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HOA’s poor & ineffective operations peeve members!

-Not only is the House of Assembly a circus in the public eyes, administratively it’s a mess
The Standing Finance Committee report says that the House of Assembly is a mess administratively. The HOA Library is non-functional and there are disparities between what is recorded during sessions and what Members receive as the final copy. Speaker of the HOA Honourable Ingrid A. Moses blamed it all on lack of human resources but promised that there will be significant improvement now that there were some additions to the human resource capacity. Photo: VINO/GIS/File
Member for the First District the Honourable Andrew A. Fahie noted that when questions were asked in the House and when they were not provided on hard copy or in real time and the Hansard reports are not submitted on time it poses a problem. Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr. the Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering (R7) told the 2014 SFC that it was important for members to receive reports from previous years, as they were critical references that should be used to form part of the discussions. Photo VINO/File
Member for the First District the Honourable Andrew A. Fahie noted that when questions were asked in the House and when they were not provided on hard copy or in real time and the Hansard reports are not submitted on time it poses a problem. Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr. the Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering (R7) told the 2014 SFC that it was important for members to receive reports from previous years, as they were critical references that should be used to form part of the discussions. Photo VINO/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI - The public and former Members have already concluded that the House of Assembly of the Virgin Islands is held in low regard following the 2011 general elections that saw some new members elected.

It was revealed also that internally on the administrative side of the Operations the House of Assembly (HOA) it is even worse.

This information was contained in the 2014 Report on the Deliberations of the Standing Finance Committee (SFC) while they examined the Draft 2014 Budget Estimates.

At the time Clerk of the HOA Mrs. Phyllis Evans was making her presentation before the SFC. It was Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) among others who raised the issue of the House Library not being operational. Hon Fahie said that conducting research in the HOA was extremely difficult.

The former Minister for Education and Culture told the SFC that he received an electronic copy of the Hansard report for 2013, but had not received one for 2012.  The Member for the First District contended that if the reports were being paid for then they should be received on time.

Serious issues with authentic answers to questions

There have also been serious concerns raised about what the public sees in answers to questions in the HOA and then what members are given.

The Member for the First District Fahie noted that when questions were asked in the House and when they were not provided on hard copy or in real time and the Hansard reports are not submitted on time it poses a problem.

Hon Fahie said what was more frightening to learn at the SFC is that there were sittings where he had not received hard copies of the answers. Additionally, additionally there were Sittings where the answers to the questions on the hard copy when provided were not the same as the taped version.

Hon. Fahie lashed out staying that the lack of a Library to conduct research, the delays in receiving the CDs, DVDs or Hansard on time and getting information in real time put him in an awkward position as Members of the HOA should be speaking from information that was requested.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour Dr. the Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering (R7) told the 2014 SFC that it was important for members to receive reports from previous years, as they were critical references that should be used to form part of the discussions.

In agreeing with Hon. Fahie on the issue of different answers from spoken word to hard copies Dr. Pickering noted that the didactic side of the Questions and Answers sessions was the formal response to the answers and it was when there were follow-ups that the need for the verbatim reports would be extremely important.

Deputy Premier lashes out at HOA inefficiency

The veteran Legislator who represents the people of the 7th District on Tortola warned the HOA Administrators that it was less than proper not to receive the verbatim reports and, if the verbatim reports were to be edited, it would pose serious problems. The Minister for Natural Resources and Labour noted that receiving the verbatim reports had been a long-standing issue.

In her response Chairwoman of the SFC and Speaker of the HOA Honourable Ingrid A. Moses blamed it all on lack of human resources. However, she promised members that they would see a significant improvement in getting the reports out to them now that they had additional human resources.

15 Responses to “HOA’s poor & ineffective operations peeve members!”

  • farmer brown (19/02/2014, 17:35) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply
    See why everything in the bvi gone to the dphs?
  • speaker (19/02/2014, 17:59) Like (7) Dislike (2) Reply
    the Speaker has failed in her duty if these reports are not being done the buck stops with her. this poor country
    • Ajic (20/02/2014, 08:07) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
      This is what happens when you hire friends and family who are not equipped for the job. Ms. Moses is obviously the wrong choice for the job.
  • virgin gorda (19/02/2014, 18:41) Like (9) Dislike (1) Reply
    I say vote them all out
    • @Virgin Gorda (23/02/2014, 05:36) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      I suppose you have another drunk from VG to replace her with?
  • tretretrete (19/02/2014, 18:55) Like (4) Dislike (0) Reply
    Why not look at some of the Library personnel at the Public Library in town...they do a great job in organizing materials
  • chad (19/02/2014, 19:26) Like (3) Dislike (0) Reply
    How you passing a budget if you dont have correct info? Is that why no posts were created? You all using wrong info to inform the public. I have to go buy a sfc report.
  • ooooo (19/02/2014, 21:27) Like (10) Dislike (0) Reply
    seems like some ah dem in the house hardly know the rules
  • VG in the house (19/02/2014, 22:06) Like (1) Dislike (10) Reply
    I'm so sick and tired of the opposition members all they can do is complain now that there a on the other end of the table,gosh when they was in controle they was like looooose canons brag and Bosey sit you all A$$ down and keep quiet leave some one else take care of our business
    • Look at the facts (20/02/2014, 07:33) Like (5) Dislike (2) Reply
      To "VG in the house" please read the article again and then post your comment for even the present Deputy Premier has a problem with getting verbatim reports on time or not at all so this isn't just a problem for opposition members. Even previous SFC reports are difficult to obtain. The Clerk is the administrative head of the HOA and leadership in that role seemingly is lacking. It seems high time for a shake-up in that office.
    • tretretrete (20/02/2014, 07:59) Like (8) Dislike (0) Reply
      @VG in the house. I have one word for you: "IDIOT"
    • @ VG in the house (20/02/2014, 08:06) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply
      mvw go sit down you got the HOA in a mess
  • bam (20/02/2014, 08:48) Like (5) Dislike (3) Reply
    They need to appoint an efficient Clerk and these admin problems will disappear
  • count down (20/02/2014, 16:15) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    NOT TO WORRY JUST TWO YEARS LEFT BEFORE WE RESTORE THE HOUSE TO ITS GLORY DAYS


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