Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Big mistake! Gov’t shouldn’t have accepted COI recommendations

Big mistake! Gov’t shouldn’t have accepted COI recommendations

The National Unity Government made a serious error when it accepted the Commission of Inquiry (COI) report’s recommendations to be implemented with rigorous timelines through an agreed framework between itself and the United Kingdom (UK) government.

This was the view espoused by former legislator within the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) government, Myron Walwyn, when he appeared on the Talking Points show on ZBVI radio recently.

The COI report proposed that the BVI’s constitution be suspended for at least two years in the first instance, and recommended that an advisory council, led by the BVI’s governor, be instituted to govern the territory in the interim. That suspension would have meant that there would be no legislative body or elected representatives in place during that time.

But the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government joined forces with some members of the political Opposition and agreed to a way forward on how the COI recommendations could be implemented within a two-year timeline to avert that suspension.

Public should have been consulted


Walwyn said he does not agree with the approach, arguing that there should have been consultations with the public before the government settled on a decision.

The former legislator pointed out that the government of the BVI is the major driver of the economy, and said this will not change any time soon.

“So, when you make certain decisions that inhibit that ability to help our people, that, to me, is a problem. And then, to be able to accept the recommendations without coming to the people first, I think was a big mistake on the part of the government,“ Walwyn stated.

He suggested that, in consultation with the public, a committee of the House of Assembly (HOA) should have been established instead to look at the recommendations coming out of the COI.

According to Walwyn, there was nothing that prevented the territory from coming up with counter recommendations to those proposed in the COI’s report, since the overarching goal is to have good governance, transparency, and accountability.

The former legislator also noted that he held some concerns with how some of the agreed reforms have been implemented since being agreed upon.

You can’t bind the HOA


While making reference to the framework agreement document, Walwyn said some of the timelines in the document require HOA members to pass them.

“You cannot bind the House of Assembly, you can’t say that you’re going to do something by the 25th of some time when in fact, it is subject to the approval of the House,” Walwyn argued. “Because, on the one hand, you’re trying to protect the very same constitution, but on the other hand, you’re abrogating the value of the constitution by trying to bind the House of Assembly to almost a rubber stamp institution.”

Walwyn, while admitting that some of the recommendations needed to happen, said he believes the territory should have gotten a Caribbean jurist of good repute who could be able to provide critical analysis of the COI report.

He said, even though some of the COI recommendations might be good, how they were arrived at may have left some things to be desired and was not as informed as they should have been.

“I think much greater deliberation, simply to account for the nuances in the BVI, had to be given more consideration,” Walwyn added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×