The Cabinet has received the Commission of Inquiry self-assessment report it hopes will persuade London to lift the threat of direct rule, according to Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley.
The government report, along with another compiled by Governor Daniel Pruce, will be considered by British Overseas Territories
Minister Stephen Doughty as he considers the way forward. Mr. Doughty has promised a decision by the end of next month on whether to lift the controversial order in council that enables London to temporarily take over key parts of the Virgin Islands government’s powers in order to force through COI reforms.
Mr. Wheatley has repeatedly called for the UK to lift the order in council, which was enacted shortly after the COI report was published in 2022.
Last week on government’s Virgin Islands Voice broad cast on April 30, the premier celebrated the completion of the self-assessment and warned that the order in council amounts to a threat to return to “direct colonialism.”
“Today is a special moment for the people of the Virgin Islands,” Mr. Wheatley said. “We had Cabinet today, and on the agenda we had our self-assessment report for the implementation of the COI report recommendations and other reforms.”
Mr. Wheatley added that the completion of the report should mark the end of the process.
“Today with that report, there was for us the final step in a very long journey that has now brought us to this point,” the premier said.
The government’s assessment was laid on the table of the House of Assembly yesterday.
‘National crisis’
Mr. Wheatley said when then-governor John Rankin informed him of the direct-rule threat in May 2022, he scrambled to form a unity government not as a power grab but because the VI was facing a “national crisis.”
“Some have said this was done for power, but it was actually done to empower the people of the Virgin Islands: to save the people of the Virgin Islands having direct rule,” the premier said. “What was on the table was an order in council … that would give the governor the power to be able to legislate for all of us. He would have all executive authority.”
‘Direct colonialism’
Mr. Wheatley said such a move would have taken the territory back centuries.
“That’s what you call direct colonialism,” he said, adding, “So it wasn’t a matter of persons wanting power: It was a matter of persons coming together to ensure that democracy remained and the people — the power of the people — remained.”
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is also expected to consult with Mr. Doughty on the matter before a decision is announced by London.
