Premier Dr. the Honourable Natalio Wheatley has made it clear that the members of his government are patriots and are not puppets.
The premier’s statement came in response to a comment made by the Member for the Fourth District Honourable Mark Vanterpool, during Tuesday’s sitting of the House of Assembly.
He said his government is working in the best interest of its residents.
“The members of this government are working to what we believe very firmly and with the purest of intentions, is in the best interest of the people of the Virgin Islands. And I want to thank the Member for the Fourth for withdrawing the characterization of us as puppets. Because, we are not puppets, we are patriots,” Wheatley stated.
The governor’s power makes him a dictator
Vanterpool referred to the five members of the Cabinet as puppets under the governor’s dictatorship rule, but he later retracted such comments.
He was referencing the powers that the governor presently holds in the territory, which some members of the House have described as placing the governor over the laws of the BVI.
“The Virgin Islands is right now being run by the governor as a dictator. I’m talking about the governorship, I’m not talking about the individual. He can get upset if he wants to, I don’t have any problem with that, but he is operating right now as a dictator. That’s the powers he has been given,” Vanterpool stated.
He added, “Look at my government in front of me. Five members of the Cabinet, puppets! Premier you might not like me saying that but it is the truth. That’s what you are. I am going to speak the truth. You dare not go against the governor because you know what he will be or you know what he can do, so you better lap your tail.”
The UK used the COI to take over the BVI
Likening Vladimir Putin’s reasoning for his invasion of Ukraine, Vanterpool said the United Kingdom likewise has made up a reason to exercise dictatorship rule over the British Virgin Islands.
He said, “The United Kingdom has made up a reason based on a Commission of Inquiry, that it is their right to take over the Virgin Islands right now and rule it as a dictatorship. The governor advised by a possible… advisory council, from whom he may or may not accept the recommendations from.”
“The governor can make the laws! One man! We in here in the House, fighting and going through first readings, second readings, third readings, then you go to Committee Stage, we go through line by line and page by page to make a law but the governor can make his own law in the Virgin Islands right now,” Vanterpool further expressed.