Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) said that the High School must go back to issuing its own Diploma as its signature of achievement, under a system that is fully accredited but is unique to these Virgin Islands, making it mandatory for persons wishing to compete here to meet the Territory’s standards. He said it is the only way to instill the pride our people deserve in them, and it is the best way to enhance any advantage they may have here at home. Photo: VINO

Speaking at a community meeting of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) held on Wednesday September 17, 2014 the party’s Chairman Hon Fraser (R3) said that the Virgin Islands are unique in this region and indeed the world and it is irrefutable that the Territory has the best sailing waters in the world but it is puzzling why the Territory cannot place its own label on the education system. Photo: VINO

According to the aspiring Premier of the Territory, Virgin Islanders are assured that the VIP understands and accepts that these islands belong to the people and not the leaders per se, and that no development can take place unless leaders can clearly demonstrate how it benefits the people, and that it is in their best interest. Photo: VINO

Speaking at a community meeting of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) held on Wednesday September 17, 2014 the party’s Chairman Hon Fraser (R3) said that the Virgin Islands are unique in this region and indeed the world and it is irrefutable that the Territory has the best sailing waters in the world but it is puzzling why the Territory cannot place its own label on the education system.

“The Virgin Islands will have a hard time convincing others that we have a college, thanks to our former leader H. Lavity Stoutt, which issues a degree, but our High School can't issue a Diploma, it must come from outside in order to be legitimate. That must not continue. It will not continue under a VIP government,” said Hon Fraser.

He said that the High School must go back to issuing its own Diploma as its signature of achievement, under a system that is fully accredited but is unique to these Virgin Islands, making it mandatory for persons wishing to compete here to meet the Territory’s standards. He said it is the only way to instill the pride our people deserve in them, and it is the best way to enhance any advantage they may have here at home.

“Financial resources cannot be the reason when monies are being spent elsewhere. Our youth must come first,” stressed Hon Fraser.

“My message is one of consistency and sustainability. It is a VIP message to the youth who feel that they are being ignored; a VIP message to the poor who feel that they have been abandoned permanently; a VIP message to the elderly who feel that the system has failed them; a VIP message to the civil servants who saw the NDP cut their increments in half; a VIP message to Virgin Islanders and belongers who feel like second class citizens in their own country; and a VIP message to the business community that public-private-partnerships will be the future course of these islands,” stated Hon Fraser.

According to the aspiring Premier of the Territory, Virgin Islanders are assured that the VIP understands and accepts that these islands belong to the people and not the leaders per se, and that no development can take place unless leaders can clearly demonstrate how it benefits the people, and that it is in their best interest.

“Ladies and gentleman let’s give our dear friend and former Chief Minister Cyril B. Romney a resounding round of applause for bringing this legislation into being.  My dear brother Earl P. Fraser was also a member of that administration,” he said.

Passionate about one of the main income generating sectors of the Territory, Financial Services, Hon Fraser said that today they are under attack from all angles, including the government of France “which has placed us on their blacklist since August 2013 for noncompliance, and to this day no one in the administration can tell us when this will all end.”  

“In the interim however, our government continues to compromise the liberty and rights of its citizens as it signs agreement after agreement forcing you to disclose to foreign governments your earnings and belongings. The first of these agreements was with the United States in the form of a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), then the UK with their own version of the US FATCA, and now the Global Forum,” he said.

He alluded to him and Honourable Andrew A. Fahie  (R1) pointing out the long term impact those tax agreements will have on the industry as they remove the incentives investors once enjoyed by doing business here. “Unfortunately, the Premier's advisors are telling him different,” he said.

He said that the heavy burden of new taxes placed on citizens is without justification as no one can justify the size of departure taxes to travel to St. Thomas, the high cost of a passport, the cost of a Visa, or the cost of any government service. 

“Who in government is prepared to explain how our small businesses will cope with the cost of the National Health Insurance (NHI)? Conservative estimates by experts in the Claims Settlement area of Health Insurance have placed the revenue deficit for the NHI at close to $50 million in the first year alone,” he said.

He further stated, “It is a concern of mine that the consultants who came here to do the research from which the recommendations were made were merely only able to scratch the surface of the depth of the potential liabilities.”

Hon Fraser said that initiative is being rushed and if implemented now, will spell financial disaster for the government of the Virgin Islands.

“Our vision is the expansion of the Virgin Islands’ economy through a concerted and dedicated effort of diversification, beginning with our Financial Services Sector. This Territory yearns for the opportunity to get back to solid leadership and join the United States as the formidable leader in the west in the march to prosperity,” said Hon Fraser.

According to Hon Fraser the state of the Territory’s economy which has been in a mode of contraction since the NDP took office in 2011 is largely in part to their failed policy of austerity, and that only the VIP's stimulus policy can save the Territory. 

He said that a disastrous and poorly advised decision to adopt a proven failed European economic model which punishes the poor and rewards the rich is responsible for the continuous slide in the economy. “It is a system which recognizes that only the fittest can survive, and is fully prepared to sacrifice the weaker class which happens to be the poor among us,” he said.

“Through this economic model the National Democratic Party promises a better life, but they failed to inform the poor that they will be eliminated in order to create that better life for the rich,” said the VIP Chairman.