Eighth District candidate within the Virgin Islands Party (VIP), Allen Wheatley, has contended that, for too long, foreign companies, especially those within the banking and financial services sector, have taken from the territory without being good corporate citizens in return.

Wheatley said some of his observations over the years have included scenarios where the territory’s economic base has lacked the diversity to sustain the growth of the country.

The political hopeful said he’s already held preliminary discussions with persons on how the BVI can diversify its revenue base, including introducing initiatives such as trans-Atlantic shipping, improvements in telecommunications, and developing the blue economy.

But Wheatley was also quick to single out what he felt was the private sector’s insufficient contribution to the territory’s growth.

“I look at Virgin Gorda after [Hurricane] Irma, and I watched how those millionaires and billionaires spent inordinate sums of money to fix back the homes of the Virgin Gorda people, without asking for a dime in return, giving them roof material… you look at Tortola, and it took us so long to get going,” he argued.

Thank God for Haycraft

Wheatley also pointed to the length of time that it took schools in the territory to be repaired and said this also bothered him.

“They bother me because you have like banks here making $25 million profit — profit you know, not revenue, profit — and not one bank, not one trust company could do what those people did in Virgin Gorda. I can’t understand that,” he stated.

He chided businesses for allowing residents on Tortola to ‘suffer’ in the wake of the 2017 hurricanes, even as millionaires poured funding into the rebuilding of Virgin Gorda. “Thank God for [Peter] Haycraft and the Enis Adams [Primary] School. Look what that man did up there,” Wheatley commented.

He added: “We have to seriously take stock of how the corporate businesses — and I’m not talking about local businesses, I’m talking specifically about financial services — and I’m probably gonna offend some people, but I’ve told a lot of people in the industry already, I [will] come gunning. I ain’t joking about it. If I get a chance, they are going to make a more substantive contribution in this country. They have been making millions of dollars year after year and do nothing.”

Wheatley further contended that the model that was used by Haycraft can also be followed for other businesses, where funding for any particular project can be managed entirely by a corporate entity and not be filtered through the government, which may eventually lead to bottlenecks and red tape.