In a handover ceremony held this week, members of the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) officially handed over their report to Premier Honourable Dr. Natalio D. Wheatley and Governor John Rankin, CMG. On 10th June, 2020, Cabinet approved the establishment of the CRC for the purpose of conducting a full review of the Virgin Islands Constitution Order, 2007. The commission was then established in 2022.

A memorial service was held yesterday Tuesday 28 November for Detective Paul France whose body was found in his vehicle submerged in the ocean in the vicinity across from the D Orlando Smith Hospital on Saturday morning October 7th. The body is being prepared to be shipped back to the United Kingdom, however, no further details on his demise have been forthcoming from the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force. While being interviewed on the Morning Braff Show by Host Cindy Rosan, the Commission...

Premier Honourable Dr. Natalio Wheatley is imploring residents of the Virgin Islands to contemplate and honour the efforts of those who have contributed to a more prosperous and functional contemporary society.The call comes as the Territory gears up to observe the 1949 Great March and Restoration Day on Monday, November 27 which is also a public holiday.Premier Wheatley said, “We encourage the public to set aside time to reflect on the historic victory we as a people achieved in taking ci...

The Premier’s $400M budget for 2024 tells a tale of two cities if we can fall back on Dickens’ book so named.  In the one city there is confirmation that BVI is experiencing slow but steady progress and we are returning to claim our share of the global economic pie. In the other city, the challenges we face are making it difficult for businesses to remain viable and for the individual to survive.  And if businesses falter the workers and their families will be severely...

Director of Waste Management Management, Mr. Marcus Solomon has said that his department has received the incinerator’s transfer arms as it makes steady strides in bringing the facility at Pockwood Pond back online.Mr. Solomon explained that the department is expecting the arrival of the control panel and two more pieces of equipment. He said works will begin to remove the roof of the structure housing the incinerator when the full complement of equipment is on island, followed by the chan...

On November 21, 2023, the British Virgin Islands Ports Authority (BVIPA), in collaboration with the British Virgin Islands Tourist Board (BVITB) and local ship agent Island Shipping Trading Co. Ltd., commemorated the inaugural arrival of the Explora 1 with a special plaque exchange ceremony. This noteworthy event took place while the ship was anchored near Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, with Captain Diego Michelozzi. The ceremony not only symbolized the seamless integration of luxury and respo...

Director of Culture, Dr. Katherine Smith has lauded the “Remember My Name” performing arts production that honoured ten Virgin Islands heroes as a major success.Dr. Smith said the performance made an earnest call for Virgin Islanders to reflect on the significant contributions made by the ten recently designated heroes and their altruistic efforts towards advancing the socio-economic and political interests of the Territory.Dr. Smith said, “One of the oldest and most enduring w...

Kadeem Maynard was sentenced in a Miami federal court late Monday evening 20 November to just under five years in prison for his role in a scheme to traffic cocaine through the British Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland. The Judge ordered a sentence of 57 months to be served. Maynard, 32, of Tortola along with his mother Oleanvine Pickering Maynard had changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty earlier this year. Kadeem Maynard pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import co...

Mr. Jay Kendall has been appointed Superintendent of Prisons, effective 30th October, 2023.Mr. Kendall brings over seventeen (17) decorated years of experience in the criminal justice system to this role. Most recently, he has served as the Superintendent of Prisons on Saint Helena Island where he designed and implemented the prison’s five (5) year development plan, as well as worked to progress the new prison build project on the island.As the new Superintendent of Prisons, Mr. Kendall wi...

Acting Premier Kye Rymer and Junior Minister for Culture and Tourism Honourable Luce Hodge-Smith and other officials welcomed the crew of Tradewind Aviation as they made their inaugural commercial flight to Virgin Gorda yesterday.Honourable Rymer and Honourable Hodge-Smith welcomed the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Eric Zipkin and Caribbean General Manager Mr. Jose “Tony” Vallecillo at a ceremony attended by officials from the public and private sector.Honourable Rymer i...

The Premier, his Deputy and the Governor were in London this week to attend the Joint Ministerial Council with members of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office.That meeting is important and it holds a prominent place on the Territory’s UK/BVI collaborative agenda.  There is usually a lot to discuss and potentially much to gain.The BVI contingent was large and the price tag for that gathering must have been staggering.  However, if they were representing the interests...

The BVI Airports Authority has been elected to serve as an Advisor on the Governing Board of Airports Council International - Latin America and the Caribbean (ACI-LAC).The ACI serves 712 members as of January 2023 and operates in 1925 airports in 171 countries. The council is organised, structured, and governed in a federal manner and includes ACI World and five ACI Regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific and Middle East, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America.The BVI Airports Authorit...

The compensation review and job classification exercise that began in November 2022 is complete and was presented to cabinet on Wednesday November 8.  The review was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers Trinidad and Tobago (PwC) and was dealt with in six phases including Project Planning, a Current State Assessment, a Compensation Philosophy and Revised Class System, the Compensation Review, a Job Evaluation Methodology and the Project Close Out.Deputy Governor, Mr. David D. Archer Jr. ...

Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, Honourable Sharie B. de Castro is away from the Territory on Travel Duty attending official meetings from November 9 to 20. The Minister attended the 3rd Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Ministerial Summit in Barbados from November 9 to 11 where she served as a panelist. This year’s summit focused on the theme: ‘Reimagining Educational Reform –Towards Transformative Agility’. Honourable de Castro is also atte...

The Ministry of Education has announced that the students of the Jost Van Dyke Primary School have been temporarily relocated until their new school building is complete.Ministry officials met with the principal, staff and parents of the Jost Van Dyke Primary School on Thursday November 2 to discuss suggestions for the relocation following which a consensus was reached by all parties that the students will be relocated to the Leonora Delville Primary School.Acting Chief Education Officer, Mrs. O...

‘It is not too late to bail the bilge of the ship of state.  For while the ship is at water level, she is still, miraculously, afloat although barely seaworthy.’ “Who will weep for our young men whose lives are being snuffed out in what, for BVI, is record numbers?  Have we acquired a certain level of immunity to crime because of its frequency and the expectation that these things will be?Or is it because the Territory has become so impersonal that we no longer k...

The Honourable Kye Rymer, Minister for Communications and Works has been appointed Acting Premier while Premier Natalio Wheatley and Deputy Premier Lorna Smith  are out of the Territory on official travel to the UK. His appointment begins today, Friday November 10, 2023. 

The Deputy Premier and Minister for Financial Services, Labour & Trade the Honourable Lorna Smith has formed an Adhoc Committee of some 14 persons across industries to review the minimum wage in the Territory. “As I have been pondering the best way forward, I have determined that the most effective approach is to establish an advisory committee to undertake a review of what the most appropriate level of the minimum wage should be.” Honourable Smith said. The minimum wag...

UK Minister Mike Freer MP, from the Ministry of Justice, visited the BVI between Sunday 5 to Tuesday 7 November. The purpose of the visit was for the Minister to see first-hand the opportunities and challenges in the BVI justice system, and to identify areas for further partnership with the UK.On Monday, Minister Freer met the Premier, Dr. the Hon Natalio Wh...

Minister for Communications and Works Honourable Kye Rymer said that the rehabilitation of the water infrastructure in the Territory will be costly but that a comprehensive review of water distribution in the Territory is underway.In his statement at the Fifth Sitting of the First Session of the Fifth House of Assembly, Minister Rymer said his ministry is addressing concerns from the public related to the water woes residents are facing and explained the contractual components of the agreem...