Commentator Douglas Whealtey has urged that any calls for a referendum on independence in the Virgin Islands be allowed to come from the people instead of Cabinet ministers as has been the case recently. Photo: VINO/File

Minister for Education and Culture, Hon. Myron V. Walwyn used the occasion of the Emancipation Service at the Sunday Morning Well on August 4, 2013 to call for citizenship rights for children born in the VI to expat parents while Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool seized the same opportunity to call for discussions on self determination. Photo: VINO/File

“I don’t think it is for the Premier or the Deputy Premier or any particular Minister to say whether or not the people of the Virgin Islands are ready for a referendum on self-determination,” Wheatley stated on the Speak Out BVI radio programme.

He added, “I think that is something that is squarely in the ball park of the people of the Virgin Islands and they will let their representatives know what their feelings are.”

Co-host Natalio Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru said it was interesting that calls for self-determination should come from a government minister even as they were defending the Protocols for Effective Financial Management, which is seen by many as limiting the VI’s chances of seeking self-determination.

Doug Wheatley advised that politicians should adhere to political circumspection and stated, “one has to be very careful as a Cabinet member… so that they don’t put themselves in hot water by having what they call a loose lip”.

He also noted that politicians should be careful that they are not jeopardising their Cabinet or colleagues or government or acting ultra vires (outside their authority) while pursuing something with such passion.

“Members of the Cabinet, I know you would like to have the same freedom of speech that all citizens have but because you are a Cabinet member, you have to be a little more circumspect with how you put your points across [and] where you put your points across, that you don’t in fact get unintended consequences out of your well intentioned ideas and thoughts,” Wheatley counselled.

Minister for Education and Culture, Hon. Myron V. Walwyn used the occasion of the Emancipation Service at the Sunday Morning Well on August 4, 2013 to call for citizenship rights for children born in the VI to expat parents while Minister for Communications and Works, Hon. Mark H. Vanterpool seized the same opportunity to call for discussions on self determination.

Both of these topics have been met with mixed reaction but moreso the ministers have been criticised for raising those controversial topics at the Emancipation Service.