This month marks 45 years since my wife and I came to the Virgin Islands from Antigua.
We were quite happy in Antigua and did not want to move, but being on foreign service meant you went where you were told. Our car and packing cases came on an inter-island schooner, and a friendly LIAT pilot brought up our twin tub washing machine in the back of his cockpit on the HS748! Washing machines must have been in short supply then, because when I later put it up for sale I could have sold it 100 times over!
This month also marks 12 years since we became belongers. Some people take longer than other, more privileged mortals. But with the 20-year residence rule now in place I’m afraid belongership is now an unrealistic goal for many.
Constitution
Recently there has been renewed talk about revising our Constitution and perhaps thinking about independence. The United Kingdom Brexit vote and the policies of the new United States president have caused concern in some circles.
My fervent wish is that, if we do revise the Constitution, we decide that people born here are automatically citizens/belongers/Virgin Islanders/whatever. After all, we like all things American, and Virgin Islanders flock to the USVI or Puerto Rico to have their babies, who automatically become US citizens. At the same time, we do not extend the privilege to babies born here of “foreigners.” Talk about having your cake and eating it!
News from Switzerland this week is an eye-opener. I did not know that people born there, and even their parents and grandparents who may have been born there, do not automatically become Swiss citizens. There is a move afoot to change the law and grant citizenship to all born there. Let’s hope the VI follows their lead.
CGB hotel
Now, congratulations to Quito Rymer and his wife on building a new hotel in Cane Garden Bay. But, if correctly reported, $7 million seems a lot to pay for just 18 rooms and three suites? And is six storeys permitted by the planning regulations? We need more hotels to house the thousands of extra tourists the government anticipates coming with the new airline and runway, but 18 at a time isn’t going to help much.
Public officers
Meanwhile, it’s about time our government got tough with employees who cost them huge amounts of our money. There are countless examples where erring heads have been stepped sideways into other departments instead of being reprimanded, retired or sacked. The music concert put on by the National Parks Trust cost them some $800,000 — and the agency’s head was relocated a couple years later, although no public statement connected the events.
Now we have the Delta/Customs case almost at an end. It is likely to cost millions in legal fees and costs to the winner, Delta. This whole case seems to have arisen from some falling out, allegedly over a minor procedural blip due to Customs not responding to calls to monitor a discharge of duty-free oil at the power station. Despite losing over and over in the courts, Customs insisted on petitioning the Queen, but to no avail. She was never going to go against the Privy Council decision. Now government — and we, the taxpayers — have to pay Delta’s costs, which are likely to be considerable. I don’t think the director of Customs should be moved sideways: I think he should be reprimanded and sacked, or at least retired. Let the government show some spunk for a change! I don’t care what his surname is!
We hear that consultant Hugh Darley is again threatening to sue over his part in the Tortola Pier Park project. Why doesn’t he get on and do it? Remember, “If you are right, there is no need to shout; if you are wrong, better not to shout!”
So will Third District Representative Julian Fraser be forming a third political party? Third District, that is?
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