Rosan has been a staple in the political activism space in the territory over the past few years, and has been very vocal about her Opposition to corruption, particularly in the BVI’s political arena.

But while speaking on JTV’s The Big Story yesterday, Rosan said the circumstances that led to yesterday’s demonstration was what she had been advocating against all along; without any support from those in attendance at yesterday’s protest.

“A lot of persons that are involved in organising this march and a lot of people that would’ve turned out to this march, we’ve reached out to on many occasions to say, ‘there are a lot of things going wrong in the territory, we need to speak with you, we need an audience with you and they never showed up, they never gave us the time of day,” Rosan stated.

She continued: “We were trying to actually stop where we are today and we just couldn’t get anything out of those people. And so, I find their outrage displaced.”

According to the social activist, another issue that prevented her from joining the protest surrounded the reaction to Premier Andrew Fahie’s arrest on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking.

“Some of the people organising this march and supporters of this march, and some of the most prominent people in this society who were there — including the government of the Virgin Islands — have yet to denounce the [alleged] actions of the Premier, they have yet to acknowledge the ramifications of his decision on this territory and I felt that I could not stand with that today,” Rosan argued.

We are sick as a people

She also disagreed that the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) denounced the Premier’s actions when they called for his resignation at the weekend. Rosan described that action as a ‘coup’ that the VIP tried to pull on the nation.

“Asking for someone’s resignation is not the same as saying, ‘I denounce what you did’,” she stated. “It says that well, ‘you did that, we need to replace you and move forward’. But do you acknowledge what he has done, do you denounce it?” Rosan stated.

She made reference to the UK’s claims that corruption is endemic in the territory and said if persons could not see that there is a need to denounce those types of actions, then it says that “we are really sick as a people”.

No need for suspension

Meanwhile, the social activist was keen to note that although she stands by most of the recommendations in the COI report, she does not support the suspension of the territory’s constitution in any way, shape or form.

She said examining the report as a Virgin Islander, leaves one disheartened.

“A lot of things in there we knew as a people, we just didn’t have the hard facts. Some of it is, we knew now [and] some of it we’re surprised. However, I still don’t see a case being set for the suspension of our constitution,” she added.

Rosan argued that the governor holds a lot of reserved powers in the territory and said a lot of the changes and reforms necessary to move the BVI forward do not require a suspension of the constitution.

“The governor is already in charge of the civil service, the governor can conduct audits,“ she added.