Senators may be better than more At-Large reps
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has suggested that the BVI should consider introducing a senate to the House of Assembly, arguing that stronger scrutiny is needed to improve the quality of laws being passed.
Speaking on Cindy Rosan’s Cut Deep talk show, Walwyn said the legislative branch has strayed from its primary responsibility of producing good legislation and that too many elected officials lack the preparation or skills to make sound laws.
“Some people may disagree with me, but I think we should probably start looking at a senate,” Walwyn stated. “The primary job of a member of the legislature is not to be no government minister. Your first order is to pass good legislation and to increase the quality of life of people.”
“I’ve sat in three Houses of Assembly where I see people making laws for the lives of others and they are totally disengaged. Sometimes some of them ain’t read the document, they don’t have a clue what’s in it. They get up and talk for two seconds, talk around the issue. When they go to the committee stage, they still haven’t read anything.”
His comments come amid ongoing public debate about whether the territory should add more Territorial At-Large Representatives to address growing legislative demands. The Constitutional Review Commission has recommended changes to the structure of the House, including proposals affecting At-Large members, who are currently elected territory-wide.
While Walwyn said he is not opposed to adding more At-Large seats, he argued that this would not necessarily improve the lawmaking process.
“Election is a popularity contest — mostly. The village idiot, once he is popular, could get in the House of Assembly. Once he gets in there, he can’t stroke anything. And so you get bad laws and different things,” Walwyn said. “I’m not against having two more At-Large reps but from what I’ve seen, there’s a need for a different layer of scrutiny on some of the legislative processes that we have.”
Walwyn said a Senate could provide that extra scrutiny, bringing in members with professional or legal expertise who are not bound by electoral politics.
He added that the conversation about creating such a body may be worthwhile, as the territory continues to explore ways to improve governance.
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Finally, someone gets it the problem is some will say we already have this with the Cabinet branch and the HOA, with the HOA working to pass proper laws, but a lack of vision has the Virgin Islands stuck in 1950.
is the kind of expansive thinking we need from our leaders.
Adding more political reps to represent a population of around 40,000 people is ridiculous. We have 13 reps already, what difference adding 2 or more will make? Adding more reps will just draw more monies from our treasury whilst no real political improvements will be made.
We have a massive civil service that is suppose to be ready to take on delegated matters from legislators, no need for more of them politicians. To add, they have paid advisors, most of which is not even needed. Those legislators do nothing much but make decisions now and again to F up people. Often they don’t even show up to perform their duties. What do they really do? Strupes…..
They don’t represent 40,000 people, although they should. They represent the less than 10,000 voters. Everyone else is unrepresented. Come to thing of it; they represent themselves. They don’t seem to be representing the electorate either. The vote of no confidence was clear evidence of that.
@Political Intelligence
Agreed… We have enough grifters on the public payroll.
We will soon have more Ministers and Public Officers than voters.
We will be having to bring people from “down island” and give them Work Permits to fill these positions.
Especially now Natalion made it clear he thinks VI people too “dumb” they need to be educated before being allowed to vote. How they going to be Senators?
A Senate in a Westminster system? Lord send help!! He doesn’t even understand the system he is elected to…
And if he is mixing up terms, correct term being an Upper House (House of Lords), the people have already said that they do not want a bicameral HOA. Appointments to the Upper House is also very elitist, as it stands now in the UK, I could see the voting population having issues with that.
I think you should do more research on this. A senate is a part of the Westminster system. Many Caribbean countries who a bicameral house have senators. Bermuda for example which is till a Bristol territory has senators. It is the same concept as the House of Lords.
Several Caribbean countries maintain bicameral legislatures, notably Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago. These systems follow the Westminster parliamentary model yet diverge from the British tradition by not adopting the title House of Lords for their upper chambers. Instead, the upper house is known as the Senate, and its members are referred to as Senators.
In contrast, several Caribbean states including Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Kitts and Nevis operate unicameral legislatures, where elected and appointed members sit in a single chamber. The appointed members are referred to as Senators.
The listed countries are ALL independent and can do whatever they like. We however; are not. Fall in line or get slapped back there!
Blind leading the blind. That’s not a solution to the problem.
The irony here is that Myron went from At-Large to the District for better odds at winning but here he is talking foolishness.
And on top of that saying that he doesn’t believe the Premier should be chosen at large….
Most of our BVI Politicians know absolutely NOTHING about a productive Political System. They run for Politics just to get their Hands on a piece of the Corruption Pie. Some of them were Dead Brokes until they entered our HOA, then all of a sudden they have more Land and Money than Bill Gates. Some them are just in it for Themselves, their Cronies and their Families and Not for the General Population of the Territory. People need to look at their situation and look at the State of the Territory from District to District, Then Educate themselves on what Politics really means for a Country or Territory. This needs to be done if not already, certainly before our next Elections. Listen to the Cries of our Caribbean Brothers and Sisters in Guyana, Jamaica.
Most people are crying out for change. The same Political Shit Games are being played everywhere. Only a select few are Thriving. Dont get me wrong, People should not wait on Government to do personal things for them. Government knows what they are responsible for when elected. It’s Not about paying off Credit Card Bills for Sweet Boy. It’s Not about securing extra Crown Lands for yourself and Family. It’s Not about only taking care of a selective few. Do the Things that are Beneficial or will affect ALL Citizens of the territory equally. Build proper Schools. Build proper Roads and other Infrastructure. Introduce proper Programs geared towards the Youths, the Elderlies, Differently abled, Unemployed, etc.
Improve your Education System. Improve your Healthcare System. Introduce and Pass Laws that governs ALL not who didnt Vote for you. Put a Succession Plan as a legal Policy for Civil Servants as well as the Private workforce. In any case of Emergency where there is a distribution of Monetary Funds or Non-Monetary eg. Foods, Supplies, etc ensure that there is a transparent system in place so that ALL Residents of the Territory can partake of fairly. Make Laws to protect the well-being of Citizens inclusive of Consequences for Non- adherence of such Laws. etc, etc,etc. All in All, We are desperately in need of Honest, Caring, Transparent, Trustworthy Politicians. It seems like those days are long gone when the Citizens of this Territory could be Proud and Comfortable with the type of Leaders we had. Not Now. There should be a law in place where ALL Political Parties MUST produce a manifesto before Election inclusive of input from the People and it must be Binding if they operate differently from what is stated in their Manifesto, there should be legal consequences.
would be a required political intelligence test for all candidates in the next election. Similar to the bar exam for lawyers the test would require written answers in each 2 hr. exam with no computers, phones, etc. just the candidate the exam questions and a pen or pencil. So 10 separate exam topics answered 2 a day for 5 days. The Passing grade is 70%. Candidates who fail will be removed from the election.
Holy Roman Empire founded the Senate system. It worked well but members of the present HOA would first need to import a pride of Lions to be fed on all untrustworthy citizens of the state by order the gold challis wearing Emperor of the BVI
He think he slick! He done know that if he goes at large he will lose badly! So since he can’t get to drink from the fountain, all of a sudden the fountain is poison??? The premier of this country should absolutely 100% be an At Large candidate that the entire voting public voted for. Premier should not come from a particular district because the rest of us 8 other districts did not vote for you! Simple democratic rules!