Premier lodges complaint against Governor over BVI Airways report
The Premier said he has been forced to write to both the UK Minister for Overseas Territories, Baroness Elizabeth G. Sugg, as well as to the Governor over the issue, given the subject of the audit report is of great interest to the public and the missing $7.2M funds.
Governor Jaspert, through a statement from his office, had told the media the report was sent to Cabinet and hence implied that is it now the responsibility of the Premier to make sure it is laid to the House before the statutory deadline.
In a statement dated April 30, 2020, Premier Fahie said, "Let me say from the onset that I do not wish to engage in [an] unnecessary public argument with the Governor or any other UK official on this issue. This response is precipitated only by the fact that comments attributed to the Governor form part of the media reports in the public domain, and these reported comments must be now addressed in the public’s interest."
Governor received report on February 7, 2020
According to the Premier, in his accusations of procrastination at the Governor's office, the Governor after receiving the report on the botched airline on February 7, 2020, only tabled it to Cabinet on April 22, 2020, and this he says is insufficient time for Cabinet to be able to do its job properly, given the statutory deadline.
"Section 20 (2) of the Audit Act stipulates that the Governor shall, within three months of receipt of a Special Report from the Auditor General, cause the report to be laid before the Legislative Council. Working with the Governor’s date of receipt, the Statutory deadline for the report to come before the HOA would be May 7."
The Premier said Section 8 of the Standing Orders of the HOA stipulates that a minimum of 10 days’ notice must be given to the Members of the HOA before any meeting of the House. "This is for Good Governance because Members must have ample notice of when the House will sit and what will be the business for that sitting, so that they can be present and adequately prepared."
"Assuming that May 7 was a scheduled day for the meeting of the HOA, which it was not, it would mean that the Notice for the Sitting would have to be dispatched by the Clerk of the House no later than April 27."
Cabinet not given enough time to dissect report - Premier
The Premier said the procedure is that for the Minister of Finance to table the report to the HOA, the Minister must be instructed to do so by Cabinet, "The report having not reached Cabinet by April 22, and having raised this on a prior occasion with the Governor, it became necessary for me to put pen to paper – albeit with a heavy heart.
"The question is, therefore, why should Cabinet have been placed in the position where it is forced to do a 'rush-job' with this report in order to meet the Statutory deadline, while the report was sitting at the Governor’s Office for more than 10 weeks?"
The Premier further asked, "Is Cabinet expected to rush through and rubber stamp the report to cover for procrastination in another place? That is not fair to Cabinet and to the people of the Virgin Islands, and it is not consistent with Good Governance."
He said bearing in mind that this report has been with the Governor for in excess of two and a half months, should it have been received at an earlier date, then Cabinet would have had a reasonable opportunity to perform its duties, and to work with the HOA’s planned schedule based on the Standing Orders.
"As it stands, there is no guarantee that based on when the Governor brought the report to Cabinet, that the deadline under the Audit Act can be kept, and in order to do that the work of Cabinet will have to be compromised."
'I do not know where the chips may fall' - Premier Fahie
The Premier said that part of his reasoning to address the issues in writing, with that in media reports and elsewhere, is that it is being suggested that the Governor, by now putting the report before Cabinet, has fulfilled his duty.
He said media report implies "That his hands are washed clean and any delay or failure going forward would be the fault of the Premier."
The Leader of Government Business further remarked, "I do not know where the chips will fall with this matter but when that time comes, the facts must be clear and on the record. There have been too many clouds over this matter, and your present Government does not intend to be part of any more clouds forming."
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45 Responses to “Premier lodges complaint against Governor over BVI Airways report”
Govna like he forgot about dis report and now trying to pull a fast one on gov't. Nothing passes under Andrew radar. Man sharper than a razer.
We are a colony of the UK,but we have fundamental rights and freedoms in the BVI.
["Protection of freedom of expression"] is a fundamental right and freedom under The bvi Constitution.
[" (1) No person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his or her freedom of expression---
(2) A person's freedom of expression includes freedom to hold opinions without interference,freedom to receive information and ideas without interference,freedom to disseminate information and ideas without interference (whether to the public generally or to any person or any class of persons) and freedom from interference with his or her correspondence or other means of communication"]
PREMIER ANDREW FAHIE WILL NOT BE HINDERED, by the Governor, and we the bloggers will not be hindered,
to INSTRUCT the NDP, members to "bring back our money,into the treasury to fight covid-19, or face criminal prosecution in the UK Courts!
My dear people of the BVI, did you read on this free and democratic news site,what your honourable Premier do?
This Premier,ent covering up.no corruption of the past NDP Government,and he is rightly,letting the people be aware of what is going on!
This is the kind of leadership and transparency,we asked for and we got it from the VIP government.
Andrew Fahie is a real leader.Put the politics aside and vote this man back into office, all the way.
Forward ever-backwards never.
God save the queen..
Make the report public as it reads now.
You have not seen the alleged complaint.
We always feel that governors that come here do the right things but they don't.
This letter writing complaint and blaming and shifting have me feeling the demonic vibes of that short Bishop who is,apparently the ordained mouthpiece.
Every day we get some sort of interference from him and this nail in our coffin to distort and create chaos,.feels like his instructions.
Your " Great God of the Universe" is watching.
Play nice.
Play fair.
Shifting,blaming,tattletaling wont cut it.. Nothing to gain and everything to lose.