Doug Wheatley slams NDP Gov't for lack of transparency
Speaking during his radio show Speak Out BVI last evening May 24, 2016 on ZBVI 780 AM, Wheatley said, “A concern that I have in general about the way the Government operates, in particular about the airport, we get the impression that the BVI Government has been dealing with Her Majesty's Government in England, and it seems that on that governmental level our Government said that they wanted to expand the airport in order to facilitate tourism.”
The retired civil servant Wheatley said that while the Government of the Virgin Islands can talk with the British Government and they can discuss these matters, there is a third party which should be involved and that is the population.
“The 40,000 people living here need to have a voice and a say in a matter like this,” he said, adding that while the government might change the people of the VI will always be there and they will be the ones to reap either the benefits or the distress from any such investment.
“So we cannot leave the people out of any discussion and I find that the people have been left out to a very large extent,” he said.
According to Wheatley, as far as he is aware few if any of the many documents and studies done on the airport development have been made available for public scrutiny.
“This is not good and cannot be good...the people are very important and the people cannot be sidelined. The people have not been kept up to date on the various studies so that they can form opinions about what is going on. This is a failing on the part of the Government.”
Wheatley said that people are seeing the airport as “a done deal” and something being orchestrated between the Government of the Virgin Islands and the British Government.
He is concerned that the NDP Government has not been able to fulfil their mantra as the Government in the sunshine as in like manner to the airport project, many other projects are sprung upon the populace with little or none of their input.
“It seems to me as though they have found transparency to be a bit of an obstacle for them...a bit of a problem and therefore they would prefer not to get involved in the transparency and the accountability that they talked about in the early days,” he said.
Mr Wheatley is a former Administrative Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office between 1969 and 1972 and former Deputy Financial Secretary in the 1970s.
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28 Responses to “Doug Wheatley slams NDP Gov't for lack of transparency”
But this was the smoke and mirrors that was sold to the masses in the past snap election - can you say financial distress? More hundred thousand dollar a year workers in various departments yet no proactive and value being gleaned from all! Violations fo the Protocols for Effective Management, Governor AWOL and the beat goes on....sad state of affairs!
They corruption is in high places and is very well protected until the international media get a whiff of the local 'Natures Secret'!
One of the investors is a controversial Russian oligarch who's company is registered guess where - Natures Dirty Secret...more bad press for BVI Forward!
Voters are key stakeholders. And if they want to be engaged as stakeholders, they must demand a seat at the table when major issues/projects are being rolled out. If we want to be treated as mushrooms in the dark, they will be treat us as such. If we continue to twiddle our thumbs, we deserve how we are treated and disrespected.
I know that there is safety in numbers but I don't want to be responsible for any family finding themselves on the breadline while trying to stand up for their rights.
If they know you mean business and are prepared to fight in court things may play differently.
Own name or not-- get a new one or modify yours. You are probably the person who steals many others' names because you are not original or you are hiding behind others call name.
A government without a healthy and effective opposition is a dictatorship, not a democracy. Without opposition, there are no checks and balances. No accountability. How many times did we all hear the battle cry, "NDP ALL THE WAY!" Well you got what you wanted! What's the problem?
President Harry S. Truman said: "Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
One would have thought President Truman was referencing the BVI! The fact that most people are too afraid to even mumble under their breath, any kind of opposition to the actions of this government is PROOF that Mr. Truman was right on the mark.
We have two choices. We can shut up, suck it up and live with the consequences of our choices at the polls; or we can admit our mistakes in the voting booth, speak up and demand what we want from our government. Your choice.
A singular voice of dissent is very easy to disregard, belittle, and malign. Thousands of voices are impossible to ignore.