A public Crown Land Allocation Register will be created soon and posted online, according to Ronald Smith-Berkeley, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change. …
September 25, 2023
September 18, 2023
EDITORIAL: Prospect has prospects
We are glad that the new government is jump-starting long-delayed plans to redevelop the Prospect Reef Resort. To hear Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley tell it, leaders seem to be …
September 17, 2023
Constitutional review gets six extra months
The Constitutional Review Commission has requested and received a six-month extension beyond its original June deadline to produce a report, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley said recently in the House …
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September 5, 2023
EDITORIAL: Airport project won’t work without full transparency
For more than a decade, a disturbing lack of transparency has surrounded multiple governments’ unsuccessful efforts to expand the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport. The new government must turn over …
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May 2, 2023
EDITORIAL: Now it’s time to get to work
The people have spoken, and the territory’s democratic machinery has processed their input and delivered a government headed by Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley. Though voters did not give Dr. …
April 23, 2023
EDITORIAL: Vote, but do it wisely
A democracy is only as strong as the citizens who participate meaningfully in its affairs. And that goes double for any democracy facing the sort of turmoil that has beset …
January 27, 2023
Throne speech promises wide-ranging reforms
Reforms to governance, education, environmental protection, health care and other areas are among the government’s legislative priorities for a new House of Assembly session that started Tuesday, Governor John Rankin …
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August 15, 2022
EDITORIAL: Open the interests register with no restrictions
Our first draft of this editorial praised legislators for passing a bill last month to finally make the Register of Interests public, thereby promoting the sort of government transparency that …
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June 2, 2022
EDITORIAL: Funding the reforms
Given the developments of recent weeks, it seems clear that badly needed governance reforms are coming to the Virgin Islands by the hook or by the crook. This is great …
May 3, 2022
EDITORIAL: Keep the press conferences coming
Kudos to Premier Andrew Fahie for holding regular press conferences in recent months, and to opposition members for hosting similar sessions fairly frequently as well. We hope this practice will …
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April 13, 2022
EDITORIAL: Publish the COI report. Now.
For all the talk about transparency that has come out of the Governor’s Office in recent years, we were disappointed by Governor John Rankin’s decision not to release the Commission …
April 8, 2022
VI gets good marks in governance report
The future holds many possibilities for the governance of the Virgin Islands, and one expert said last week that the territory has a solid foundation for exploring ways to take …
April 1, 2022
EDITORIAL: Direct UK rule should be a very last resort
The stakes are high as the United Kingdom-appointed Commission of Inquiry prepares to submit its recommendations to Governor John Rankin next month. Following two similar COIs in the Turks and …
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October 28, 2021
Facing COI, Fahie explains rocky UK relationship
In response to allegations of poor governance aired during the ongoing Commission of Inquiry, Premier Andrew Fahie last week described a pattern of systemic problems with the Virgin Islands’ constitutional …
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October 24, 2021
Deputy premier slams inquiry at United Nations meeting
As the Commission of Inquiry continued its work here in the territory, Deputy Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley repeated the government’s often-stated complaints about the process this month before a …
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October 13, 2021
COMMENTARY — Bad governance blamed for ‘hell on earth’
Poor governance is a road to hell on earth for a country or territory’s residents. Once upon a time, there was a land in Africa sitting on the fertile and …
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September 24, 2021
EDITORIAL: Boards mishandled, almost across the board
In recent weeks, hearings in the Commission of Inquiry have again highlighted a longstanding problem in the territory: Successive governments have used exceedingly poor practice when appointing and removing the …
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September 1, 2021
EDITORIAL: As inquiry resumes, government must provide info
As the Commission of Inquiry resumes hearings on Monday, the government should turn over a new leaf by quickly and completely producing all requested information so that the probe can …
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June 28, 2021
EDITORIAL: The Register of Interests is broken. No surprise there
In recent days, the Commission of Inquiry has shone a glaring spotlight on the long-standing need to reform the system through which legislators declare their interests, a task that leaders …
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May 31, 2021
EDITORIAL: Government must respond fully to COI requests
After the Commission of Inquiry was announced in January, Premier Andrew Fahie and other leaders promised that the government would assist investigators by providing requested information as transparently as possible. …
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February 10, 2021
EDITORIAL: A memo for Governor John Rankin
We welcome Governor John Rankin, who takes office at a time when the territory’s relationship with the United Kingdom is as strained as it has been in recent memory. He …
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February 3, 2021
COMMENTARY — Better governance seen as key to independence
There will be no greater autonomy or independence in United Kingdom overseas territories until their residents trust local government. Recent crises in OT governance in the Turks and Caicos Islands …
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February 1, 2021
EDITORIAL: Inquiry will need a tightly focused strategy
With a monumental task to complete in only six months, the commission of inquiry must devise a tightly focused strategy for shining its powerful spotlight into the dark corners of …
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January 21, 2021
Interview: Departing governor reviews tenure
After arriving just 16 days before Hurricane Irma devastated the Virgin Islands in 2017, Governor Gus Jaspert has since been largely focused on the territory’s recovery and the Covid-19 …
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July 22, 2020
EDITORIAL: Before airport expansion, transparency needed
If leaders in the new government proceed with their predecessors’ plan to expand the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport, they must turn over a new leaf by being fully transparent …
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