Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Baba Aziz’s nationality cost him the Attorney General position

Baba Aziz’s nationality cost him the Attorney General position

While noting the difficultly in finally getting a local to hold the post, Premier Andrew Fahie has said if the former Attorney General (AG) Baba Aziz was a BVIslander, he would still have been in that position to date.

Aziz, who is a native of Ghana, served as AG from February 2015 to September 2020 after his contract was initially due to expire in February 2020.

Premier Fahie made the comments during a recent session in the House of Assembly after outlining the section of the BVI’s 2007 Constitution which states that a qualified local should be the first option to fill the vacant position of Attorney General.

“Look at what the Constitution advancement did in 2007 when we fought to make sure that whenever you’re looking about filling the spot of the Attorney General. Not the person in the seat, but in terms of the institution, the Constitution says that it must be a Virgin Islander/Belonger with at least 10 years’ experience to hold the seat of Attorney General.”

He added, “Thirteen years later is when it finally kicked in because somebody stood up and said that’s enough. It isn’t that I am against the former AG at all, because then they put us against each other. That’s one of my African brothers and I love him to death but the Constitution was clear. I would hire him any day. If he were a Belonger, he would be still here, but he wasn’t.”

Government had to challenge for the position


Premier Fahie said that despite the Constitution clearly having provisions that legally allows for a qualified local to fill the position of AG, his government still had to go above and beyond to ensure that Dawn Smith received the appointment.

“The only reason that the current AG is in the seat now is because they couldn’t get past the Constitution when we challenged it …But I didn’t get it just for Dawn, I get it for future Dawns,” the Premier stated.

“When Dr Smith (the former Premier) and the constitutional team put it in. You know why they put it in? I was in politics all then, all of us, all 13 were saying it is time for a local to get in the seat of Attorney General. So the crafters the framers of the Constitution did it to ensure that. And then years later, I’m going to come to fight an entity that’s trying to sidestep what the Constitution says?”

Smith became the territory’s first local to hold the post in years. Queen’s Counsel Dancia Penn is the first local to ever hold the post.

Premier Fahie and his government has made it clear that their intention is to localise the territory’s workforce to the extent where the percentage of locals exceeds the percentage of expats.

Presently, approximately 70 percent of the BVI’s labour force comprises expats while the remaining 30 percent comprises BVIslanders.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
×