Former Speaker Willock scores VIP Gov’t 7/10 in 1st 100 days in office
Mr Willock was at the time appearing on a panel discussion on a weekly show called ‘PANEL 4’ on WPG 10TV in Grenada on August 1, 2023. The topic for discussion was 'The issue of governance and the colonial yoke'.
The former Speaker in his analysis said, “Firstly, you know that they, the Virgin Islands party, came into power under enormous headwinds. They faced a Commission of Inquiry, faced a barrage of one-sided reports from the Auditor General in which only her side was heard. No one was interviewed to at least balance the reports.”
He added, “They faced the arrest of our former premier Andrew Fahie and on and on and on… and despite those challenges… the Virgin Islands Party was able to win six out of the seven seats and they lost one of the seats by a small margin,” he added while detailing that Hon Lorna G. Smith, OBE crossed the floor to form the government.
As part of his Analysis, Mr Willock said one the of things the Wheatley government has gotten right is the issue of airlift.
Gov’t got airlift right – Willock
“It is a serious issue not only in the British Virgin Islands but also in the region and they were able through negotiation going back three years to lure American airline back to the British Virgin Islands with a direct flight from Miami to Tortola. So that was a major accomplishment.”
Mr Willock said some of the other things the VIP government has accomplished is the over 75% completion of the implementation of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) recommendations.
“The other things they were able to accomplish was the formation of a new ministry to bring focus to some of the important economic engines of the British Virgin Islands, financial services, trade, labour. So we now have a new Ministry of Financial Services, Labour and Trade, which will focus on driving those things that spur economic development in the BVI,” he said.
Mr Willock said while it is only a 100-day analysis, the government still has a long way to go amidst challenges with infrastructure, which is an issue for most developing nations.
“So these are things that they now have to grapple with and get a hold of those challenges and make the quality of life for the citizens of the BVI what it ought to be,” he said.
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