wrong and meetings are being held according to the constitution.

Since the government took office in April this year, persons have been complaining about irregular meetings of the House of Assembly, with some speculating that it might be due to the frequent international trips members of the government have been taking.

The issue has also been raised by first-time legislator, Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather, who recently said he’d like to see the House of Assembly as booked and busy as the government members have been in recent times.

But Premier Wheatley said those who think HOA sittings are irregular should check the BVI constitution.

“We should familiarize ourselves with the constitution. It doesn’t allow for irregular meetings of the House of Assembly. It says you cannot go 60 days without having a meeting. Some persons have said they want to have a set day and time and I don’t have a problem with those types of discussions. I’ve been having those discussions with the Speaker and as we reform the House of Assembly, those are things to consider,” Premier Wheatley explained on Tola Radio recently.

However, the Premier took the opportunity to reference past governments and their handling of HOA meetings, saying there was no difference with their approach.

“Let’s not act like the administrations that were there before – whether VIP or NDP – had regularly scheduled meetings. When you get the legislation prepared and you have something to advance, you set a meeting, have an agenda and you do the business of the day,” Premier Wheatley said.

He continued: “If persons decide they just want it to be the last Tuesday of the month or the second Thursday of the month, I don’t have any problem with that. Maybe we won’t have any legislation but we could just ask questions. Whatever the people decide, I’m ok but just know that the constitution says we can’t go 60 days without having a meeting.”

The Opposition has been expressing their issues with the way the government has been running the House of Assembly, saying the Wheatley administration has been prioritizing the business of the executive (government members) over that of the legislative arm (House of Assembly with all 13 members).

The six Opposition members recently walked out of the House of Assembly after a disagreement over how the government chose to handle the agenda of the day. Since then, elected leaders have been using local media platforms to throw words at each other and justify their individual approaches to issues of national importance.