Where is Premier Smith's $92,500 tax payers SUV?
This information was made public following a question in the House of Assembly (HoA) on February 4, 2016 posed by now Opposition Leader Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) to Premier Smith. They were at the time in the Sixth Sitting of the First Session of the Third HoA.
VIP did it too- Smith
To justify the purchase of such an expensive SUV, the Premier told a Press Conference that the previous Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government had also purchased new government vehicles.
However, since huricanes Irma and Maria, two powerful Category 5 hurricanes that destroyed the VI, leaving death, homelessness, widespread looting and panic in the streets for food and gasoline, the Premier's official state-owned vehicle has been missing from the roads.
Political image matters to Dr Smith
In fact, when we called our senior NDP source to inquire about the vehicle, we were told that since the killer storms "the boss was advised not to drive it because he does not want to give the impression that he is above the people, so it's parked in the basement of the Central Administration Complex."
When pushed on this concept, the same source said "well the vehicle did not sustain any damages and Doc is using the old vehicle Mr O'Neal used."
So, therefore, now it begs the question whether the Premier needed to invest in a new vehicle in the first place.
It was on the night of July 31, 2016 that the Premier's $92,500 Cadillac Escalade was involved in a lone accident at around 11:00 P.M., outside The Moorings on the James Walter Francis Drive dual carriageway on Wickham’s Cay II.
Dr Smith was not the target of gunshots
The Premier's police driver was the only occupant of the state-owned vehicle and he was reportedly trying to evade gunshots fired at another vehicle in the opposite direction on the dual carriageway when the accident occurred.
After police investigations, it was confirmed that there were no attempts to assassinate the Head of Government, Dr Smith, who was at the time at the 2016 Miss BVI Queen show with First Lady Lorna G. Smith OBE.
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22 Responses to “Where is Premier Smith's $92,500 tax payers SUV?”
We just try to find ways to attack our leaders. The money done spent almost 2 years now , and here we are talking about this car and Irma at the same time. Time to put silly ideas aside. and ReBuild the BVI.
People lets look it this one as a good judgement because if anything happen to the vehicle with the road condition it will be used as an excuse to purchase an even more expensive one.
So I agree with the Premier in not using the vehicle at this time.
Speaking of which there was massive world news today in Africa and BVI news outlets World news is about STT... smh