Reshuffled! Premier Fahie reassigns Junior Ministers!
Honourable Shereen D. Flax Charles (AL) has now been appointed the Junior Minister for Trade and Economic Development while Honourable Sharie B. de Castro (AL) has been appointed Junior Minister for Tourism.
Hon Flax-Charles previously served as Jr Minister for Tourism and Hon deCastro as Jr Minister for Trade and Economic Development.
Capacity building
According to Premier Fahie, the objective is to always ensure that capacity is built by all those who he is working with to ensure that all persons are exposed to the necessary experience of the ministerial office so that they can be effective in any role, and at a moment’s notice.
He added that he continues to see the benefits and merit in capacity building among elected Members as evident in the “stellar performance” of each Minister who performed in the role of Deputy Premier, albeit on a rotational basis.
“In this vein, I am pleased to announce that after reviewing the appointment of Junior Ministers for the past eight months, I will follow suit with extending this initiative to the Junior Ministers portfolio. It has been determined that this is in the best interest of the Territory and in addition to building capacity would be effective in assisting the Premier in managing and advancing critical portfolios under the Premier’s Office.”
Regarding the reassignment of portfolios for the Junior Ministers, Hon Fahie said the initiative is about capacity building in the Government and preparing the Junior Ministers to not only excel in their performance in this term, but to serve in future terms of office and at higher levels.
“The reassignment of the portfolios comes at an opportune time when unconventional approaches are needed to drive the actions required in your Government’s legislative Agenda and Budget Address which all speaks to SMART and innovative initiatives.”
‘There is a lot of work to be done’
The Premier further reasoned that it is always good to move away from what is familiar has he seeks to build capacity across his Government.
“There is an opportunity to get tourism expertise at this time within the trade and economic agenda. Honourable Flax-Charles comes with experience in tourism that will help to bolster our business development sector through the lens of tourism.
“We want to ensure that our business community is providing the right product offering as a destination and jurisdiction or that they are creating businesses that help to encourage and attract products and services that are of interest to visitors and residents. And, since we are diversifying our tourism product beyond sun, sea and sand, the reassignment is important to allow us to expand that part of sector with the reality that visitors are consumers of local products, good and services.”
Hon Fahie added that equally important, Hon de Castro will bring business development, integration, and innovation into the tourism industry.
“She can help to create a balance between the tourism sector and business sector from a trade and innovative perspective. So the overall objective is to strengthen all areas of the economy and to ensure that business, tourism, trade and commerce drive a new green BVI where there is economic expansion and economic diversification, thereby leading to the creation of jobs, entrepreneurs, and strong BVI.”
The Premier said there is a lot of work to be done as everyone would have heard in the Speech from the Throne which detailed the Legislative Agenda and “I look forward to the expertise in a dynamic way as everyone in this Territory work together in the best interest of the people of the Virgin Islands.”
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30 Responses to “Reshuffled! Premier Fahie reassigns Junior Ministers!”
Anyway, when will the Premier move to another ministry to see how to do the job too. Only he could do finance? I am not asking for a friend, I am asking for myself
This government and their missteps. Using your argument King Kung, any fool would have known to not put her as Jr Minister of Tourism so we went 8 months with it Just so we could do the switch. Thus government looks downright incompetent now. Sharie was into her role as a newbie as Jr Min of Trade now you remove her to go start the learning curve over. Nothing will be accomplished if they keep this p!$$ up!
This is b.s because she speaking up for D9 she is bad.That's real representation ,stand ur ground Queen S.U were elected not chosen so if Mr. I.... has a problem with that tell Andrew we all know it's payback time.U promise a asphalt runway/the parking lot is disarray/the road has always be a mess so what.First impression is always lasting to our visitors.MsFlaxCharles was asking for much just the right thing.Mr Fahie
Moreover, there is value in rotating ministers and junior ministers. This process give them overall experience and knowledge of processes to move easily and effectively into any ministerial area(s). The two junior ministers who are women are being rotated into different junior minister ministerial portfolios; will the 4 ministers who are all men also be What is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Further, rotating people in jobs for three months is better than nothing but not very effective. What kind of high level experience are ministers getting with 3 month stints as Deputy Premier? The Deputy Premier is not a full time job, for ministers have full time ministerial responsibilities. Hon Premier Fahie, be courageous and just appoint someone as DP.
There are 13 elected offices in the HOA; 8 VIP, 3 NDP, 1 PU and 1 PVIM. Basically, government controls 8 seats; opposition, 5. 7 seats are needed to form and continue to function as a government.
The VIP came to power with the mandate to rebuild the BVI in a post Irma and Maria state. IMO the government is trying to be all things to all people. Trying to please all 30,000 is an impossibility; trying to do everything at once means nothing is being done well. Continuing down this path can be costly for government. Instead, government should focus on bread and butter issues, health, education, economy......etc.