CoI Report cites possible corruption in Gov't; Recommends direct rule by UK
This was disclosed by Governor John J. Rankin, CMG during a press conference this morning, April 29, 2022.
Governor Rankin also said the Report will be published today.
The CoI Commissioner made several recommendations, including direct rule; speedy review of the VI Constitution; curtailment of 'open-ended discretionary powers' held by public officials, including Cabinet; and a series of audits, which may lead to criminal investigations.
The Report also recommended criminal investigations, including on the failed BVI Airways Project and the Elmore Stoutt High School Wall Project.
According to Governor Rankin, Minister for Overseas Territories Hon Amanda A. Milling will travel to the VI next week to hold discussions with government and Members of the House of Assembly on the findings and recommendations of the CoI.
Dissolution of HoA- CoI Report recommends
According to the Governor, the Commissioner made 45 specific recommendations on how to address each of the areas of concern that his report identifies but he also made four overarching recommendations.
"First, he has concluded with a particularly heavy heart that unless the most urgent and drastic steps are taken, the current situation with elected officials deliberately ignoring the tenets of good governance will go on indefinitely. He notes that the people of the BVI deserve better and that the UK Government owes them an obligation to protect them from such abuses and assist them to achieve their aspirations for self-government as a modern democratic state. He states that the continuation of the current situation will adversely affect those aspirations and that the only way in which the relevant issues can be addressed is for there to be a temporary partial suspension of the constitution.
"He accordingly recommends dissolution of the House of Assembly and the cessation of Ministerial Government for an initial period of two years. During that period he 12 recommends a Governor-led administration with such assistance as the Governor consider appropriate, for example an Advisory Council to advise him on the formulation of policy and the exercise of his official functions."
According to the Governor, decisions on these recommendations are yet to be made and will be the subject of discussions in the coming days.
More details to follow.
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45 Responses to “CoI Report cites possible corruption in Gov't; Recommends direct rule by UK”
For too long it’s going on
Go from here
Get on Liat etc u know the rest
Well Now u know who owns the territory.
Who runs the town.
Too much money missing and wrongdoings throughout the government departments.
now the people who once had our ancestors in slavery is back to run things again
some of us thinks the white folks hands are clean are simply fooling themselves they sold and whipped our forefathers and also into movement of dope and money
If you feel the UK taking over will stop the money hemorrhage then you have not been paying attention to their news sites. They have the same issues as us so don't for a second think this is ok. Stopping corruption, have you not hear about Partygate. The UK aren't our saviors. We are the only ones that can bring ourselves out of this. Remember they said these islands were only good for a bird sanctuary. Their original plan was to move our ancestors to other Caribbean Islands or back to the Africa. By the way the original name of this territory is the Virgin Islands not the British Virgin Islands. Check all our official documents, you would see Government of the Virgin Islands on them. British Virgin Islands was only used to distinguish between us and our neighbours the USVI. So I suggest you get use to calling our country the Virgin Islands and not the British Virgin Islands.
I am not saying the UK is without flaw but my goodness we are in need of their support again now.
May love, respect and harmony be with you and all of us!
that, as soon as practcal, a full audit of these contracts be performed by the Auditor General or some other independent person or body instructed by her, and a report on that audit
be presented to the Governor. The terms of that exercise should include consideraton of
(i) the evidenced work done by Mr Skelton Cline under these contracts, (ii) the contractual
obligatons of Mr Skelton Cline under these contracts, and any mismatch between those
obligatons and the work done, (iii) to the extent that he was not performing his contractual obligatons, the circumstances in which Mr Skelton Cline was paid out of the public purse, and (iv) whether the contracts provided value for money. Unless in the meantme the relevant BVI authorites consider otherwise, further steps including any criminal investiaton and steps to recover public money (including recovery from any public ofcial who has acted improperly) can await the outcome of that audit.