JVD & Anegada: We still want our own District & District Rep!
Some residents of the two islands are of the view that by having their respective District Representative and being made into their own district, it would increase the chances of issues that are currently being faced on the islands, to be known, heard and addressed at a much faster pace.
Beverly Martin of Jost Van Dyke (JVD) said that presently, with a population of 350 people, they are often forgotten and are considered to be the orphans of the VI.
Ms. Martin stated that by having their own District Representative and being made into their own district, she believes the people of JVD would be able to have direct liaison with the government pertaining to the needs of the island, needs regarding; tourism, garbage, electricity, roads and many other things.
“Having a District Representative would be so much easier to attend the needs of the community. It is very difficult for us to be heard.” She added that before the general elections last year and even after, nothing has changed and JVD continues to be ignored.
According to Rajah Smith, he too agrees that JVD is in ‘need’ of its own representative and should be made into its own district. “That being because of many, many reasons but I will just lament on the statement that it is very much needed.”
Mr. Smith also agreed that being able to have their own representative, the island would then have the opportunity for improvement at a faster pace that can be beneficial for the natives.
“A change needs to be considered. Having our own district representative the people would have more access to a representative and would be able to speak and voice their concerns and ideas for improvement, rather than having someone who does a ‘in the blue moon’ visit.”
Meanwhile an anonymous JVD resident said it is not fair that the island is represented by someone who knows nothing about it. “Someone who visits the island once a month knows nothing about the struggles and the living conditions of Jost Van Dyke.”
The JVD resident continued, “The representative for the island should be someone who loves and cares for the island and knows its history”. He added that a native of the island is the best person to be a legislative representative.
Meanwhile, residents on Anegada also feels the same way regard having their own representation.
An businesswoman of Anegada, who wished not to be named, said there is a need for the island to have its own representative. “We need someone to speak directly on behalf of Anegada.”
She stated that Anagada is left out of everything and has been that way for a long time. She added that for the island to make something of itself, it will need its own representative, someone who knows what is needed and will represent Anegada to the fullest.
“Having a District Representative, an individual who lives here, they would be able to see the needs and properly identify the problems that arise on the islands and would fight and keep fighting in hope of solving them.”
The Anegadian lady said the island gets no attention from Government officials. “Yesterday was the 2nd official day since general elections in November 2011, since a Government Elected Official been here on the island.”
In addition, another Anegada resident, Jerry Vanterpool said that any government existing in the Virgin Islands always put Anegada on the back burner until it is time to be used again for elections or some other project.
Mr. Vanterpool told this news site that there are many things on the island that needs to be addressed. “The politicians are seeing them and are talking about them but are still moving forward and putting us at the back.”
He said that having their own representative that falls in the government would make a huge difference in Anegada.
“Politicians are different before elected, but once elected, all that form the government in the Virgin Islands over the years are the same, where they constantly ignore the island and the other sister territories.”
Mr. Vanterpool said the people of Anegada are being treated like dogs and haven’t seen a Government representative since the general elections. “They just want to stay there and collect their big salaries. That’s all they looking for because they not studying us.”
He stated that it is unfair that Anageda is not granted with their own representative, when it was an Anegadian by the name of Theodore Faulkner in 1949 who introduced the ministerial form of government to the Virgin Islands after coming back from Aruba.
“The politicians of today are benefitting from what he brought back and implemented, while we the people of Anegada are suffering.”
Following the concerns raised by residents, Virgin Islands News Online contacted Sister Islands Coordinator Mr. Vincent Wheatley who said that he also sees the importance of a native of both islands being granted the opportunity to be District Representatives for their islands and to stand as their own Districts.
He said the decision is a sensible one, seeing that someone from the island would know exactly what the island wants and needs.
“Having somebody living on the islands represent the island is a great idea, where the person would be in a greater position to address the problems rather than someone not living there.”
In example, he stated that if an island is experiencing power outages, someone living on the island and experiencing the same problems as the other natives, would be much greater to defend a decision to be made to fix it, rather than someone not living there.
In order for the VI Government to obtain another district representative, the Constitution Order of 2007 allows for the creation of another ministry, but states, “…in no circumstances may the number of ministers exceed two-fifths of the total number of elected members of the House”, and that means the House of Assembly will have to add two new members.
The former Government of then Premier Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE, had set up a Constituency Boundaries Commission, headed by retired Judge Monica Joseph who submitted her report in 2009.
Following well over 15 meetings Territory wide in an attempt to obtain feedback from the public from Tortola to Virgin Gorda, Jost van Dyke and Anegada, a report, authored by Judge Joseph was distributed at a December 29, 2009 House of Assembly meeting, held in the Capital City, Road Town on Tortola.
In is unclear what the report calls for, however, a two-thirds vote in the local Parliament would be necessary to move forward with any actions or recommendations from the people of the VI.
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