I wonder why the representative for the Third District, and his presumably one-man new party, has resurrected his plans for the Sea Cows Bay Harbour project, circa 1999, on Facebook. He says it was approved by Cabinet of the then-Virgin Islands Party-led government, but before it could get all its ducks in a row, there was an election, and the National Democratic Party shelved it.
On the face of it, as now presented, it looks like a sensible development. But at the time it seemed to be done in secret, reportedly involved at least one member of his family, and may have been looking for votes, with money allegedly being paid for work not done.
Many piles were manufactured in preparation for construction of a bulkhead. We never heard where the money came from for that work. Was it from any known budget? The piles were never used and have probably rotted away by now. Maybe Third District Representative Julian Fraser is hoping that people will think it will be on his manifesto and thus vote for him.
Breaking the law
Meanwhile, some nasty people fly-tipped trucks and trucks of rubbish and fill among the trees around the bay, despite notices for them to quit under pain of penalty, which made no difference. That highlights another aspect of our inability to govern ourselves, in that we almost never follow through with threats of punishment (fines or imprisonment) for breaking the law, or failing to pay fines, obtain licences and so on. People are often convicted in the courts with the sentencing to be held at a later day, and then we don’t hear the result, or whether they even got sentenced.
And yet the BVI Electricity Corporation and Water and Sewage Department advertise several times per day about customers being cut off for non-payment of their bills. Can there really be that many defaulters every month in every district? I understand that government owes millions in unpaid electricity, but they never get cut off, and that must affect the department’s accounts.
On the same subject of non-compliance with notices, can we really expect government to go ahead and remove all derelict boats and cars? It would be nice if they did, so that we and tourists would be spared the eyesores that still exist around the islands.
Like the UK
Politics here is now in the same pickle of uncertainty as in the United Kingdom: they with Brexit and us with compliance laws and a pending election. Interesting times ahead. If three or more parties contest both district and at-large elections, the votes will be split into very small numbers indeed. We may even have to have recounts, and then end up with deals or coalitions.
At least two candidates think a lot of themselves but failed to gain election to party slates, so unless they go independent that is it for them.
Fire station
The recent sudden pronouncements by the member for the Fourth District after a press report about the dire situation at the fire station go to show that we do not have government in the sunshine, or even within departments. If the fire chief has not been kept abreast of developments about a pending rebuilding contract and the orders for new equipment, then something is amiss. Both projects must have been progressing for some time. They didn’t just suddenly happen after the press report. If he has been kept in the picture, why would he talk to the press as if he didn’t know what was going on?