Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Vanterpool criticises gov't for allowing BVIEC to function nearly 8 months without board

Vanterpool criticises gov't for allowing BVIEC to function nearly 8 months without board

Representative of the Fourth District Mark Vanterpool is criticising the government for allowing the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) to function without a full panel of board members for the past eight months.

Vanterpool made those remarks in the House of Assembly on November 14, during the motion to appoint Rosemary Flax as the BVIEC’s new board chairwoman.

While supporting the motion to appoint Flax, Vanterpool said such a decision was long overdue as the BVIEC should not have gone without a board for such a lengthy period, following the alleged unceremonious dismissal of the former board.

“A corporation of this size cannot or should not be without a board for such a long time. It doesn’t matter which government is in office, any corporation is not a corporation without a board,” Vanterpool stated.

“I will not accept whatever excuses were made that this corporation was without a board for up to almost eight months and this cannot be the correct way, this cannot be good governance, this cannot be transparency,” he further said.


What transpired under the BVIEC without a board?

Vanterpool, who had ministerial responsibility for the BVIEC before the February 2019 General Election, said he questions what transpired within the BVIEC while being without a board for such a long period.

“It may be all good but one will wonder what transpired because the board is responsible for guiding and managing the corporation; not the general manager, not his deputy, not his financial controller. But there are major issues that a board must manage when it comes to a corporation and especially a corporation of this size,” he said.

“Were there contracts that the board needed to approve? Were there contracts considered? Were there budgets to be approved? Were to be approved? By whom were they approved,” were some of the questions Vanterpool asked.


Queries need to be investigated

The Opposition legislator further said that such queries needed to be investigated. He also said he hopes when the new chairwoman assumes her role she would bring make whatever transpired within the last eight months public.

“The board has certain rules that has to be followed and if there was no board during that time, certain things had to be instituted, certain payments had to be made of a certain size in a corporation like that, and they must have contravened the rules and regulations of the corporation,” Vanterpool stated.

“A general manager and his executive cannot approve what a board is supposed to approve, according to the laws of the Electricity Corporation. A general manager and his executive cannot approve contracts that are supposed to be approved by the board, cannot approve budgets that are supposed to be approved by the board, that is unacceptable,” Vanterpool reasoned.


Disappointed in how the previous board was let-go

The Fourth District Representative further addressed the manner in which the former board at the BVIEC was ‘let go’. He said he was very disappointed in the alleged “unceremonious” way the board was dismissed.

“I understand the minister at the time who was responsible for the board – Minister for Transportation and Works – went to the board meeting and said to them when they were in a meeting discussing their personal matters, as of now you are no longer required. And they had to get up and leave from that board meeting,” Vanterpool stated.

He said he believes a public apology should be issued to those board members for the manner in which they were allegedly dismissed.

“This cannot be right, and nobody is going to the public about it? And nobody is going to apologies to those persons for how they were unceremoniously dismissed?”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
×