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'Let them carry on with their mischief, we have nothing to hide' – Hon Vincent O. Wheatley

- said CoI is move to dissuade gov't from mission to empower residents
Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, Honourable Vincent O. Wheatley (R9) at a Saturday, January 23, 2021 community meeting in Baughers Bay stressed that the Commission of Inquiry is a move to dissuade the government from its mission to empower residents. Photo: VINO
The Commission of Inquiry was called by ex-governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert, who is well known to have had a strained relationship with the elected government. Photo: VINO/File
The Commission of Inquiry was called by ex-governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert, who is well known to have had a strained relationship with the elected government. Photo: VINO/File
One of the clear policies of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government, led by Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1), has been about empowering the Virgin Islands people. Photo: VINO/File
One of the clear policies of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government, led by Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1), has been about empowering the Virgin Islands people. Photo: VINO/File
BAUGHERS BAY, Tortola, VI- Government ministers are on the road encouraging residents to not lose sleep over the recently launched Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into governance as they are confident that they have done no wrong and have nothing to hide.

Among those with this message is Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration, Honourable Vincent O. Wheatley (R9) who at the Saturday, January 23, 2021 community meeting in Baughers Bay stressed that the CoI is a move to dissuade the government from its mission to empower residents.

“Ever since we got elected, for a matter of fact, when we ran, we ran on two or three very specific things we wanted to achieve for this territory. One of them is the empowerment of the people and that message was so well taken, so well received that it got some people scared.”

One of the clear policies of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government has been about empowering its own people and this was recently seen with the swearing-in of Dawn J. Smith as a first local attorney general in some 20 years.

It has maintained that locals are capable of filling top posts in the territory.

This was also highlighted with the passing of the Disaster Management Act 2020, which, among other things, seeks to return the responsibility to local government.

Gov't going too far!

According to Hon Wheatley, not everyone was pleased with the Government's agenda of people empowerment.

“They said you people are going too far with this empowerment idea. So they are trying their best to dissuade us from continuing down that trend, but the only way we are going to go, one way, the empowerment of our people to handle their own affairs at some point or the other, there is no turning back, I don’t care what they try, we are on this path and we are going to stay there,” the Minister said.

Hon Wheatley also reflected that the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) had campaigned on the platform of transforming the territory and it has been moving in that direction.

“And transform we will transform the BVI, we are not going back we are going forward, and when we go forward we will continue to go even further forward.”

'There will be more attacks'- Hon Wheatley

He warned; however, that there will be resistance to the plans.

“So you’ll see these attacks here, and many more to come, but we know from whence our strength comes from so we are not afraid, we are all sleeping good at nights we have nothing to hide, we have nothing to be afraid, so let them carry on with their mischief, let them carry on with their mischief, it's ok.

“You don’t have to fear anything about this government here, everything is transparent, plain and accountable.”

Hon Wheatley said the government has been taking its time to cross the Is and dot the Ts, which resulted in some things taking longer than expected, “And that’s why some things have been taking so long to happen during this pandemic, we got to make sure, we said it, these things are going to be audited we had to make sure every T was crossed and every I dotted.

“And yall complained saying why it take so long, not yall, understand why we took the time that all systems of accountability were in place because we know the possibility of this happening and here we are, here we are now, a commission of inquiry. Every newspaper all over the world, BVI is a croak, drug dealers, BVI has stolen money, all sort of madness pure foolishness, they will not detract us from our mission and our purpose of empowering you the people. That is our pledge to you all, and once we pledge it we are going to do it.”

25 Responses to “'Let them carry on with their mischief, we have nothing to hide' – Hon Vincent O. Wheatley”

  • Pshh (25/01/2021, 17:10) Like (18) Dislike (13) Reply
    Yall don’t sell us out so I can’t trust none of y’all

    Sold us out to Mr. Gates and company set of wussies, can’t believe y’all did this to y’all own people, only the was who knows what’s going on will understand my statement
  • bystander (25/01/2021, 17:16) Like (31) Dislike (5) Reply
    Empower the young people with land Vincent don't hide that.
  • Styles. (25/01/2021, 17:58) Like (59) Dislike (28) Reply
    Hey Vicenzio

    A few months ago you said that there was too much accountability requested and therefore your staff did not dare to produce any accounts or do any work.

    And now you say there is nothing to hide.

    Which one is it?
    • Complicit (25/01/2021, 18:33) Like (9) Dislike (0) Reply
      Perhaps the staff did not dare produce accounts because they did not want to be complicit
    • Oringa (25/01/2021, 21:47) Like (6) Dislike (2) Reply
      You heard or misinterpreted wrong. What he said was, that accountability was being weaponized to the point that civil servants had become so fearful of the scrutiny of their work and roles that they would do no more than what the job required. Therefore the chance of critical thinking, independent decision making and doing more than the job requested or required was no existent.
      • Hmm (26/01/2021, 08:58) Like (6) Dislike (0) Reply
        You can't weaponize accountability if you have the proper procedures in place. The reason that can even be a thought is because the BVI been doing things anyhow for too long and now when they actually have to done properly it becomes "weaponized". If they had proper procedures no matter how much you want to poke at it they would have a complete trail and nothing to be fearful of.
  • rztztrztr (25/01/2021, 18:00) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
  • My girl (25/01/2021, 18:03) Like (4) Dislike (12) Reply
    you speaking good Vincent
  • Challenger (25/01/2021, 18:23) Like (41) Dislike (1) Reply
    hold on a minute. the VIP government also ran their election campaign on the fact that they were going to wxpose the corruption of the ndp and bvi airways..the wall...the tortola pier park....not u backtracking and saying there are alterior motives for this COI...??? i.m totally lost. this is what you all wanted. !!!
    and by the way...when you say THEY told us you going too far with this empowering of the people..WHO said that ?????? you cant paint a picture like that without giving us facts...not just sayong what you want to justify your statements. WHO said that to you.
    respectfully if not frustratingly submitted
  • um (25/01/2021, 18:45) Like (51) Dislike (1) Reply
    OK so where is the Business Stimulus? Why has it not been paid out to all now? Why did so many not receive their SS money? Song and Dance that EE was getting its sewage project but now nothing. Still people getting money for what? Just ugh. Those of us that see the daily BS are tired of the talk. Why is the port not being made ready for the 1 March?
    • (25/01/2021, 19:19) Like (14) Dislike (0) Reply
      where's the 30 mil UK send
    • brokes (25/01/2021, 19:41) Like (8) Dislike (1) Reply
      Thousands got business stimulus checks. People too witless. Them owe you and do t want you to know they get the money. Some get two checks and want 6. Give someone else a chance. More checks to come
  • Read (25/01/2021, 18:51) Like (21) Dislike (0) Reply
    TAKE A GOOD LOOK @ THAT (STAND) BODY LANUNGE ON DISPLAY.
    • The fighting. The conflict (25/01/2021, 22:09) Like (7) Dislike (0) Reply
      The war will soon be over and people will unite,,,, those that are in darkness will soon see the light,,,,,,,,,,Stop deviating and separating the people,,,Unite the people,,,, admit your mistakes and pledge and pray to do better,,,,Quit the blame game,,,,U all messed up and his to account,,,,
  • asking for a friend (25/01/2021, 19:01) Like (7) Dislike (33) Reply
    The uk treat the bvi real bad i lost faith the new governor has to restore our faith
  • 911 (25/01/2021, 19:22) Like (4) Dislike (17) Reply
    Vincent we support you
  • uhh (25/01/2021, 21:45) Like (9) Dislike (0) Reply
    Ohhh blah blah blah
  • ReX FeRal (26/01/2021, 07:02) Like (5) Dislike (3) Reply
    Who's we
  • Outsider (26/01/2021, 07:04) Like (13) Dislike (1) Reply
    This is the Minister who has instituted requirements whereby those renewing work permits have to do the paperwork and processing they always had to do PLUS now:

    - obtain obtain a certificate from the NHI;
    - obtain a certificate from the Social Security Board;
    - obtain, I think, a certificate from the Inland Revenue;
    - prepare and submit an application for each of those authorities for each of those certificates;
    - make a separate payment for each;
    - naturally, effect payments via a Nineteenth Century means of payment (no ‘click of the button’ efficiency for our Minister); and
    - spend one’s time filling out all those forms and running around town getting those certificates etc. from government authorities so that they can be submitted to a government authority.

    Minister, you like to dot the ‘I’s and cross the ‘T’s. Wonderful. But we migrant workers have jobs to do. Spending our resources and time or those of our employer on the above isn’t productive. Please start valuing our time and resources and those of our employers. With remarkable ingenuity you have managed to wind back much progress made by the last government on processing of work permits. This alone is something worthy of consideration by the Commission of Inquiry. It may not be corruption, but it is gross mal-administration. You’ve taken a sledgehammer to crack a nut. You’ve put us in a time machine and brought us back several decades to a time when this sort of bureaucracy was less remarkable. And no doubt you take a sense of pride in having done so!
  • Reality check (26/01/2021, 08:05) Like (21) Dislike (1) Reply
    This is the minister who refuses to go after the employers who haven't paid NHI, SS, nor IR, instead refusing to approve work permits even when the employee has all their pay stubs showing the thieving employer took the money from their paychecks. Stop penalizing the work permit holders and start prosecuting the employers who have been stealing from the government. This is an issue which the CoI needs to look at closely, given how many of the thieving employers are connected!
  • Accountable (26/01/2021, 11:31) Like (6) Dislike (2) Reply
    @ outsiders everywhere in the world you need to be accountable. To long the BVI have been a free for all, it's time to pull up and buckle up. Some people may get hurt in the process but you will survive. This stress won't last for ever may be you would learn to appreciate the measure's in the feature. We have a lot of folks playing pelinkie bird in the territory and this is the time to root them out of their nest. Both employers and employees so please give the system a chance to work out and iron out some cracks that needs mending. Everything will not be perfect but change is a must. Everyone can't bring their auntie, uncle, father, mother, cousin friend, enemy to the territory and expect it to be ok and free. How would you feel in your country if the whole world came to yours and doing so much foolishness and you suffer from it. Here in the VI the people of the territory embraced you for a very long time most of who is coming now needed to be like you. So you see why the territory need to tighten their belts. Please give them your support they are not perfect.
  • Know this (26/01/2021, 14:07) Like (0) Dislike (1) Reply
    There is one king in the kingdom.
  • Faithful (27/01/2021, 11:49) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
    We the people are not losing any sleep. The government past and present however will need some strong sleeping pills.


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