BVI News

Premier hopes UK will respond to government’s proposals within days

Governor John Rankin and Premier Natalio Wheatley.

Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has expressed hopes for an urgent response from the United Kingdom (UK) to a proposal he submitted recently on the way forward for the BVI.

The BVI’s political leaders are hoping to avert direct rule by the UK as recommended in the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report which was released recently.

Premier Wheatley disclosed previously that he had submitted a proposal to the UK on how the locally elected government can address concerns raised in the report and implement suggested reforms on its own.

“I’m hopeful that we would receive a decision within a few days. I’m hopeful. They received our proposal, they’ve said to us they’ve received it. They actually asked a few questions about the proposal, so we know that they are currently considering it and we are hopeful that they will come forward with a positive response to us very soon,” Dr Wheatley said late last week.

Direct rule by the United Kingdom, as proposed by the COI report, may possibly entail a temporary partial suspension of the territory’s constitutional order and the assistance of an Advisory Council to support the Governor in the execution of his duties and the formulation of policy as the territory’s new leader.

Sir Gary Hickinbottom, who led the COI and authored the report, concluded that this suspension was necessary given that elected officials over the years have deliberately ignored the tenets of good governance.

He said this situation has given rise to an environment in which the risk of dishonesty in public decision-making and funding has continued unabated.

“We are hopeful that they accept [the terms in the proposal]. So I’m pretty sure that they will respond directly to our proposal as to whether they accept it or not accept it,” the Premier stated.

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32 Comments

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  1. willing to throw more of his own under the bus says:

    This premier look like he will say or do anything to remain in power

    Like 44
    Dislike 3
    • Only one response possible.. says:

      Please Queen Elizabeth II – come and help us clean up this mess!

      Narco movies are a lot of fun to watch on Netflix, not so much on the streets of Road Town.

      Like 11
      Dislike 3
    • Jim says:

      Exactly. He wasn’t elected. Fact

      U.K. please take this banana republic over

      Like 5
      Dislike 1
  2. its a done deal says:

    UK taking over

    Like 26
    Dislike 4
  3. YES TO UK says:

    Natalio Wheatley You are two faced as they come, ever since you took office in 2019 along with Andrew you have been fighting the UK and what it stands’ for now you want to make believe that you and the Governor on the same side and begging the UK not to take us over because you can pull us out of this S**T you helped put us in. I hope you get the bad news very soon. you and this government can’t be trusted you all are apart of Andrew Fahie and NDP governments that brought the BVI to its needs, time for change most of the people want the UK to rule us for the next 2 years.

    Like 57
    Dislike 5
  4. Mr J Jones says:

    Can someone start mixing the kool-Aid

    Like 9
    Dislike 3
  5. Please tell us says:

    More about this proposal. Is it a secret?

    Like 19
  6. Eagle says:

    Fraser is the smartest one in the bunch. He is the only person reading between the lines.

    Like 6
    Dislike 8
    • Rubber Duck says:

      Is he smart enough to avoid charges from the criminal investigation that he is the subject of. Personally I doubt it.

      • @Rubber Duck says:

        Judging from your bold predictions if they materialize it means that you are the recipient of a direct leak from the UK.

        • Rubber Duck says:

          It’s not a leak the COI recommended a criminal investigation into Fraser. The Governor has started it.

  7. both NDP and VIP says:

    6 of one half dozen of the next…..Same set of r**ches that brought us into this mess

    Like 18
  8. no confidence says:

    we need an election not no unity government

    Like 16
  9. Tru dat says:

    ‘how the locally elected government can address concerns raised in the report and implement suggested reforms on its own.’

    Its the locally elected government that’s being investigated!!!!!

    Like 12
  10. Silent Majority says:

    UK save us

    Like 15
    Dislike 4
  11. hear he says:

    That old cr**k seconded everything the head coach brought to the house

    Like 11
  12. Licker and Sticker says:

    This administration is trash. Do we even know what there proposals entail on our Baha’i f. You’d this that as the proposals were on our behalf, they would tell us what is in those proposals. These trash politicians need to get vote out or better yet they need to vacate their offices

  13. ?? things to tell. says:

    Reading the governor face, he is saying, “teck ya hands of meh, I am not your friend” poker face.

    Like 10
  14. Old crooked says:

    Uk please rule in our favor. Can’t trust all these politicians cr**ks. They only want to empty the cookies ? jar

    Like 3
    Dislike 1
  15. Colonial/Imperial Power Domination—-Virgin Islands says:

    Ed Leonard
    36m ·

    Colonial/Imperial Power Domination—-Virgin Islands
    (VI)

    The fate of empire, countries, etc, is to rise and fall and all civilizations/empires, countries, territories, etc,have suffered this fate.

    As such, the Virgin Islands (VI) (British) is facing some governing challenges and it is not if but when the UK, a dominant power, will suspend the dependency mode constitution of the VI, a weaker power, and substitute direct rule. Incidentally, the VI has been under the UK’s direct colonial rule since 1672.

    Historically, colonialism/imperialism (from the Latin word imperium meaning power to command) entailed a superior country controlling and overpowering a weaker country often by force and exploiting its land, labour and natural resources.

    And by 1914, Great Britain and other major European powers had a large percentage of the world’s land surface and people under their domination. It was a situation of might is right, i.e., the powerful felt it had the right to subdue the weak.

    Moreover, colonialism/imperialism was as Rudyard Kipling British imperial poet stated in his 1899 poem, “The White Man’s Burden.”

    It was not a burden but the opportunity for colonials to exploit people and land well beyond their borders for their benefits.

    Further, British statesman Lord Palmerston paraphrasing stated it was a duty not to enslave but to free. Hogwash!!!

    The attitude was that colonial/imperial power was the natural order for the strong to rule the weak. It was a patronizing attitude and behaviour.

    The results of WWII perhaps started the decline of British Empire. Many of its larger colonies, including some in the West Indies, were decolonized and attained independences.

    Most, especially in the West Indies, are still struggling from the legacies of slavery and colonialism. They have yet to receive any reparative justice for the centuries of dehumanization, pain and suffering, brutality, rape, labour exploitation among other atrocities inflicted on their sons and daughters.

    Moreover, a few small dots in the Caribbean still remain under the UK’s colonial control, including Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos and the Virgin Islands.

    In these remaining Anglo-Caribbean Overseas Territories, there is an order of magnitude of unequally power between the UK and its Overseas Territories.

    The UK is the dominant power. Though the territories may be listed as self-governing. In practice, they are not, for the UK still has the major decision-making and unilateral power over them.

    The UK has the power to impose its will on the territories but the territories have no recourse for redressing issues of concerns. There is no independent process; the process is too inbred.

    For example, it is highly likely that the VI’s constitution will be suspended and direct rule imposed, resulting in over 30,000 people being thrust back into colonialism, lose the blessings of Democratic their rights, freedoms, justice, equality, etc, and set back the self-governing pursuit decades, yet the people have no say.
    It is like modern day enslavement in the 21st Century. It is might is right. .

    Moreover, though some of the VI challenges are rooted in colonialism, Virgin Islanders handicap themselves by lack of unity and disdain of participating in mass to peacefully agitate, protest, and advocate for their democratic rights and freedoms.

    Fredrick Douglass (1857) says, ‘No struggle, No progress.’ Progress does not come cheap; sacrifice is required. The Theodolph Faulkner-led Great March of 24 November 1949 required struggle and sacrifice. The Noel Lloyd and Positive Action Movement protest in 1968 required much struggle and personal sacrifices. The Christopher Fleming led insurrection of 1890 required struggle and sacrifice; most of the participants were jailed.

    Like 2
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    • A whole lotta words says:

      But no substance. That drivel is as shallow as a saucer. The obviously confused author is conflating different aspects of British imperialism. To highlight one: “imperialism…entailed a superior country controlling and overpowering a weaker country”.

      The Virgin Islands was Amerindian, then Spanish, then British. It has never been a “weaker country” controlled by “a superior country”. To imply that that is the case is itself hogwash!

      African history is rife with inter-tribal imperialism, but lets ignore that for obvious reasons!

      The African slave trade is responsible for the largest forced migration, it also predates the Atlantic slave trade by about 200 or 300 years. When Mansa Musa (King of Mali) made his pilgrimage to Mecca he took 12,000 SLAVES, each carrying 4 pounds of gold. His EMPIRE spanned from the Atlantic coast to the Sahara desert. Do we need to talk about the slaves in Egypt? How far back do we need to go with human history before we draw the reparation line in the proverbial sand?

      Can Brits seek reparations from the Romans, Vikings, Normans and Saxons?

      Can the Spanish seek reparations from the Islamic Moors of North Africa?

      Should not the Armenians be seeking reparations from the Turks?

      Before pointing fingers, make sure you have a very good overall understanding of human history.

      Like 5
      Dislike 1
      • ... says:

        The African slave trade is responsible for the largest forced migration, it also predates the Atlantic slave trade by about 200 or 300 years.

        Stop right there. That is gaslighting and you know it. The Transatlantic slave trade is responsible for the largest forced migration.

        What the poster was alluding to which you completely missed ironically, was that there is no self awareness in the colonialist or imperialist mind, nor in its collective consciousness.

        Honestly the native americans might have been thriving today if there were.

        The difference between the treatment of slaves who traveled to mecca on a religious pilgrimage led by the richest man who ever lived was no doubt orders of magnitude different than the slaves that white folk called negro, freed but still segregated and lynched (acts of terror) on basis of skin color.

        We can talk about the slaves in Egypt… but how about the deep history of Eygpt?

        By the way you forgot the Dutch in your little history lesson. Virgin Islanders once spoke a now extinct Dutch creole. The French were in these Islands too. Everyone was, sanctioned by the pope no less. Imagine being a slave in the time of piracy.

        For all that finger wagging your distractions turned out to be lacking substance.

        • Rubber Duck says:

          So all slaves were treated wonderfully except the ones in the Caribbean? Do you know how stupid that sounds?

          • ... says:

            what I said was slave is a word.

            “So all slaves were treated wonderfully except the ones in the Caribbean? Do you know how stupid that sounds?”

            tldr: ANYONE would rather be a slave to the richest known black man who ever lived, who had a Muslim religious agenda that understand the meaning of the word sinful, than be a slave to white masters who believed blacks had no soul & threw them overboard on a whim, merciful only to save their profits.

            Back in the day there were indentured servants and colored slaves. The difference was the indentured servants were white, not whipped and given a plot of land after 7 years.

            Either way these two groups were stuck on islands miles away from home, with the representatives of Human traffickers aka plantation owners.

            Both were slaves for a time yet we call one indentured servant because they want to pretty it up. White people have been slaves as well.

            In the end the treatment of the transatlantic slaves based on skin color was completely inhumane, likely far removed from other many other historical incidents of slavery.

            This was because from the highly ignorant religious authorities in Europe the colored savages of the world had no souls.

    • Rubber Duck says:

      The worst colonialism hereabouts is the treatment of down islanders by BVI Belongers ( of whom btw I am one ).

      Your stupid repeated lie that this is a democracy of 30,000 is non sense. It is an oligarchy ( rule by a select few over the majority ) . 20,000 of your 30,000 have no vote.

      Your pompous , ignorant lectures, ignore the fact that it is clear that the majority of your 30,000 , support removal of this one party state and a clear out of the rampant corruption.

  16. LOL says:

    Politicians are hoping for the UK to accept their proposal meanwhile WE the people hope for the UK to come and clean up this mess the Politicians created.

    Like 4
    Dislike 1
  17. SMH says:

    Boi playing big Man…

  18. @ LOL says:

    You are dead wrong, if you are BLKBVIslander, for thinking that the english man, who hates you, who never ever had a sand grain of feelings, compassion, love or anything human inside of them for you or BLK people, and who wants to take away from us that our ancestors have developed over the years, will meraculously come in, clean up “politicians mess,” and hand you back a clean slate. It is down right folly and ignorant to think and expect such from the english man.

    He who knows, thinks better. He who does not knoe must study and learn how.

    Do you really want to set the development of the BLK people of the BVI back 500 yearsZZZ?

    You are gravely mistaken, of which you will pay lethal and fatal consequences when your wish comes through. Hence, be forewarned.

    Fact is, the UK will not clean up your/our mess! It not, will not, will not will not!!

    The true reality is, it/UK will permanently take all of the FINANCIAL APPERATERES out of our/your control.

    It/they/UK, will pick all of the fruit from the tree, leave you not even a piece of one, and you will have no say what so ever. You will be relegated to eating the dirt that tree is rooted in. That is a fool proof fact.

    But don’t take these words for granted, go study their entire history, that history will inform you precisely what your existence will be relegated to.

    Living in fools paradise is equal to bringing a cobra snake into your house/home and excpet it not to bite and kill you.

    Last, where there is a mess to be cleaned up, who but us is better suited to clean it up than we ourselves? Any other suggestion thinking that the UK will clean up your mess and hand you back a clean house mere folly and even lunacy.

    The UK’s house is also very messy. Yet, do you see anyone in UK advocating for BVI to come in and clean up their mess? I meam, come on man!!!!

    They have very skillfully used BVI NEWS over the years to spread their intentional properganda to execute their real agenda, and sadly, too many BVIslanders have swallowed hook,line and sinker.

    Sadly also, our minds are still tightly shackled and bound in chains. Any BLK vislander that is advocating such a take over is suffering that mental incapacitation..

    Wake and know thy enemy people!!! It is time to arrive at the realiztion that we have a lot of cleaning inside of our own minds to be done, if we are to ever see clearly again.

    Like 3
    Dislike 4
    • Mixed race says:

      As a BVIslander with both English and African heritage what level of melanocytes in my epidermis would make me an oppressed ‘BLK” VIslander suffering mental incapacitation or does my lowered melanin level mean am I forever doomed to be one of the oppressors?

  19. Anónimo says:

    I have lived on this island for almost 23 years, I am with my husband for 21 years, and we have been married for 10 years with a person who has his bvi document. We have 4 children born here, 18, 17, 8, 9 years old, I have no residency and neither beloger and immigration does not allow my husband to give me status here. this is a clear abuse of hatred towards the immigrant.

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