We woke up this morning to the shocking news! Karia Christopher, the Director of Communications for Premier Wheatley departed this life in her sleep last evening.
She was working on the live press conference to have been held by the Premier today following his London visit last week.
Karia was a vivacious, hardworking, well-dressed, provocative, and fun-loving individual. She transformed the airways with her ‘Real Talk’ magazine that addressed serious, sensitive and timely topics. She was well known for her probing questions and her radiant smile.
She was a family woman that included being wife to a loving husband, mother to her adoring children, a daughter and of the soil, a relative and friend.
Just last week, she was a member of the delegation that attended the Junior Ministerial Council (JMC) in London.
The delegation was powerful.
It was led by Premier Wheatley and included Minister Rymer, Junior Minister Smith, Financial Secretary Frett, Special Envoy Wheatley, Director of Communications, Christopher;
Premier’s political appointee Malone, various technocrats from the Ministry of Financial Services and top brass from the FSC.
Only missing was a keeper of the records, usually the Premier’s Permanent Secretary. But on hand was a photographer and videographer to immortalize the importance of the gathering.
Increasingly, we are warming up to the US system of public administration but that system does not lend itself as well to continuity as the Westminster Whitehall model, shortcomings aside.
And at present, the permanent civil service, which is becoming increasingly sidelined in favour of political appointees, still carry the responsibility but they no longer seem to have the authority to execute their duties.
And in any case, their presence is hardly required in the halls of power for, during their tenure, Ministers want to get things done and the civil servants, with reporting lines to the governor, are increasingly seen as obstructionist.
If we want to change the system, change it. But there is a tinge of inhumanity in the hybrid that pushes civil servants to the brink of mental challenges.
And since the tenure of political appointees is tied to the service of the Minister of the day, we fear for the records.
No records, no account of the past. No account of the past, no history except as it is created on the stump. No history, no blueprint to guide future decision making.
There is a reason why for hundreds of years, a tiny country, the United Kingdom, ruled the world. And we are willing to wager that strong record keeping and the permanence of the civil service were instrumental.
The JMC was held from 26-27 November. It included all the Overseas Territories of the Kingdom and, for some time, the Kingdom’s Governors have also been attending.
The idea underpinning the meetings is that OT Ministers and technocrats would also have the opportunity to meet their counterparts across Whitehall.
The Caribbean OTs including Bermuda (6 OTs) make up 81% of OTs people and yet it seems that this group is often treated less favourably than the others.
We wonder why.
While the Premier was in the UK, he had an extremely busy agenda. He, and his fellow Premier’s held several important meetings and even had the opportunity to meet with the Foreign Secretary and His Majesty.
We will unpack various outcomes of the meetings over time but suffice it to say that the JMC is the most significant annual meeting on the UK/OTs relationship calendar.
Baroness Hodge was there and still raving about the beauty of the BVI and recommending that we concentrate on tourism instead of Financial Services.
She still thinks that the Caribbean OTs harbour dirty money. And yet, she lives in London.
And everyone forgets that the Crown dependencies are treated differently than the OTs although they are in the same business but without the same level of pressure that we experience.
In fact, BVI is continually singled out even amongst its sister territories, harassed in ways that do not benefit the relationship.
The Order in Council still hangs over our heads; Affixed in an afternoon but now requiring half a year to remove. Where is the justice in that?
Shockingly, noticeably young and junior UK civil servants tell the elected leaders what they can or cannot do in the management of their territories. It is an affront to respect which we believe we deserve if only Ex-Oficio.
We were glad to read the commendation from the Office of the Premier that the Head of the BVI London House performed well. It was not the first testament to her excellent work.
And yet we have not, in the history of having people managing BVI House, treated anyone as poorly as we treat her.
Bradshaw first went to London in 2015 and has been acting as Head of the Office since 2019. She is an Attorney at law by profession.
But after 6 years, she still has an acting appointment. She is not allowed to occupy the apartment in BVI House as all Heads of the House have done from inception. And we do not compensate her for the accommodations she has privately rented.
To add insult to injury, persons are sent to occupy the apartment at times and she remains ignorant.
We wonder if the level of outrage expressed for the 1 year acting appointment of Vanterpool is only reserved for instances when the governor has the power and constitutional right?
Likely, there will be no marches on behalf of Ms Bradshaw and no speeches. But injustice, wherever it exists, should be aggressively addressed.
Four former Heads of BVI House were in London for or around the time of the JMC and not a dog barked on her behalf.
Is it the case that while Ms Bradshaw’s qualifications and performance ably recommend her for confirmation to the post; her blood lines do not?
The justice we demand is the justice we must dispense.
But Karia Christopher!
Our hearts bleed for her family and for the loss to the Territory. It is difficult to accept the caprice of life and the chronicle of pain and suffering it leaves behind.
We should all adopt as a mantra:
“First, do no harm.”
On Fridays we tell the stories. But this is an Un-
Happy Friday!