Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley stood before a hushed House of Assembly last Thursday morning and launched legislators’ first official debate on constitutional reform in nearly two decades.
“The Virgin Islands is a colony,” he said. “The nomenclature has changed — you know, at one time I believe ‘dependency,’ now ‘territory’ — but in essence and in reality, the Virgin Islands is a colony of the United Kingdom.”
He then explained why he believes this situation needs to change.
“Colonialism is nothing short of evil,” he said. “It’s an evil system. Colonialism is a system where an alien group of people control and dominate another group of people.”
In light of such concerns, the premier called for the VI to advance the decolonisation process and seek greater self-governance as it negotiates its next Constitution with the United Kingdom in the coming months.
Mr. Wheatley’s remarks kicked off more than 20 hours of ongoing debate on the 2022-2023 Constitutional Review Commission Report. The 288-page report, written by a committee after extensive public consultations across the territory, includes 57 wide-ranging recommendations for reforming the 2007 Constitution.
Diverse topics
The HOA debate has been similarly wide-ranging.
At times, members supported or opposed specific recommendations in the CRC report.
At other times, they spoke more broadly about the territory’s future, echoing the premier’s call for greater self-governance or urging against a full-throttled push toward independence without a comprehensive education campaign.
Often, the deliberations gave way to moments of reflection on the history of the VI’s people and government, its colonial roots and status, and the importance of overcoming its past struggles.
Next steps
Following the debate — which continued yesterday after lengthy sessions on Friday, Monday and Tuesday — HOA members will choose which CRC recommendations to accept and offer alternative proposals for the others, HOA Public Relations Officer Giovanni Herbert told the Beacon.
“These positions will be documented in a report to be presented in the House,” Mr. Herbert stated.
After that, the premier will appoint a team to negotiate the constitutional reforms with UK officials.
CRC Chairperson Lisa Penn-Lettsome — who will serve on the negotiating team along with members appointed by the premier — attended most of the debate in recent days.
“I found it beneficial to be there,” she told the Beacon, adding, “I was able to gain insight into where they stand and how they reacted to some of the recommendations, and at the same time I was able to clarify areas that may have needed some clarification or elaboration during the breaks.”
Ms. Penn-Lettsome added that she found the discussions to be constructive.
“At the end of the day, [the CRC report] is a report, and I respect that they do not have to agree with all of the recommendations,” she said. “And I am in fact heartened that several of them actually agreed with a lot of the recommendations.”
Constitutional history
Besides railing against colonialism, the premier used part of his contribution last Thursday to review the history of the territory’s Constitution.
“The people need to understand that the Virgin Islands Constitution Order is a statutory instrument which has been produced by the UK government system,” he said. “This Constitution Order was given to us by the [United Kingdom] government pursuant to the West Indies Act.”
He also noted that the United Nations has called for decolonisation across the world.
“Every decade, the United Nations declares a decade for the eradication of colonialism,” the premier said.
“So at the beginning of this decade, 2020, the United Nations declared it the fourth international decade for the eradication of colonialism. We must be bold and demand what other people in the world have, and what our human rights dictate that we should have.”
Call for speed
Deputy Premier Julian Fraser — one of only two current HOA members who served in the HOA when the Constitution was last amended in 2007 — acknowledged the CRC’s work and said he hopes the next steps will happen quickly following years of delays that have been blamed on Hurricane Irma, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Commission of Inquiry.
“As soon as we finish debating this commission report, we then move into preparing our own report, which will assist in the negotiations with the British government,” he said. “But before that, we also have to form a committee to do the negotiations. It is my hope that before the end of 2025 we could have a negotiating team in place.”
Mr. Fraser, the Third District representative, also raised questions about certain CRC advice, including a recommendation that the premier and deputy premier be chosen from at-large representatives based on vote count.
“This thing about all at-large, that can’t fly,” he said.
However, he supported other recommendations — saying, for instance, that he has “no problems” with the report’s call for freedom-of-information legislation.
Education, transparency
When the debate continued Friday, opposition member Mitch Turnbull (R-D2) and Health and Social Development Minister Vincent Wheatley (RD9) took the floor. Both cited the report’s findings as evidence of a need for transparency and education surrounding the constitutional review process.
Mr. Turnbull also spoke about the Commission of Inquiry, which he said informed the CRC report.
“This report and its true context did not just fall from the sky,” he said. “If we’re true to ourselves, this report emerged from the shadows of the Commission of Inquiry, 2021-2022.”
Mr. Turnbull described constitutional reform as a way to make up for shortcomings he identified in the COI process.
“The COI, through its author Sir [Gary] Hickinbottom, highlighted corruption; it exposed maladministration,” he said. “But what the COI did not do, which was equally as important, it did not give the proper credence, the proper credit, to the achievements of the Virgin Islands and its people. The COI painted us in colours of scandal, but it did not show the canvas of our progress.”
Bicameral legislature?
When Mr. Wheatley took the floor, he called for the VI to broaden representation by eventually setting up a bicameral legislature similar to the ones in independent Caribbean countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago.
“Educated people, aristocrats, only get involved in politics for fear of rule by lesser men,” he said, paraphrasing Plato’s Republic. “For any society to reach its true potential, it must be all-inclusive. [Everyone] has something to offer.”
The CRC heard similar calls for a bicameral system during its consultations, but it stopped short of recommending one — instead calling for further education and consultation on the topic.
Mr. Wheatley also spoke about potential conflicts between UK and VI interests, and he called for safeguards to ensure that VI voters’ will is carried out.
“Our system constantly requires a balancing act,” he said. “This balancing act happens when decisions are sometimes forced between London’s preferences and the will of the elected representatives. This is not democracy in its truest form. This is why this constitutional reform must ensure that the will of the Virgin Islands, expressed by their elected representatives, are not overridden by external authority.”
Term limits
When Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn spoke Monday, he said he agreed with most of the CRC recommendations.
However, he raised questions about others, including a recommendation to hold a referendum on establishing term limits for the premier.
Term limits, Mr. Walwyn warned, may incentivise politicians to focus on short-term planning.
“It is human nature. If I have four more years left, and I’m in my second year, do you think I’m worried about 20 years down the road?” he asked. “So you have a sitting duck, a lame duck premier, for the rest of his term. Even his Cabinet he will not be able to control. It doesn’t work well for us. Let the democratic process work itself out. If the people want somebody out of the premiership, they could get him out.”
He also urged his constituents to be realistic about the nature of the political system and to choose a framework that embraces direct democracy.
Additionally, he supported CRC calls for reforms that boost transparency and accountability.
Mr. Contreras reported this story from New York, and Freeman Rogers contributed reporting in the Virgin Islands.
