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Has Gov Duncan gone AWOL on Commission of Inquiry?
It was last year August 2014 when Governor Duncan shut out the major media houses, including Virgin Islands News Online, and instead invited three smaller selective media outlets to a press conference where he told them that by the end of the Year 2014 he would announce whether he agrees to the Parliamentary Opposition's request to have a Commissioner of Inquiry into the Ports Development Project.
In an exclusive interview with this news site, in November of 2014, Governor Duncan maintained his date of the end of 2014 for the announcement of his Commission of Inquiry into the controversial Ports Development Project.
In the same interview he told our news site that the Commission of Inquiry, if decided upon, will go deeper than the Public Accounts Committee and Auditor General reports on the Project. He promised his Inquiry will look into whether procurement processes were circumvented and if so whether it was for personal gains.
The Ports Development Project has the support of both the VIP and PEP and this portion that has sparked the two reports were stated under the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Administration.
Changing the Goal Post
After two reports on the Ports Development Project - one from the House of Assembly's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the other from the Auditor General (AG) Ms Sonia M. Webster – and with both concluding that there were evidence of corruption, lack of transparency, conflict of interest and that no one was looking out for the taxpayers of the Virgin Islands, the public still await on the governor for good governance.
However, in December of last year the Governor changed the goal post and said he also wanted to look into two other reports that were released by the House of Assembly, that of the Greenhouse and Sea Cows Bay Harbour Projects.
The two reports have yet to be refereed to the powerful Public Accounts Committee for their own investigations. Recently, talk Show host Julio ‘Sam’ Henry, while appearing on a ZROD Morning Ride Show, blasted the Governor by saying “it’s like, you have a major broken pipe but when you go to fix that instead of concentrating on that you say let me look for the other broken pipes four years ago…it does not add up,” he told radio listeners.
A call by our news room today January 15, 2015 to the Governor’s Office to speak with His Excellency on why he has broken his promises to the people on the December announcement date and if his own credibility is now on the line; we were told by a 'Maria' that the Governor was in a meeting.
She told our news room that Governor Duncan was now looking at “all the documents he needed to look at to make sure he made the proper decision on the Commission of Inquiry.”
‘Maria’ promised the governor will return our call, however, as of publication time no such call came.
The public remains in favour of the Commission of Inquiry on the Ports Development Project, and there continues to be loud and consistent voices for the Governor to act on this matter- a project that the NDP sees as their meal ticket to winning the next general elections.
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35 Responses to “Has Gov Duncan gone AWOL on Commission of Inquiry?”
Pop goes the weasel. Gov is a ----- himself.
Perhaps the positions have been switched between him and the lady.
Well well down to the go......playing tricks .help us lord.seems like there is no hope for us in the BVI