We are cautiously optimistic about the sensible plans included in the legislative agenda unveiled in the recent Speech from the Throne even though the to-do list appears overly ambitious for one session of the House of Assembly.
We are particularly heartened by the effort of Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley’s government to peg the agenda to the broader goals in the National Sustainable Development Plan, which was developed with community input and launched in 2023.
This welcome approach should help ensure continuity of national goals and related progress even if political leadership changes.
The 201-page development plan sets six broad national priorities focused on the economy, the environment, education, health, governance and infrastructure.
The Jan. 7 throne speech, which was delivered by Governor Daniel Pruce on the government’s behalf, was organised by similar topics. Although the proposed laws aren’t explicitly listed in the development plan, most of them will help push forward its aspirations.
As just one example, a long-term goal under the economic section of the plan calls for consolidating “the linkages between tourism, agriculture and fishing.” It’s easy to imagine that this could be a priority under the bill that is set to be introduced to support the government’s recently established Ministry of Tourism function.
Though the plan and the legislative agenda aren’t in perfect sync — and greater detail would be appreciated — it’s nice to see that lawmakers are generally working toward a set of overarching sustainability-focused priorities that were established following community input.
Still, throne-speech promises are no guarantee of action. Indeed, some bills included this week have been pledged for years with no follow-up from legislators.
At least two of them — comprehensive environmental legislation and a freedom-of-information law — have been on and off the legislative agenda for about two decades but have never even been brought to the HOA.
We hope these unmet promises will be delivered properly after ample public debate.
Such action is certainly possible. Over the past two years, in fact, the HOA has shown admirable discipline and work ethic when it comes to priority items including financial services bills and reforms recommended by the 2022 Commission of Inquiry report.
But these two sets of legislation were effectively unavoidable: The financial services bills were often motivated by the threat of international censure that could cripple the industry, and the COI laws were motivated in large part by the threat of direct rule from the United Kingdom.
Moving forward, legislators must bring the same urgency to other badly needed legislation, like bills that will protect the environment and ensure transparency, good governance and the protection of human rights in the territory.
A good plan is now in place. Now it is time for leaders to deliver lasting legislative and policy solutions to address the many challenges facing the Virgin Islands.
