John Rankin to be sworn in as Governor today
Governor Designate, John Rankin is scheduled to be sworn in as the territory’s 14th governor, today, January 29.
The ceremony is set for 1 pm at the House of Assembly’s temporary location at the Save the Seed Centre, Duff’s Bottom, Tortola, and will be broadcasted live on the government’s Facebook page.
Speaking on the appointment, Premier Andrew Fahie said that Rankin will be bringing a great deal of experience to the position and wished him well during his tenure.
“I congratulate Mr Rankin on his appointment as Governor of the Virgin Islands. He brings to the post a wealth of diplomatic experience in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and recent service as a Governor in our sister territory of Bermuda,” the Premier said.
He added: “On behalf of the government and people of the Virgin Islands, I welcome Governor Designate Rankin to our beautiful islands. My government and I look forward to a positive and productive partnership and relationship with him in which we will work together to continue moving the Virgin Islands forward.”
Speaker of the House Julian Willock who will be charged with chairing the ceremony also shared similar sentiments to that of the Premier.
“The swearing-in ceremony marks the official beginning of Mr Rankin’s tenure, and while it’s not an official sitting of the House of Assembly, I am pleased to facilitate the ceremony on the behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands. I wish the new Governor well and look forward to the good working relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government,” Willock stated.
Meanwhile Acting Governor David Archer, Jr said Rankin’s new role as governor will be vital to the partnership between the BVI and the United Kingdom government.
“The ties that we as a territory share with the United Kingdom are complex, and we value having someone as experienced and dedicated as Mr Rankin with us to fulfil the role of intermediary,” Archer stated.
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A warm welcome to the new governor. Let’s hope that the working relationship between the Premiers office and the governor’s will be much improved than the previous recently concluded one.
I anticipate that it will only be a short course before the usual accusations and criticism against this new governor begins as always.
To those who expectantly will, I trust that you reflect on this fact: U. K. appointed governors are part of that constitutional relationship our country has signed on to.
Dont be complaining for complaining sake. If you have a complaint, let it be substantive, meaningful, constructive, and worthy of achieving worthwhile measurable goals.
Attacking the governor just because he is from the U. K. or accusing him of being racist because questions posed to him were not answered in a manner some may have wanted will prove counterproductive and probably backfire like what happened recently with Governor Jasper.
If we do not like the current constitutional relationship anymore, we can always seek a divorce or negotiate a post-nup, but that divorce will need the assent of the public. It cannot be done without our collective approval. One man shall not determine our faith as a people.
My sense is that if there was a referendum on independence today, it will fail. That failure will lie in the publics lack of confidence in our current leaders to take us on an independent path. And that’s sad.
Adding to our quandary , how can we even seriously speak of independence when we as a country do not appear to have our own house in order with corruption accusations in our governance swirling and a commission of inquiry into such allegations underway?
So like it or not, this is where we are. We have brought our current predicament on ourselves. But we do not have to stay here or be a dependent OT forever.
We as a country have a long way to go to achieve self-determination, but until we get there lets all work together to improve our overall standing inclusive of having a good working relationship with all branches of government.
Despite all that is going in, the British Virgin Islands remains a beautiful place. I am proud to say I am a British Virgin Islander.
Our focus right now should be on keeping our population safe from covid, getting as many of our people vaccinated as possible, and recovering economically from the depressive economic impact from covid.
A high tide raises all boats. We need to get to that high tide where everyone in the BVI will be uplifted economically something that can only occur if we all roll up our sleeves and work together.
let me be the first in line to begin the protect. We need to go independent. I am more than done with this colonial system of governance by racist white people. Enough is enough now, this is 2021!
A warm welcome to the new governor, indeed. Meanwhile, let’s hope he is the last overseer of the Tortola plantation.
Further, locals should be the ones filling that post. For a multitude of right, political, human, national and moral reasons, it should and must a lob for Tortolians and nota set aside for a wE man.
That is just so wrong on so many fronts.
Why does the BVI and BVIslanders need and have to be governed by a wE man? We are now in the 21st century, not the 12th.
That’s called independence. If you want it, vote for it.
Ok then…Where do I sign?
No Independence Until We Capitalise on Infrastructure. Me nah care what a Man Say!!!!
I second that!
Please, bring in the troops. End this madness
Who will bring in the troops on the UK for their lifestyle and culture of corruption and inhumanity throughout the centuries and now? For we see that they are now being branded by the world as the ‘Wild West’ nation of corruption. You all can check BBC News.Those who live in a glass mansion, should not throw stones! Understand this.. .God don’t sleep!
To the people who has placed a thumbs down and those who eventually will later to “Why” comment. Please state your reason for the thumbs down, and whether you do not believe that Tortolians should have the right to to fill the governorship position of their country and not a foriegner.
Independance first
You can not demand to choose a local Governor until ties are cut by independence.
If one appears ‘normal’ to you, and the other ‘fetish’ …
Then you still have colonial mentality issues …
All minds are not equal.. That is why Noel fought and died to avoid BVI becoming an apartheid state, while many of his colonialized brothers and sisters were programmed to call him crazy.
There are no demanding words in that statement. There are statement of facts, however, pointing a political and human wrong being perpetuated on the people of the BVI for centuries.
Call the remedy whatever you will, the situation is untenable to some decolonialized minds.
Welcome to the BVI Governor. I wish you all the best in your work here with us.
I have a few words of advice for you.
Do not listen to gossip. We have a way of telling tales on each other for our benefit. It has been a problem that has plagued us for years. Listen to those who bring gossip but do not act on it until you have substantial proof. This I believe was one of the misgivings of your predecessor Governor Jaspert. He meant well but got misled very easily by rumors.
Secondly, do not believe a word coming from the mouth of our Premier Fahie. He has no respect for the truth whatsoever and he is very good at misrepresentations with the most sincere look in his face. Your predecessor learned this too late after he placed in his trust in Premier Fahie and Premier Fahie used him to get to win the last election. Their fight is more about betrayal than it is about good governance.
That’s it for now. Cannot say you were not warned.
If one appears ‘normal’ to you, and the other ‘fetish’ …
Then you still have colonial mentality issues …
Please seek iIndependence you wretched lot. You can then swim by yourselves in your racist cesspool. You already have Papa Doc at the helm. The rest of the glory he brought to Haiti is in your future. Let’s all hope this is the future for BVILove.
You poor racist soul. The evolution of the Black decolonialized mind is not sitting well with some of your kind. Change is inevitable, a change the colonial mind such as yours did not expect, anticipate nor is willing to accept.
Further, Haiti’s economic. condition today and years past is a direct result of deliberate and permannent European, UK, French and. American economic imposed sanctions against it for rebellig against slavery.
So, are you suggeting that those same countries impose permanent economic sanctions on the BVI if they seek and go independent?
What an awful human mind you have, no different from your ancestors.
Look at all the appointments on the boards. People are on 3 and 4 boards which is ridiculous. Also look at the civil service they have a list of senior managers they trying to move all over the place for no justifiable reason. Not a man move until the inquiry finish. Check on them ministry heads too because some of them aren’t ready and some afraid to say no mistreating civil servants because them say so.
You are all convinced that they UK wants to stop independence. The BVI is nothing but a drain on the UK. It does nothing for London and it’s tax payers but exhaust them all.
Vote for independence PLEASE! Go, just go. Stand up on your own, be free and independent and accept the responsibility that goes with that authority.
We are going independent because we now are reading all the books you kept from us. We now understand how the UK Edomites think. We also understand that some think the BVI is too good for these black people. Let me remind you what the book you gave us to keep us in subjections said: “As it was in the beginning, so it shall be in the end.” We shall overcome Colonialism one day, and please, talking to “Go, just go,” I want you to just go, go to your home.