House of Assembly abruptly postponed! A divided House?
The Meeting was to be held today Tuesday March 6, 2018 as the Order Paper is filled with questions from the Opposition Leader Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) and Bills. However, once members got in the chambers the Speaker, Honourable Ingrid A. Moses-Scatliffe, announced the recess until Thursday but gave no reasons.
Moments ago we telephoned a senior National Democratic Party (NDP) source, who simply said “a house divided cannot stand.”
Tension in NDP camp
When pressed, the source did not elaborate on what message they were trying to send, but suggested there was “too much tension in the camp.”
Many NDP elected members and other party officials are still reeling from Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL) blaming elements within his own party, last week at a press conference, for placing a billboard in the middle of Road Town, urging residents to call their representatives and ask them to vote “no” on the Framework for BVI Recovery Plan.
Yesterday Monday March 5, 2018 Premier Smith raised the billboard issue again at a ceremony in memory of the first Chief Minister of the Territory, H. Lavity Stoutt.
Immigration confusion
Meanwhile, Immigration officials are in confusion following the recent announcement by Dr Smith that expats workers changing jobs are not to be sent home.
Senior officers are saying that they were caught off-guard, as nothing was officially sent to them in writing on the new policy.
With the new appointment system now in place for persons seeking time to remain on the islands, it seems like the long lines are now transferred form downstairs to the main Immigration office upstairs.
Both Immigration and Labour continue to struggle to deal with every changing polices from the Premier that are not fully thought-out, are usually political, do not have the full support of the top managements of the departments and at times violate both the Labour Code and Immigration Acts.
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38 Responses to “House of Assembly abruptly postponed! A divided House?”
Not a man say that!! SMFH!
Any body could give away money and help others once you have the money to do so especially, we tax dollars
And telling people the court wanted the chambers more lies
Polly means to germinate n tic is a blood sucking animal.
If you don't know from whence you came, then certainly you won't have any idea as to where you are going. The future of our small nation lies in "forward thinking minds" that can be touched by the infirmities of the poor and needy.
I cry for the future of our young generation.
We interview and elect people to represent us in the HOA. Election is constitutionally due in 2019. Nonetheless, though the VI does not have but needs date-certain election, the Premier has the advantage of calling a election at his heart’s desire. Consequently, parties and candidates cannot wait for until election is called for us to interview them. The interview process should have started already. We currently should be conducting the interview. However, currently we are assuming that the whole NDP gang is running; on the VIP side, Andrew Fahie, D-1 and leader of the Opposition. During our interview of candidates, they need to tell us in a timely manner that if they are elected how they will do things differently with the same or less resources. This is a critical time for the BVI. It is in crisis resulting from two Cat 5 hurricanes——Irma and Maria. The estimated damages and recovery cost is approx $3.6B, which is approx 3.5 times of GDP. Going forward will require strong leadership and adroit management skills and effectiveness.