HoA to meet on July 6, 2015, still no Opposition Leader!
This is according to our news room’s senior sources within the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), which has an 11-seat out of 13 majority in the House of Assembly (HoA).
The order paper has not been released as of post time but, according to the same source, the Leader of Government Business, Premier and Minister of Finance Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith, is expected to have a few statements on some topical issues, including the recent lay off at Biras Creek.
The Speaker of the HoA Ingrid A. Moses, who was re-appointed and has faced heavy criticism from the Opposition, civil society and the media in her last tenure [2011-2015] for allegedly being biased, promised at the first session of the Third HoA to be “fair”.
Still no Opposition Leader
The Third HoA will meet for the second time in its new session without a Leader of the Opposition.
This is because there is no agreement between Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) and Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) over the post of Opposition Leader following the elections where the VIP only obtained 2 out of 13 seats, keeping them in the Opposition in the HoA.
Hon Fahie expressed an interest in becoming the Leader of the Opposition and Hon Fraser, who is the Chairman of the VIP, believes he should hold the post since he heads the majority party on the opposition side of the isle.
Under the Virgin Islands Constitution 2007, the issue of political party does not play a role in the pick of the Opposition Leader as all that is required is a majority in the Opposition to advise the Governor in writing who will be their Leader.
However, Hon Fahie has refused to go along with Hon Fraser as the Opposition Leader, therefore there remains an impasse.
Governor Duncan, in a press statement last week, gave the two warring factions a month and a day to see if they could break the impasse.
To date the both men cannot agree on the Leadership of the Opposition.
This news site will bring you an update once the order paper for next week’s sitting is obtained or if the impasse between Hons Fraser and Fahie has ended.
22 Responses to “HoA to meet on July 6, 2015, still no Opposition Leader!”
Fifth Grader: Good line, but we in the field know better.