Last week we focused on the Law Enforcement Review Report volume 2 and the implications of some of the recommendations that were made. But we must discuss how we got there in the first place.

The COI and the Law Enforcement Review Reports would never have been necessary if the 13 were working more assiduously on behalf of the people of these Virgin Islands.

And, also, if the people were making demands that they do.

Arundhati Roy in “The Algebra of Infinite Justice” noted that “It could be argued that civil society has failed its leaders as much as leaders have failed civil society.”

While we appreciate all that His Majesty’s government does on our behalf, we cannot expect that they could ever have a stronger interest in us than we would have in ourselves.

At the community level, the average citizen is often ignorant of the operations of government but that is where the elected representatives come in.  We expect them to also educate us about the issues and the processes.

Are the 13 too distracted by their personal power struggles?  Why are they dropping the ball and then galvanizing the community to avert the consequences of their actions?  And why squander the reprieve they get once they receive it?

We saw the distance the Premier went to avert a takeover of the government functions by the Governor.  He created a coalition government that was unprecedented in the history of BVI governments.

But he did not go far enough.

Just shy of 3 years ago, a BVI Premier was detained on foreign soil for conspiring to do the very things that put us in the crosshairs of the British which sparked these reports.

We cannot help but believe that the whole territory is being penalized for the excesses of a single individual.  Nevertheless, it was just such an infraction that empowered the overlords to spring into action.

If only a stronger interest was paid to security over the decades; If a fraction of the resources put into the COI was committed to good governance, BVI may have been a beacon in the sea of lawlessness that is engulfing the world.

Thankfully, the Police Commissioner is doing her best and showing some results but we are not sure if anyone is taking note.

Instead, there seems to be a hard push to fulfill Recommendations 22-25 of the COI Report by any other name.

Nevertheless, we cannot blame the overlords for our own shortcomings.

Any jurisdiction worth its salt, after deciding to form a coalition government to save country, would have then commissioned its own investigations into what happened and dissected that report with a view to devising policies or laws to ensure that it never happens again.

We would, at the very least, have wanted to know why functionaries of the Territory appeared to have been building a narco-state.  How contraband in one form or another could have slipped under the watchful gaze of law enforcement or why law enforcers may have been compromised.

Still, it is grossly unfair to try to brand an entire population because of the actions of a few of its members.  Clearly, BVI is not the only place in the world where, in some quarters, people are not law-abiding.

Are the people we trust to enforce our laws adequately compensated?  Or is greed a factor?

And how do we recall elected officials when they have gone rogue from the agreed blueprint of governance?

What does not help is the systematic dismantling of the bureaucratic structures.  

For example,  Ministers do not want to accept the role of the Permanent Secretaries as the administrators of the ministries; As the accounting officers; As the keepers of the records.

So, when the structures are eroded, we will end up where the memory of any Ministry of Government will be dependent on the memory of the Minister.

That can never be the recipe for a successfully run ‘country.’  In essence, we will be starting over every time a new Minister is appointed.

There is more.  Ministers are usurping the functions of the Accounting Officer.  Funds are committed, sometimes without the knowledge of the Accounting Officer.

For such actions, Ministers rely on section 56 of the constitution that gives them powers including “…responsibility for the administration of any department of government.” 

But in reality, it is policy administration over which the Minister should have full control.

If the section is not amended to refer to policy control, then the next logical step must be taken. Ministers should be named the Accounting Officers of Ministries so that they are held responsible for their fiscal management.

So, although the second edition of the Law Enforcement Review Report may demonstrate that Whitehall is better at punishing than teaching, still, we are not blameless.

And only after we have done our part can we, honestly, look the overlords in the eye and tell them that we can never agree with the way we are being treated in, what should be, a partnership.

There is much for us to discuss on our Fridays.  

Perhaps The Leader of Government Business should schedule a series of public meetings to tell the public what is going on and to seek input.

We fight for the very heart and soul of BVI.

Happy Friday.