Opposition: No confidence motion still being hindered by Premier

The Opposition has accused Premier Dr. Natalio Wheatley of stacking the House of Assembly’s (HOA) order paper to prevent a motion of no confidence against his administration from being heard.

In a conversation with ZBVI radio on Tuesday, October 15, Opposition legislator and Sixth District Representative Myron Walwyn said the Premier is telling people that the motion “will not go through.”

Additionally, Opposition Leader Ronnie Skelton stated that the Premier is adding items that are not urgent to the HOA proceedings.

Meanwhile, in a separate radio appearance, Premier Wheatley stated that while he cannot force the Opposition to postpone the motion of no confidence, he does not believe it is the right time for it to be done.

“The only thing which is on the Order paper are things that have to be done before the end of the year,” the Premier stated.

“We still have an Order in Council hanging over our heads. I still don’t think that now is the right time for it considering what we’re going through with the United Kingdom (UK),” Dr. Wheatley said.

“We also have the mutual evaluation report that we’re trying to respond to. We have a number of pieces of legislation that’s on the order paper for Friday—things we have to do before the end of the year so that we’re in a good position come next year when we go to Plenary at the Financial Action Task Force for them to evaluate the progress we’ve made on the mutual evaluation report,” he continued.

“In my view, it is not well placed but of course, it is within the Opposition’s prerogative to do so. They have the right to be able to do so, but I think in the interest of the people of the Virgin Islands, they should not have gone forward at this time,” the Premier further stated.

Let motion come after pressing matters

Dr. Wheatley added that it would be more appropriate for the motion to be held after the Order in Council is lifted, as that should be a matter of national interest. He also urged the Opposition to work with the government to get it removed. The leader of government business then suggested that the motion would be better placed after the mutual evaluation report exercise.

He noted there is very limited time between the next sitting of the House of Assembly and the upcoming budget speech on October 29 for all items on the current order paper to be heard. He mentioned needing to prepare for the budget speech and also highlighted the upcoming holiday on Monday, October 21, and the Celebration of Dame Janice Pereira.

The Premier previously prevented the motion of no confidence from being held based on a technicality in early September. He cited Standing Order 23 of the HOA, which outlines the House’s procedure for submitting motions. He explained that the motion had been improperly placed on the order paper because it was not handed to the Clerk of the House, as required by the rules. Instead, the notice was emailed to the Speaker, who then shared it with the Clerk. The Premier stressed that this technical error invalidated the motion.