Got TIPS or BREAKING NEWS? Please call 1-284-442-8000 direct/can also WhatsApp same number or Email ALL news to:newsvino@outlook.com;                               ads call 1-284-440-6666

Nothing to apologise for in Protocols for Effective Financial Mgmt – Hon. Pickering

Hon. Dr. Kedrick Pickering said there was no need to apologise for anything in Protocols for Effective Financial Management. Photo: VINO/File
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Minister for Natural Resources and Labour, Hon. Dr. Kedrick Pickering has said there is nothing that he needs to look back on and say he was sorry about with regard to his participation in the negotiation for the Protocols for Effective Financial Management.

The Hon. Minister made this declaration during the House of Assembly (HOA) sitting held on October 9, 2012.

Explaining that he took individual, collective and national responsibility for his part played in the negotiations and discussions in bringing the document to where it is, the Hon. Minister went further to say “I have absolutely nothing to look back over and say I am sorry about this or I am sorry about that and there is nothing in that document that I can feel in any way that does a disservice to our country.”

Hon. Pickering further stated that if there were issues with the document then “there are issues” but from where he sat “the negotiations were held in a context in which [he thought] we did to the best of our ability under the circumstances and our heart was in it.”

He added, “even if our head was wrong, we didn't do it out of any disservice or disrespect for our fellow man.”

Stressing the need for proper context, Hon. Pickering noted that it was important that becoming lost in the details was averted. He said this may allow persons to miss what was essentially “the bigger picture” being discussed in the House.

“The British Virgin Islands,” he noted, “is an Overseas Territory (OT) that is governed and ruled by Great Britain.” Hon. Pickering related that this allowed the Territory a certain degree of autonomy to do things “the way we see fit.”

He however stressed, “none of us must be fooled into thinking that we have ultimate authority to make decisions as we see fit because that is not a fact.”

He then related that there were wider issues that needed to be considered that the British government has to deal with such as the disaster in Montserrat which he said cost them dearly; a major problem in the Turks & Caicos Islands “that was of their own doing”; major issues with Anguilla; and also the Cayman Islands which resulted in the institution of a Finance Management Committee. The Cayman Islands Premier (also the Minister responsible for Finance) he noted now has to “answer to a finance committee that is chosen by the British Government.”

“He has no choice… he doesn’t even have a say in who these individuals are,” he said.

“Let us understand, that is the context in which we are here discussing the Public Finance Management Act today,” he added, “if we lose sight of that, then what we are doing is almost academic in the true sense of the word. We are making a mockery of even our very existence in this House here today.”

The Hon. Minister for Natural Resource and Labour noted that the British government has noted there is no major problem plaguing the Virgin Islands like the rest of the Overseas Territories (OTs) but “there are red flags that are flashing” and there was no need for another problem to arise in the context of OTs.

8 Responses to “Nothing to apologise for in Protocols for Effective Financial Mgmt – Hon. Pickering ”

  • steel man (11/10/2012, 08:38) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    The protocol was a sellout of our country so that is what Myron call eating out of hands then I would not like to see if we were not eating out of hands…BAM
    • Crank Shaft (11/10/2012, 09:14) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      I guess you're right, they sold us out. It would've been better to re-elect VIP and let the UK suspend our Constitution like in Turks and take over. I agree, that would've been better than us getting to spend our money how we want but with stricter rules and oversight. You are right. (idiot)!
      • parole buddy (11/10/2012, 13:46) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
        At what time was the UK threatening to take over under the VIP government. You and a set of NDP idiots bought into that stupid scare tactics. This document that your government signed is nothing new. This is a document which the VIP government refused to sign due to certain demands in it. Many of the demands which the UK Government wanted and now got with this Government will prove to be more destructive to the BVI economy. If this government did the right thing and the UK is pleased with it then why are they still treating them with so much distrust. In the past Government Cabinet used to meet with the Governor once a week at Government House. This is no longer so they meet with the governor every day in the premier's office. It's like the governor has an office at the Central Administration Complex. You all bragged about the budget not having to go to England for approval that is only so because the governor oversees every aspect of it on a daily basis. Why send something to England for approval which is created by England themselves. Crank Shaft it is you and many others who are the idiots. The NDP Government claims that they have un-covered many wrong doings by the VIP Government tell them produce one document showing where the UK government was threatening to take over the affairs of this country when the VIP was in power. When you cant train a PIt Bull to be a pet you get a Cat thats what happen here.
        • Cluckcluck (12/10/2012, 10:48) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
          Parole buddy - the reason they might be meeting every day is because the UK is fed up with all that waste and corruption going on here in this administration, the previous ones and a set of governments before that. Waste and corruption is what this all about, and if you a BVIslander and you vex with that you either don't care about the BVI or you one of those (most of us) gaining from this scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours political system that made these islands a TOTAL mess. Yes, Ralphy govt and Orlando govt. and the whole civil service operate on a ME, ME, ME basis and YOU KNOW IT. That's why the roads are dispicable. The hospital got tamarind growing out of it, the education system FAILING more kids than it been helping in the last 25 yrs.
          Ayo party people so hung up on the big guy giving you a handout you don't even think about real solutions to the BVI problems. You just think for yourselves.
          The UK govt. don't want to spend money bailing us out. It don't want to run this country. But it DOES want it's little territories to keep working as cash hideaways for the financial sector and it don't want us to embarrass it. So all you talking like they WANT to run this place talking BULL. But if we acting like kids left alone with a box a candy and a box of matches, they coming in to take control as much as they need. The Protocols was the better option for us because otherwise they coming in even harder.
          Corruption don't look good for them. And it don't DO NO GOOD for the BVI.
          So stop pretending you care about anything but youself all you NDP -VIP mouth runners. The rest of us suffering for your self interested party 'loyalty'.
  • Mind=heart>FailedVI (11/10/2012, 09:53) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply

    "He added, “even if our head was wrong, we didn't do it out of any disservice or disrespect for our fellow man". Think you were elected for your Head as much as your heart!!!!!!
    If your head isn't working right $h1t with the heart.

  • fame (11/10/2012, 10:29) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    stop u'll crap! have u looked around to see the direction the Uk is going. if they took over it means all their fat cat firms would have been given contracts for each and everything to operate here in the BVI. You know what that would do to local businesses! they would become extint....so hush ur trap..you have no idea what you are saying...Nothing revolves around the BVI, which is what u simpletons seem to think all the time, you have to look at the greater picture.....we are not independent, we are an OT, what whats been happening in the other OTs, the UK aint taking any chances, now its either you negotiate early get whatever you can from them now before its too late...things are really get hard the the UK government out to get as much money as they can from their OT's thei citizens and anyone else with interest in the OT's and the UK...Perfect example you see what the USA did with their double taxation policy.....once you are US citizen living out the USA, u gots to pay up!!! Ayo stop there wid ur crap...gone are the happy days!
  • JF (11/10/2012, 16:10) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    @fame - No offense, but you are somewhat misinformed. US citizens living abroad do not necessarily have to pay taxes to the US.. They are REQUIRED to FILE a tax return but that does not automatically equals a tax liability as they have the option to FILE form 2555 and claim a Foreign Income Tax exclusion (I believe it is currently capped at $92,900). Additionally, there are Tax treaties between the US and many countries to prevent double taxation.

  • ccc (11/10/2012, 17:33) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    SAME NDP fool blogging under different names trying to build the numbers


Create a comment


Create a comment

Disclaimer: Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) welcomes your thoughts, feedback, views, bloggs and opinions. However, by posting a blogg you are agreeing to post comments or bloggs that are relevant to the topic, and that are not defamatory, liable, obscene, racist, abusive, sexist, anti-Semitic, threatening, hateful or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be excluded permanently from making contributions. Please view our declaimer above this article. We thank you in advance for complying with VINO's policy.

Follow Us On

Disclaimer: All comments posted on Virgin Islands News Online (VINO) are the sole views and opinions of the commentators and or bloggers and do not in anyway represent the views and opinions of the Board of Directors, Management and Staff of Virgin Islands News Online and its parent company.