How do locals feel about UK? Fahie hosting meetings to find out
Opposition Leader Andrew Fahie dons his placard during the May 24 Decision March against the UK.
Leader of The Opposition Andrew Fahie will be hosting a series of community meetings for Virgin Islanders to comment on what they think the future of the BVI’s relationship with the United Kingdom should be.
Fahie said he will be creating committees that will solicit responses from Virgin Islanders domestically and abroad.
He said he will conduct town hall meetings on the islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, Anegada, Jost Van Dyke, and even on St Thomas in the neighbouring US Virgin Islands.
“All attempts would also be made to receive and submit the views of Virgin Islands citizens living or studying in the USA, UK or further afield. Public announcement of the date, time, and venue for each meeting will be forthcoming,” Fahie said.
Responses of Virgin Islanders will be documented and submitted to the UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which recently opened up an inquiry into the future of the British Virgin Islands.
The UK inquiry
The UK recently launched the inquiry claiming they are struggling to find a balance between ‘respecting the principle of self-governance’ and ‘ensuring the security and stability’ of British Overseas Territories.
The UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee suggested it was prompted to launch the inquiry because of the growing strain between the UK and its Overseas Territories such as the BVI.
“In recent years, the Overseas Territories have been exposed to shocks, from the Panama Papers in 2015, to the Brexit vote in 2016, and hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. This led some OTs to question the [UK] Government’s willingness to support them. Relations have been put under further strain due to high-profile instances of divergence between the UK and some of the OTs on issues such as civil rights and financial transparency,” UK’s Foreign Affairs Committee explained.
BVI News has seen no record of any government responses or even announcements of the UK inquiry, which the UK initiated late last month.
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This is a good initiative because all the other Overseas Territories are doing this but BVI is fast asleep as usual.
Count me in. I hope that we put our differences aside and participate and give meaningful input. Our future depends on us.
Clearly this is the right move but I can’t understand how come the ndp government sat there and didn’t take the lead on this because all the other Overseas Territories govwrnments are involving their people.
The BVI is fast asleep in the middle of yet another revolution and our government once again kept us in the dark.
Maybe if our ndp government wasn’t so busy trying their best to see how they could try to destroy Fahie then they might have had time to tell us about this and do what Fahie is now doing which is bringing we the people along and getting directly involved. Our future is at stake but the NDP is stuck in the past.
You took the words Right Out of my Mouth. The ‘No Direction Party’ – NDP studying all the wrong things!!
My take..for sure..clearly..again…thanks for the comments. You can rest your fingers now.
I think he just likes to make it look like more people have his opinion than actually do. Pathetic really. This is, of course, just my opininion!
The NDP government is slow out of the block again; a race can be won with a slow start out of blocks but boi it makes it more difficult and challenging, requiring more effort. The sitting government should be out front and taking the lead on coordinating the response effort; typically, there is one government at time.
However, with the slow response, it seems as if the Opposition is the de facto government and taking lead on coordinating the response. Thumps up to the Hon Fahie, D-1 and Leader of the Opposition, for taking the lead on this critical, important and urgent issue. The Rattler will strike, strike and strike again!
Nonetheless, improving relationship with the UK is in the national interest so every Virgin Islander should weigh in and contribute to the discussion regardless of political philosophy. When the dark, gathering clouds unleashed it fury, it will impact all of us regardless of political persuasions. This is a time for national unity; give Hon Fahie your support.
Come on what do you expect from the “No Direction Party” ? At least Fahie is trying to provide some much needed focus and direction so well done…
This man has the temperament and and vision to improve the state of this country.
The new leader of the NDP just comes over as a——— and d——–g when he is task with relating to other members. I don’t think those borderline v——- exterior will play well in international politics, where deplomacy is key!
Can he really lead UK negotiations? I don’t think so, that’s why I support VIP and it’s leader all the way.
What he really has is the indebtedness to the Establishment. There are dossiers kept on gov officials around the globe. Just the mere mention by the FBI of suspicion of illegal activities by a Gov official,such as money laundering would be more than enough to bury and put the Vi in its “proper place” of servitude . His rancid and virtual nonstop defamation of the Vi and its gov might be a component of his debt payment. Frankly,he scares me.
I hope the U.K gives the BVI the independance that some people are dying to get. Let them strip all bvi landers of their british citizenship, their u.k passport and their BVI passport which incidentally is a british passport and property of the queen. Let the bvi print their own vi passport not associated with anything british as an independant country in the Caribbean this will fix everything and there will be no more complaints end of story.