Premier to name constitutional negotiating team before year-end
The government will soon announce the members of its constitutional negotiation team as it prepares for formal talks with the United Kingdom, Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley said during a government press briefing.
Dr Wheatley told reporters that the House of Assembly has now completed its internal work on constitutional recommendations.
“The House of Assembly has concluded its committee discussions and agreed to table its report for public consumption on the Constitution,” he stated. He added that the document is expected to be made public once tabled. “The report should be tabled shortly,” he explained.
The Premier said legislators have taken a shared position on the direction the territory should pursue. “I think the collective position of the House of Assembly members that the Virgin Islands should be seeking a constitution that provides for full internal self-government has been clearly and widely communicated,” he said.
Dr Wheatley confirmed that constitutional reform will be a key agenda item during his upcoming bilateral meeting in London with the United Kingdom’s Minister for the Overseas Territories, Stephen Doughty. “In my bilateral meeting with Minister Doughty, I’ll propose dates for the negotiations to begin and agree on the process and programme leading up to the negotiations,” he explained.
“In the meantime, I will be naming the members of the delegation shortly, subject to a resolution of the House of Assembly,” he stated.
The Premier stressed the need for a unified approach to the talks and criticised what he described as attempts to politicise the issue. “I must express my disappointment in the last press conference of the Leader of the Opposition, which in my view sought to politicise the constitutional process,” he said. He added that a united stance strengthens the BVI’s position. “Our constitutional process must be free of partisan politics, and the likelihood of success is enhanced with uniformity of our position,” he argued.
Dr Wheatley also linked the current constitutional arrangements to recent tensions over internal security, noting the governor’s powers in that area. He said the situation “highlights the importance of constitutional responsibility for internal security being transferred to the elected government.”
The Premier will travel to London from November 24 to 28 to attend the Joint Ministerial Council and other meetings, where he will raise constitutional reform alongside governance, security, capacity building, and related matters.
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Keep that corrupt chairperson from 2022 review farrrr! Sell out to the country and its people!
Mrs.230k? Working a trust company being manipulated by Bishop?
I hope that someone will explain to our people what this all would really mean. The way of Jamaica or St Vincent. What they all want to come here? The US dollar. That is underwritten by the UK for our benefit. That will be gone. We will need visas to travel anywhere as we no longer be a UK territory. That just scratching the surface.
Wheatley, Wheately, Wheatley.
Having ignored the Constitutional Review COMMISSION 2022/23 report that they tossed in the bin with the support of the HOA they will be telling the UK whatever they want and not what the people of the VI want.
VIGILATE people.
The next constitution of the VI will not be the VI Constitution. It will be the:-
VI Constitution for the Select Historical Community of Elites that hold Political Power.
VIGILATE
For the love of God, keep Claude out of it. The Bishop too now that I think about it.
Why keep Claude out, because he is pro VI people, his own people, his own Black race and his own country?
Those are enough reasons to keep him out if you are of a colonial mind set and of brainwashed pursuasions.
Dont walk wid dah garrut bwoy
It is hoped that there are no intellectual, historical and or current day weaklings on those committees.
As, it is clear that we are losing control of our progress made, our country and destriny due to weak and compromised leadersdhip, and no firm agreed upon the direction of our future.
Many want to drink tea for the rest of their lives, while others would like to have some champagne, which will not be coming under english rule.
dissolve the house Now