Hon. Fraser said he was disappointed that Premier Smith did not introduce a motion on the formation of an OECS Assembly, and suggested that he should have. Photo: VINO/File

Hon. Fraser made these comments during the other business segment of the first sitting of the second session of the second House of Assembly, held on September 3, 2012.

“Madam Speaker, what I was thinking... what should have been done Madam Speaker, is that the Premier of the Virgin islands, would have come to this Honorable House with a motion on the formation of the membership from the Virgin Islands to the OECS assembly.”

The Third District Rep. stated that in the said motion, Premier Smith would have explained to the House and the territory, what this body is all about, what is expected to be gained from it and what they [OECS) expect from us.

“But evidently the Premier saw it different and he acted different.”

“I am still of the view that a motion should be brought to the house, for the selection of the membership, even though protocol dictates what the membership should look like. It says that the leader of the opposition shall be a member, of course the Premier will be a member, and one other person.” Fraser continued.

Hon Fraser said, with the Virgin Islands getting involved in OECS, it means “we are bought into it, but if the Premier doesn’t get us involved in this, we can never buy into it.”

“I want to encourage the Premier to follow the spirit of the formation of that assembly which is an assembly of government and opposition and get everyone involved… Not because I’m not a member or Tom is not a member, means that they don’t have a meaningful input as to what should be done [on how] to conduct ourselves in that body.”

“I don’t know if the Premier thought that it is an executive decision, but I got news for the Premier, because if it was an executive decision, it wouldn’t include the opposition and that in itself speaks to the fact that, it is a matter for this government, the legislative government to deal with.”

In light of the fact that the Premier did not introduce the said motion to the House, Hon. Fraser said that he was very disappointed that the Premier didn’t see it that way.

“I am not here advocating that the BVI is fully on board with all the initiatives with the OECS; some are not compatible with our way of life, or the direction we are going.”

The Hon. Member made reference to the then opposition leader of the Antigua Parliament, Baldwin Spencer, who is now the Prime Minister.

Hon. Fraser said “He [Mr. Spencer of Antigua] made a passionate plea for something that I have been able to see come into play, which is that the opposition of parliament be involved in the decision making of the OECS.”