Beautiful Virgin Islands

Sunday, Jul 27, 2025

No fair shake! Wheatley calls for greater equity among districts

No fair shake! Wheatley calls for greater equity among districts

Ninth District Representative Vincent Wheatley has called on the government to take a better approach to equity in the territory’s budget.
He said this should include the matter of the coordinating unit for funding for the sister islands of Virgin Gorda and Anegada.

“All islands have taxpayers but sometime you find [that] … expenditure is concentrated in only a few areas. And it’s something I’d like to see improved upon, where there’s more equity among all the districts,” Wheatley argued in the House of Assembly (HOA) recently.

Wheatley said he recently enquired whether there was a coordinating entity that was based in the Premier’s Office to ensure that there is equity among the districts but learned that the coordination of government’s services was based in the Deputy Governor’s Office; under the Sister Islands Coordinator.

According to Wheatley, the Office of the Sister Islands Coordinator — a post in which he previously served — should have been based in the Premier’s Office from its inception. “I was told when the time came to implement that programme, there was no vacancy in the Premier’s Office, therefore, it ended up in the Deputy Governor’s Office,” Wheatley explained.

However, after examining the responsibilities of the job, Wheatley said he noticed that it was best suited to be placed in the Premier’s Office as the lead ministry. “With a unit that works across all ministries, a coordinating entity should not be in a Deputy Governor’s Office. It needs to be with the Premier’s Office, with proper funding.”

He argued that this would solve many of the problems and concerns related to equity in the various districts, adding that every member of the HOA can likely complain that something in their district goes neglected.

“I don’t think that it gets a good, fair shake in terms of the way the budget is done,” Wheatley said. “Now I’m not blaming anybody. The way the budget is done, it’s not structured that way to really capture every single part of the BVI.”

He argued that it was left to Permanent Secretaries and other persons to have the consciousness or the willingness to address the various issues affecting the districts. “If you leave those things to chance, chances are they are going to be missed. It needs to be structured through the budget,” he contended.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"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
×