Complaints Commissioner Elton Gorges told the SFC that the public is getting value for money from his office. He said that most of the complaints to his office are delays and non-responsiveness in getting things like applications dealt with or request for information from Government.

On his new talk show 'BVI forum' on channel 51, controversial talk show host Edmund Maduro in January accused the Complaint Commissioner of being a "waste of time" and claimed all he does is "write letters".

Territorial At Large Member Archibald C. Christian enquired how the CC found his role and whether he considered that the Territory was getting value for money based on that position.

Mr. Georges noted that the questions were two fold and responded that it was an interesting job and the office was kept very busy achieving what was intended when the office was established. Additionally, he believes that “the Territory was getting value for money in the services rendered to the people and to the Government”.

Hon. Christian then enquired about the most frequent type of complaint received. The CC responded that without a doubt it was delays and non-responsiveness in getting things such as applications dealt with or requests for information, where persons wrote in or applied and there was a long delay in responding.

Mr. Georges illustrated by referring to the office responding to a complaint regarding an application for naturalization made in 2003 and decision was only made in 2007, but during that time no one was up-dated unless they called the office to follow up.

Minister for Health and Social Development Ronne W. Skelton enquired about the total number of cases dealt with since the office had been established.

The CC explained that when one referred to the number of cases, a distinction must be made between persons calling the office, walk-ins and writing to the office regarding matters. He stated that with all three combined, the total was nearly 300 or so, perhaps even more.

However, Minister Skelton clarified that he was requesting the total number, since the CC would have had to judge which of the complaints were relevant.

The Minister repeated the question and requested the total number, whether the complaints were relevant or irrelevant.

The CC replied that what he was speaking to and in regards to matters brought before the office, in total it was over 300 in the three years that the Complaints Commission had been established.

In terms of raw figure of relevant complaints Mr. Georges told the SFC that in 2009 the number of investigations was 5, in 2010 it was about 14 and in 2011 approximately 20 or so. The CC also told the Committee during his presentation that his office did not have a lawyer and in some cases they may need legal advice.

He told the Members that legal advice was so costly that they had to carefully consider when it was needed and the small funds that were available could be exhausted getting advice on one matter.

Meanwhile, earlier this year, controversial talk show host Edmund Maduro on his new TV talk show ‘BVI Forum’ on CBN channel 51, had described the Virgin Islands’ Complaints Commissioner “as a waste of time”.

Maduro was at the time responding to a caller to his show who suggested that the Territory has a Complaints Commissioner as another alternative, if the public was not obtaining proper redress from the Labour Department.

Maduro claimed that all the Complaints Commissioner does is just “write letters” and that there is the need for someone who could get up and go out in the community.

Mr. Maduro, a retired civil servant and former Chief Immigration Officer, claimed on the same show that he took two persons to the Labour Commissioner to address an issue and he was treated like a “pig” and had to walk out of the meeting. He offered no further details on the situation.