'I don’t think the ultimate solution is for us to reverse and go back in a more Colonial situation I believe that we have to strengthen our institutions here, add democratic institutions, strengthen our media instead of threatening our media, we need to strengthen our education system, we need to protect our citizens through good laws'- A view expressed by Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru. Photo: VINO

Governor William B. McCleary is regarded by some as impartial but high-handed by others, especially civil servants, some of whom have even taken him to court. Photo: VINO/File

This is a topic that again came to the forefront during a recent lecture at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) by an internationalist as seen in a recent publication on this news site. The lecture spurred much thought including that of a man who has never been been shy to express his honest views on any topic that he is knowledgeable of- Mr Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru.

“I don’t see much difference in being independent and non- independent in these times because even independent countries, their former colonisers have some amount of influence over their economies and even politically. Institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and many other international organizations have a lot of influence over how they function and operate and in these times as a little micro island state you can’t really solve the problems that you are faced with on your own. You have to be a part of some kind of larger grouping,” Wheatley told Virgin Islands News Online during a recent exclusive interview.

He said being independent is not really the answer right now but feels there needs to be searching questions. “The BVI has to make a decision as to what we want to go to, we want to remain tied to Britain, we want to fall and integrate ourselves into CARICOM, which would be a very hard decision considering CARICOM can’t seem to get itself together. Do you want to associate because that’s another option that we have?”

Wheatley said it is his view that the time has come for the Virgin Islands to start looking keenly at the options available to move the Territory and should start exploring and conducting mass education programmes to discuss the options that are available. “They need to make it very clear to people that the status that we have right now is not in keeping with international democratic principles right now. It’s something that’s archaic.”

Currently it seems persons are more concerned about the political maturity of the Territory especially when it comes to the behavior of politicians. “And sometimes the Governor is seen as somebody from the outside who can be a little bit un-bias, objective, even though we know that they have their own bias but at least you know that they are not taking sides, or seeming to take sides with different parties, so sometimes the people like the governor for that reason.”  

One of the concerns of changing the status of the Territory may be its financial services industry, which accounts for over 60% of the Territory’s revenue and the question of how this may be affected with becoming independent. “That’s something I have not been able to get an answer to and I would really be interested in the people who have the knowledge base to show how whatever political change or potential political instability could impact the financial services sector. People would really like to protect the financial services sector and they would be a little wary of anything that might disrupt it.”

Mr Natalio Weathley said that in his view the topic of international law and colonialism should be a topic of discussion on a wide spectrum with a much bigger audience since it has not been a topic that has been discussed to the extent that it should. His eyes were opened to this even further with the recent discussion held with Internationalist Dr. Max Hilaire staged by the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) for a chosen few.  

“I think that people here sees it as something not to be so alarmed about. We celebrate emancipation in August but I am not sure if we make the connection between emancipation and the fact that we are still a colonial Territory.” Mr Wheatley added, “I think we should be able to have the discussion without any sort of fear, we should really have the discussion in a really academic setting in a really mature way and see where it leads us.”

He insisted that while the topic is a very important one it does not warrant any sudden action but minds should start to be geared in the directions of other available options that are more internationally friendly compared to being seen on the international scene as a ‘Colonial’ Territory.  

Of key importance, he said, is the need to take into account that the present UK government is exhorting a lot more pressure on the Territory as opposed to the past years. “You could say that the government of the UK neglected us for a lot of years but now it seems as though they are really being a bit heavy handed in terms of our ability to do whatever it is we want to do or as we see fit in developing the Territory. You can even say that we’ve gone backwards a bit in terms of the level of power, level of authority, level of control that we have in the BVI right now.”

He said the level of control by the present UK government can be seen in the Protocol for Effective Financial Management, the White Paper among others.

“I don’t think the ultimate solution is for us to reverse and go back in a more Colonial situation I believe that we have to strengthen our institutions here, add democratic institutions, strengthen our media instead of threatening our media, we need to strengthen our education system, we need to protect our citizens through good laws, protect them from any form of victimization. We need to do a better job at raising the political maturity of the people to elect leaders who would be looking out for their best interests and take some real strong measures against corruption because we have practices that I consider to be corrupt taking place all the time on a regular basis and I think if we start to take some of these measures we can police ourselves rather than the UK government policing us," concluded Mr Wheatley.