NDP slapping Good Governance ‘in the face’– Hon. Andrew A. Fahie
This he did in an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online this morning March 12, 2014. He has also sought to clarify his reason why he has chosen only now to break his silence on the VIP boycotting of the February 10 and 11, 2014 sitting of the House of Assembly.
Slap in the face
Hon Fahie told this news site that it is a fact that when the House sits on March 13, 2014 members of the opposition will not be tabling any questions as he stated that there are still quite a lot of unanswered questions from previous sittings.
“...answers promised by the Premier and the Speaker have not been forthcoming for many previous sittings. This seems to be the norm of this administration not to adequately answer questions and then when this behaviour is challenged they would always say that they would provide information requested and they never do,” said Hon Fahie, describing such behaviour as ‘a slap in the face of good governance’.
Despite the fact that Opposition has no questions on the Order Paper for tomorrow’s sitting Hon Fahie said that they intend to participate in some of the bills that are likely to be tabled.
As it relates to the VIP boycotting the February 10 and 11, 2014 sitting of the House of Assembly and his silence up until now, Hon Fahie said that he was diligently awaiting and giving the NDP government a fair and sufficient time to come clean.
NDP ‘sticking to their script’
“I was giving this government time to see if they would come clean with the people and stop the perception management game that they have been playing,” said Hon Fahie.
He alleged that the NDP government has been ‘sticking to their script’ much to the detriment of the democracy, the people of the VI Territory and the present and future generations of the VI. “With serious issues in this country at this time getting involved in perception management and political games will not help it move in a positive direction it needs to move in at this time,” Hon Fahie told this news site.
In a press release today Hon Fahie stated that as the House of Assembly is scheduled to meet on Thursday March 13, 2014, he finds it necessary to disclose why it was decided by Members of the Opposition to boycott the recently concluded Budget debate held on February 10 – 11, 2014.
He explained that although the Government had scheduled activities for Agricultural week on the sister islands of Anegada on Monday February 10 and on Jost Van Dyke on Tuesday February 11, 2014, they found it convenient to schedule the Sitting for the Budget debate on the same dates.
“What troubled members of the Opposition most is that the Budget debate of 2013 was also scheduled by the NDP Government at the very same time of the Agricultural week activities on Anegada and Jost Van Dyke and by so doing made it impossible for the members of the 2nd and 9th Districts to attend the activities in their constituencies,” said Hon Fahie in his press release.
“The members of the Opposition find these actions to be disrespectful to our people in Anegada; disrespectful to our people in Jost Van Dyke; disrespectful to the Honourable members of the 2nd and 9th districts; disrespectful to the farming community and; a blatant disrespect and disregard by the NDP At-large Members to the people of the entire Virgin Islands,” he said in the release.
Secrecy and incomplete disclosure
He, like other members of the Opposition had also confessed, said that the Honourable Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith had promised and had given his word that this clash of dates would not have occurred in 2014. “It is wrong and it would not be tolerated by the Opposition. We stand in Unity against this level of disrespect,” said Hon Fahie.
He said in the release that the substantive issues facing the VI can no longer be overlooked by either the NDP Government and surely not by Members of the VIP Opposition. He noted that these are issues that command the attention of each and every Member of the House of Assembly and regretfully the NDP Government has chosen a path of secrecy and incomplete disclosure.
Taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars
Hon Fahie said that in spite of questions by the Opposition, to date they have received no approval documents in relation to the Cruise Port Expansion Project, documents in relation to the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport Expansion Project, documents in relation to the Senior Citizens’ Home neither the National Sewerage Programme among others.
“Each of these projects, in their own right, exceed the 4% threshold of the National Budget and, as such, the very Protocols signed by the NDP Government directs that Life Cycles be conducted; that the project be considered by Cabinet, that the project be presented to the House of Assembly and that express written approval be received from the Secretary of State before commencing. Before commencing,” he said in the release.
Hon Fahie noted that despite these glaring deficiencies, the NDP Government, as in the 2013 Budget, has allotted millions of taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars toward expenditure in each of these new projects, for in the words of the Premier, “as a warm up exercise.”
“The NDP Administration has to come clean with the people of the Virgin Islands. This is not a warm up game! This country has been given a deadline of 2015 to comply with the Protocols document signed by the NDP Administration who declared the negotiations to be successful, as they informed us that the British Government were eating out of the palm of their hands. In other words, they got all they wanted,” he said in the release.
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People we need to seek information for ourselves, similar legislation have been inacted across the Caribbean and the world. The world and the way we operate today is driven by the use of Technology. So it is imperative that we have laws that protect the privacy of individual while operating online and in a technologically advanced world. We need not allow these politicians to pander to our emotions and seek knowledge and be better informed. We are better than that as a people.