Opposition should focus on govt’s strategy, not financing — Premier

Premier Andrew Fahie

Premier Andrew Fahie has contended that the parliamentary Opposition has been unwittingly complicit in helping the government execute its strategy even as it complains that there are no funds available in the budget to execute projects.

Premier Fahie said he is accustomed to them not seeing the bigger picture because they are focused on whether there is enough cash.

But he said the Opposition should focus on the government’s strategy rather than its method of financing projects.

“We see and we hear so many things about e-government [such as] ‘we don’t have enough money in the budget for e-government’,” Premier Fahie said. “The issue is that people look at money as the way to go forward with any project. The key to moving forward with any project and in life is to have the strategy that always brings money.”

Look at the VG airport now 

According to the Premier, this is why the Opposition could not see funding in the 2021 budget to fix the Virgin Gorda Airport. “At the end of 2021, praise be to God, it’s fixed!” he said.

“In the e-government, they sat right there with us and didn’t even see the strategy,” Premier Fahie said.

“They passed with us as a government, four pieces of legislation, The Data Protection Act, The Electronic Filing Act, The Electronic Transaction Act, [and] The Electronic Transfer and Funds Act and didn’t realise that while they were passing them. They were helping to bring to birth the digital economy,” he added.

Premier Fahie said the newly implemented suite of e-government legislation allows the government to do more business online and receive millions of dollars.

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