During last Thursday’s House of Assembly sitting, Premier Dr. Orlando Smith refused to provide the public with the warrant detailing Governor John Duncan’s unprecedented decision to withdraw money from the Consolidated Fund.

Opposition Member Julian Fraser (R-D3) requested a copy of the $1.88 million warrant, which Mr. Duncan announced in March would address what he called a shortfall in national security funding.

The premier’s reasoning for not publicising the warrant, however, differed from Mr. Duncan’s previous arguments for withholding the document, calling into question why exactly the public is being kept in the dark on the appropriation.

“The monies identified in the governor’s warrant are marked to address specific issues relating to national security,” Dr. Smith (R-at large) said during the sitting. “I’m not at liberty to provide details as to how these monies are to be spent, but I’d certainly be happy to have a discussion with the member for the Third District.”

After Mr. Fraser pressed him further for the warrant, Dr. Smith reiterated his statement.

“This is something I do not think should be made public because the money is going towards issues related to national security,” he said, adding that he could provide Mr. Fraser with a copy of the document privately.

That contrasts with the reason Mr. Duncan provided in March for keeping the warrant away from public eyes.

After initially saying the document was not “secret,” the governor – who has said repeatedly he supports a more transparent government – argued that there simply was not enough of a reason to let the public see it.

“I have discussed with the premier this evening whether to release the warrant, and have decided that at this stage it would not help clarify matters beyond what I have already explained in my statement last week,” he wrote in a March 28 e-mail to the Beacon. “Indeed, given the leak of e-mails on preliminary work on this issue, it would probably awoke further unhelpful speculation.”

Royal Virgin Islands Police Force funding is detailed in the budget estimates released by government each year.

SEE THE MAY 18, 2017 EDITION FOR FULL COVERAGE.

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