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Ministerial advisors will continue for new gov’t — Premier Wheatley

The central administration complex in Road Town that houses several government offices. (GIS photo)

The establishment of ministerial political advisors — a controversial measure first introduced by former Premier Andrew Fahie to assist government members in executing their portfolios — is expected to remain in place under the new administration.

Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley indicated that under his administration, the post of ministerial advisors will not be disbanded and suggested that it should not be viewed by the public as anything extraordinary.

While responding to questions at a press briefing late last week, Dr Wheatley pointed out that the recently released Commission of Inquiry (COI) report found no issue with the new post and confirmed that special advisors will also continue in the Premier‘s office.

“In fact, the United Kingdom, their ministers have special advisors. It’s standard practice in the United Kingdom and we are going to continue to have special advisors to assist with the very strenuous work and [voluminous] work that exists in the Premier‘s Office and throughout government,” Dr Wheatley said.

When the post was first announced in July last year, the then-Premier, Fahie, faced significant public backlash over claims of unnecessary government spending and for stacking the administration with unnecessary consultants.

Back then, Fahie defended the new addition by contending that it would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government.

He said that expectations from ministers and junior ministers had increased significantly over the years and argued the resources that should be available to them had been allowed to be depleted.

Fahie said the public service had suffered institutional capacity issues as a result of that.

And according to the former Premier, the matter of ministerial advisors had been tossed around by governments for more than 20 years and had only been compounded since the addition of junior ministers in the Virgin Islands Constitution of 2007.

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16 Comments

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  1. NO way says:

    If the Unity HOA members are retaining their ‘political advisers’ then the time is ripe to suspend the constitution and dissolve the HOA for the next 2 years.

    Like 34
    Dislike 1
  2. AM says:

    Who are the current political advisors?

    Like 23
  3. Really? says:

    Soo…business as usual then?

    Like 29
    Dislike 1
  4. Ze SCRIPT says:

    LOOKS LIKE THEY READING FROM THE SAME SCRIPT , ONLY DIFFERENT PLAYERS

    Like 31
  5. heckler says:

    Same game different players

    Like 22
  6. No Comparison says:

    It doesn’t make sense to compare the BVI to the UK. The ministers in the UK work for 68+ million people… They have far more issues to deal with than the Ministers on these small and low-populated islands!
    Let’s cut our budget & get rid of the advisors… And while at it, I honestly think we have too many being paid in the HOA – we could get by with seven or nine at the most!!

    Like 28
  7. braff says:

    keeping club members on the payroll

    Like 18
  8. SMH says:

    Political Advisers MUST GO! They can advise on their personal wallets. Not on the People’s expense.

    Like 19
  9. Eh? says:

    and having the brother of the premier as a political advisor (“envoy”?) to the premier smacks of conflict of interest, one would think

    Like 19
    Dislike 2
    • God dont like ugly says:

      eh I WOULD AGREE THAT IT SMACKS OF POLITICAL BIAS AND A CONFLICT OF INTEREST, BUT THE YOUNG MAN HAS PROVEN HIS WORTH OVER AND OVER AGAIN…INTERNATIONALLY HE IS WELL RESPECTED AND DIPLOMATICS AROUND THE WORLD SEEK HIS INPUT ON A RANGE OF THINGS..SO SIMPLY PUT BVI IS VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE HIM.

      Like 2
      Dislike 2
    • Bvi says:

      And the mother of a minister too

  10. What? says:

    Who the h**l elected you in???
    We demand good government not you clowns

    Like 11
  11. TurtleDove says:

    I don’t have a problem with advisors, but but this thing seems to be so bad that we need to clean house and start over.

    Like 12

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