VINO’s Exclusive- Stop the politics, support Gov’t of the day – Hon. Malone
Hon. Vernon Malone is calling on civil servants to stop playing politics and support elected Government regardless of which side of the table they are on. Photo: Reuben Stoby/VINO.
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – The question of whether the political persuasion of civil servants is affecting the operations of the elected Government of the day continues to raise subtle discussions and in one case, has lead At-Large Representative Honourable Vernon E. Malone, himself a former public servant, to submit a paper on how to address the situation which can have a daunting effect on any elected Government.
While it is expected that the public service should carry out the agenda of the elected Government of the day regardless of personal political preference of individuals, there are cases where senior public servants are removed from office following the election of a particular party and in other cases, public servants have been alleged to do everything in their powers to “boycott” the government in power that they may not have supported during an election. The recent leaks of confidential Government information have been blamed on such public servants according to some.
At-Large Representative Hon. Hon. Vernon Malone submitted a paper to the Deputy Governor's Office on "Development Administration" which offers solutions for the public service to work together. Photo: Reuben Stoby/VINO.
In an exclusive interview with VINO, Territorial At-Large Representative Malone said he is very passionate in his bid to see a non-politicised public service and submitted a paper to the Deputy Governor’s Office on ‘Development Administration’.
“… this is something I feel passionate about, and the civil service must not be politcised. It must carry out the programme of the Government of the day, it is essential. And if it is obstructing, it is only helping to pull down the country,” Hon. Malone disclosed.
“So as soon as the Government is in, no matter which government, no matter if you vote for that Government or not, start to help the BVI to get its projects going so that the BVI can grow,” he charged.
Malone said Development Administration is very crucial to any country, and not just the Virgin Islands.
“The civil service must work to get those programmes out and they must feel a part of the administration that is going to get it done. “
The first term elected member of the House of Assembly said some civil servants think he is criticizing them, but said what he is really critcising is public administration.
“It must go into its developmental phase, as soon as the Government is elected, no matter which one it is, you don’t have to support,” he divulged.
“You vote for who you want, but when that is over, let’s build the country,” he said.
The Development Administration paper is one of many papers the lawyer and former Commissioner of Police have written during his tenure as a politician.
He also took the opportunity to highlight some of the many projects he was still able to accomplish with limited funds and being excluded from many projects.
“I was able to pave roads, I was able to fight for the Cadet Corp, I was able to push forward my ideas on national heroes, I was able to put up bus stop shelters, restore the well in Long Look, I was able to fight for money for the police range in the sum of $100,000, I was able to advance the idea for a Police training institute, and I have asked the Premier to put $100,000 of my $200,000 towards that for this year,” he revealed of his accomplishments.
The recently leaked FCO letter has been blamed on civil servants who does not support the current Government.
The At Large Representative said he also gave out hundreds of monetary donations, for people with financial hardships, funeral grants, health issues, and for setting up small businesses.
In addition to those accomplishments, Honourable Malone said the best part of his tenure was his contribution to all of the legislations that came before the House of Assembly where he either gave his views or asked for amendments in a number of areas.
“It allowed me to research widely. I have looked at what other countries are doing, the United Kingdom, the United States, I normally look to them for guidance. I spend many, many hours just researching, to make sure we get it right, and sometimes in advancing my own viewpoint I upset people. But my intention is not to upset, it is to, let’s get it right, let us not make the mistake that others have made when you can take proper guidance.”
“But I really enjoyed my time researching and I have several libraries and I work very very hard in coming up with what I call the best answer for the BVI,” Malone said.
11 Responses to “VINO’s Exclusive- Stop the politics, support Gov’t of the day – Hon. Malone”
Leave a Reply
Follow Us On
Related posts
Popular Tags
Recent Comments
- Plain Silly! on Tourist attraction or an eye sore?
- John Crow on Tourist attraction or an eye sore?
- Hmmmm on UPDATE – VI says NO to same sex marriages!
- And ... on Government should reserve jobs for Virgin Islanders – Wheatley
- vip on Walwyn wins Ministers’ race! [Slide show Included]
this is one time I agree with you Vernon but knowing how the civil servant is so partisan starting from the DG Inez Archibald what else can one expect from the rest of the people.
Malone go remove that matter from your chin and stop talking BS! Don’t try to blame the civil servants for the NONSENSE that the VIP has done over the past few years!! Just because people won’t sit back and let you all run the country red you’re upset. There are rules to be followed and protocol for certain things. You all want to kill the FS because he tells you there isn’t funds for certain things. You want to kill the PS in various departments for stuff caused by the Ministers themselves. You tell me anything that’s happening contrary to what Ministers are promoting!
The civil servants didn’t cause the hospital to stop, sewerage running in the street, roads dug up and in a hot mess almost a damn year after flooding, no water running to people’s houses, road town STINK, youth running amok, crime out of control, recreational facilities looking like ghetto structures, nowhere for our youth to train and prepare for international sporting events, 6mil spent in Purcell and stilll looks like a hot mess, 2 mil spent on a community centre in Purcell and still can’t open, 500,000 on stop lights that had to be taken down a month after, public schools with bathrooms out of order for lack of water and repairs, should I go on? What public servants he talking about? Why aren’t the ministers doing their jobs? VOTE THEM OUT!! ALL OF THEM!!
since when you became the cyber god and think everything you say is right??
Point out ANYTHING that I said in my post that is wrong then!! It’s easy for you jackasses to be on all the blogs talking crap, what I listed below are things of PUBLIC knowledge! They’re in the news every week and in the House of Assembly! Again, tell me what I said that isn’t true! It has nothing about being cyber god, it’s about caring for your country above self and party, something you should try one day!!!
Real Talk: This is the biggest crock of shit I have ever read. You are one screwed up individual, you must be having a difficulty with your sectuality. None of the figures are close to being right. $6 million on Purcell. Do you know what $6 million is? Do you care? or you just want to impress yourself. Again my point, you must be having problems with your sexuality. Traffic Lights $500,000. You are hallicunating. Where did you get your figures? Only a person having problems with your sexuality could be that misleading, just to impress themselves.
These are not the days when one has to suffer through sexual hardship.
Maybe we need to consider a system that when a government comes in they walk with their own people as I do not predict the big political division in the civil service will go away anytime soon.
Mr. Malone you are spot on with your comments. The civil servant is very political and they continue to block the government programme because they cannot wait for the election hoping that the NDP comes to office. Speak your mind Mr. Malone you are on to something serious, an in the end the BVI suffers.
The service was always political but the problem now is they are showing it more than ever before
I heard the government will loose the elections because them same political civil services blocking the hospital (Neil) the biwater project (Marver & Bretrant) the road project (Gloagow and Neil) and I could go on and on…some of them need to go if this country is to move forward yall
What about the Politians blocking projects trying to ensure that some of their own members loose the elections? Talk that!
To Real Talk. Don’t respond to the unbridled.