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‘Lack of political will preventing Consumer Protection Bill’ - John I. Cline
Consumer Protection has been a talk for decades; however, its necessity was highlighted boldly following the passage of Hurricane Irma on September 6, 2017 when price gouging became a regular practice by some unscrupulous businesses, who were keen on exploiting the vulnerability of residents.
It was expected that the National Democratic Party (NDP) Government of Premier Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL) would have responded with a bill to protect consumers and suppliers alike, but instead its first order of business after being silent for weeks following hurricanes Irma and Maria was to rush to the House of Assembly to pass a curfew bill so that a curfew would remain in place without a state of emergency; thereby essentially taking back the reigns of power from Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert who had called the state of emergency and led the initial recovery efforts when local government had collapsed.
Several other bills followed but mostly concerning the financial services sector.
Lack of political will
In the meantime, the Opposition and even elected Members of the ruling administration expressed the need for Consumer Protection but none has moved forward to introduce a bill to the House.
This has not impressed the outspoke Bishop Cline, who it is a lack of “political will” that is preventing the bill to reach the House. Mr Cline said he was tired of the excuses.
“We continue to year after year, administration after administration, and all we get is excuses in terms of why these things can’t be done. It’s really mind boggling when you elect intelligent people and they can’t get simple things done. That becomes troubling,” Bishop Cline stated on stated on the ZBVI 780 AM radio talk show, Honestly Speaking with host Claude O. Skelton-Cline, on November 21, 2017.
Mr Skelton-Cline also labelled as political pandering those sentiments by legislators expressing the need for Consumer Protection Legislation, saying those Members have the authority to create legislation as that is one of the things they have been elected for.
Entire economy would benefit
The former Chairman of the Board of the BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA), Mr John I. Cline, explained that having Consumer Protection would not only benefit consumers, but suppliers and the entire economy.
“It also helps the economy if you can control prices. A lot of times Government say we don’t want to give you a tax break here because it wouldn’t be passed on to the consumer, well it wouldn’t be passed along to the consumer if you have no legislative framework to ensure that happens.”
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9 Responses to “‘Lack of political will preventing Consumer Protection Bill’ - John I. Cline”
you watch the game
So our government, past and present have faced the decision before to bring forth such a bill, but each time they refused.