Questions back on Order Paper for December 19 HoA Sitting
Over the past six years in office (2011-current), the NDP has shown callous disregard for the questions posed by Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, a normal tenor of the Westminster system of Government and best practice for transparency and good governance.
No questions please-NDP
When the NDP is not shifting the questions to the end of the Order Paper, it has been accused of not answering many of the questions truthfully, hiding information or outright refusing to answer them.
The last time the HoA met many of the questions could not be answered as the Premier, whom many of them were posed to, was overseas on Official Business and the acting Premier Dr The Hon Kedrick D. Pickering (R7) did not agree to answer them, instead waiting for the return of his boss.
Well, at the Third Sitting of the Second Session of the Third House of Assembly scheduled for December 19, 2016 at 10:00 AM, many of the questions have been returned to the Order Paper from both the Opposition Leader Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) and the First District Representative Hon Andrew A. Fahie.
Time to answer questions
The questions range from cost to run the state owned Prospect Reef Hotel and the rental receipts, whether the Hotel is complying with paying in their NHI, Social Security and Inland Revenue.
The questions also to be answered include if the US Patriot Act on Correspondent Banking places any obligation on banks in the Virgin Islands (VI) to identify the owners of accounts and what is the new attitude of the new British Prime Minister Theresa M. May towards the VI.
The front bench Ministers of Government will also have to answer to all legal services hired by the Government and all who obtained consultancy services from the Government.
In addition, the Opposition wants to know about the controversial million dollar wall around the Elmore Stoutt High School (ESHS), both hard and soft cost, and who approved the big bill boards that have sprung up all over Tortola.
The HoA will start at 10:00 A.M. and will be carried live on CBN Television channel 51.
18 Responses to “Questions back on Order Paper for December 19 HoA Sitting”
Validating or rationalizing your wrongs by claiming that someone else did the same does not make the wrong, right. It is a major character flaw. In this case it exposes critical flaws in the system that somehow allows Government after Government to repeat the same wrongs over and over again.
In 2011 came back to power promising transparency and good governance and they have failed miserably in that regard. No freedom of information act, no open cabinet meetings, no whistle blower act, no reforming of the procurement practices, no communication with the people and the list goes on and on. You see when a Government mismanages or corrupts our system they must be held accountable and with zero transparency it is very difficult to hold anyone accountable. You take this as a joke but this is the tax payers money and livelihood we talking about. This is our children and their children present and future we talking about.
Laugh now, cry later.
5 years and counting and no independent audit of our finances so you should understand why we have a serious cash flow problem. 2 years now the budget is late on arrival and basically it becomes irrelevant without the independent audits that are supposed to tell you among other things whether or not you met your budgetary estimates.
How can we run a country like this? I was once a NDP supporter but jumped off the wagon last election and voted just for individuals. Don't be so blinded by party loyalty that you cannot call blatant wrong a wrong.