NDP record stuck on 'VIP left Govt. broke' tune
“That was no debate it was just a bunch of self-centred NDP cronies making themselves nothing but some puppets thinking that we the residents of this territory are a pack of dumb people,” alleged a close follower of the VI politics. Members of the VIP did not take part in the debate.
Hon Walwyn continued to accuse the previous Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Administration of leaving the country broke in his budget debate presentation in the House of Assembly yesterday February 11, 2014 but a source within the VIP said the party is preparing a response to ongoing accusations that VIP left the country broke when it left office just over two years ago.
Speaking at the Fourth Sitting of the Third Session of the Second House of Assembly, Hon Walwyn said when the present National Democratic Party (NDP) took Office in November of 2011, the Reserve Fund was a little over $7 million.
“Now Madame Speaker it is somewhere in the region of $36 million today and in the budget you have another $15 million allocated there Your Honour,” he said. “So by the end of the year you will have $51 million or so in the Reserve Fund,” said the Hon Minister, stressing, “It is important for our financial independence.” He said that every time the Territory needs a loan “we have to run to Britain to sign off for us.”
According to Hon Walwyn, when the NDP took office in November 2011 it also met over $40 million of outstanding bills. “By the end of 2013 we paid that $40 million off,” he said.
He said money was used up on “all kinds of foolishness” hence the country could not fully insulate itself against the financial crisis that hit the region.
Hon Walwyn said that it is not a sin to save money and noted that it is something that could get a Government voted out. “Saving money has its own political dangers that come along with it. Because they are some untutored minds…some uninitiated minds that people would take advantage of. You could very well lose an election for putting up money here, you know,” said Hon Walwyn.
“We have much talk Madame Speaker about the Reserve Fund. In the budget we have $15.5 million for the Reserve Fund,” he said.
“It is up to all of us to talk to the truth to the people and I encourage people [to do their own research and arrive at conclusions],” Hon Walwyn said. He said that a study of the laws covering the Reserve Fund will reveal that one cannot just dip into the fund anytime one likes.
“You cannot just save the money so that you could go back and spend it…making people believe that you could take out money out of the Reserve Fund and cut bush and do other things, it is wrong and misleading the people because you cannot do that,” he said.
“The money is there for emergency purposes. If you have an unfortunate incident in the country…if you have an earthquake…if you have a natural disaster…if something goes terribly wrong, you go to the Reserve Fund and you use the money from the Fund. It is not to be used willy-nilly and operate as if it is the part of the normal fund of the Government,” said Hon Walwyn.
“What is being done with the Reserve Fund is something that we signed on to do,” said Hon Walwyn. “We should be ashamed to have England tell us we have to save money,” he said. “We should be ashamed because we did not grow up so,” he stressed. “So how did we get to the point where we just spending all our money and making it seem as if saving money is some kind of cardinal sin?” he asked.
“We have a small percentage of people here who believe that an economy is how much money they may get in their hands from petty contracts and other things. But there is a bigger picture than that,” he said.
“The Premier and Minister of Finance [Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith] is doing the right thing by putting up the money. You have to be more concerned about doing a job than keeping a job,” said Hon Walwyn.
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20 Responses to “NDP record stuck on 'VIP left Govt. broke' tune”
The truth never causes sickness to decent people. The truth must be shouted from the mountain tops. The truth is VIP left the BVI in a financial mess and they were a total embarrassment to the territory.
So you have stated what Government should do. Now tell me what should the people do? Are the people living within their means? Government cannot raise minimum wage so stop talking s..t. We are already paying for NHI. Millions of tax dollars go toward flying people out for medical treatment and Government is most times never paid back any money. In every other country over the past 5 yrs civil servants have taken pay cuts and many have been laid off. BVI is the only country I can think of where nobody was laid off and nobody salary was reduced. Increment is a 'raise' and you're not entitled to it. Stop acting like a spoiled brat and blaming Government for the ills we the people have created. Nobody in the BVI is going hungry otherwise you won't see latest Range Rovers, rims, weave dos, nails done, $400 pairs of jordans flashing all over face book and so forth. Going hungry my a.., get up and work.
They chose to not go on record where it matters for posterity,with an objection or an abstention.
Their blahblah outside of HOA and to the media is phony and pretentious drivel.
I give them credit for their honesty by collectively declaring
that they wouldn't tell tales in HOA yesterday
Democratic or Dictatorship?