Speaker's legal fees issue moves to HoA special committee
Due process must be allowed- Premier
The Premier revealed that there has been a deep division on the issue both in the House of Assembly and the public domain; however, it was important that the matter is ventilated, with all the facts brought to the fore, and that due process is given.
Rather than legislators moving straight to debate the motion for the House to pay Hon Willock's legal fees this afternoon, November 3, 2021, the Premier instead brought a motion for the matter to be sent to a Special Committee of the House to be decided upon, based on three possible outcomes.
Considerations of Special Committee
Of the three considerations that the committee must decide upon, the first is that (a) “There was no expressed permission by the House of Assembly (HoA), but the Honourable Speaker acted in his official capacity and in good faith, relying on the assumption of permission being at least implied and consistent with his duty, and the action is deemed warranted and with merit and, as a result, the payment of cost would be approved by the House of Assembly.”
The second consideration, is (b), “There was no expressed permission by the House of Assembly with the Honourable Speaker but the Honourable Speaker acted in his official capacity and in good faith warranted and with merit but the payment of cost should not be approved by the House of Assembly.”
The third consideration is that “there was no expressed permission by the House of Assembly but the Honourable Speaker acted in his official capacity and in good faith, relying on the assumption of permission being at least implied and consistent with his duty, and the action is now deemed not warranted and is without merit and, as a result, there should be no consideration of the matter by the House of Assembly."
Committee members to be drawn from different political parties
The Committee will comprise no more than 5 members from the different political parties represented in the HoA but no less than 3 members to consider the outcomes and to report as to which of the recommendations will be made to the House of Assembly on the way forward.
The political parties represented in the HoA are Virgin Islands Party (VIP), National Democratic Party (NDP) Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM) and Progressives United (PU). The latter three parties make up the Opposition.
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19 Responses to “Speaker's legal fees issue moves to HoA special committee”
There was no expressed permission by the House of Assembly and the Speaker acted in his personal capacity without consultation or permission. The action therefore, is inconsistent with his duty, is deemed unarranted and without merit and, as a result, the payment of cost would NOT be approved by the House of Assembly.
This motion should not be brought to the House, instead, the judgement of the court should be honoured. If Willock disagrees, the the court's decision, he should appeal.
I note that all three conclusions clearly acknowledge that the Speaker acted without the express permission of the House but assumed his intentions would be understood as being on their behalf. That is as plain as day.
And by sending it to a select committee, the motion is sure to be internally debated, drawn out dissected and eventually rejected... the numbers are against it. And based on the fact that this select committee is already made up of 3 opposition members, the outcome is preordained failure, which would absolve the VIP of surrendering in this fight, and lay the "blame" for the motion failing elsewhere. It also gives them cover for having "listened to the voice of the people"
The Speaker in the meantime may pay the bill, but will be compensated otherwise.
Trick or treat... jokes on us!
(I wonder if this comment will be posted?)