Second-term VIP gov’t still blaming others — Walwyn

Sixth District Representative Myron Walwyn has criticised the current Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government for blaming previous administrations for the territory’s issues despite being in power for a second consecutive term.

Speaking during a recent House of Assembly debate, Walwyn expressed his displeasure, accusing the government of failing to take responsibility for its shortcomings.
“You are a second-term government, but you are still blaming a government from 2019,” Walwyn said. He argued that it was the administration’s duty to fix its inherited problems rather than constantly pointing fingers at past governments.

According to Walwyn, the government campaigned on promises to improve the territory’s situation but has fallen short of delivering on those commitments. He added, “The Premier went to the people of this country and said, ‘Give me the job. I could do it. I could do it better than all of those people who were there before.’”

“The last election he (the Premier) broke down people’s garden, going from house to house trying to find a member. He grabbed one, and he went with her. And you got the government, but you are still now blaming every [others]… You are the leader of the country now. You are the government now.”

He pointed to the state of the National Health Insurance (NHI) programme as a glaring example of the government’s failure to deliver. Walwyn noted that while widespread agreement exists that the NHI needs improvements, the government has failed to bring forward a bill to address the problems. “You have been in government for six years now… If there’s a problem with NHI, bring the bill to the house and have the matter properly addressed,” he urged.

He further emphasised the importance of healthcare, explaining that it is essential for everyone, regardless of private alternatives. “When the private businesses can’t do certain things for you, you end up right at the [public] hospital,” he said.

Walwyn further contended that healthcare needs to be subsidised, as is the case in many other parts of the world, and said the government must get its priorities straight to ensure that issues like these are properly handled. “Whatever the issues are, fix them. Healthcare is subsidised everywhere in the world. We just got to get our priorities right,” he asserted.