During a recent sitting of the House of Assembly, Premier Dr the Honourable Natalio Wheatley addressed a field of questioning from the Opposition surrounding matters of the process of financial and human resource allocation for the fulfillment of the already agreed upon recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry report.
On the issue of additional staff requirements, and financial commitments to facilitate the hiring process, Premier Wheatley told the House that at this time he could not provide estimates on the required staff numbers or the costs associated with filling the necessary positions at various departments.
He did note, however, that funds have been provided to both the Office of the Auditor General and the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force in recent times for the purpose of filling vacant positions.
“The departments are still in the process of assessing their needs to complete the fulfillment of the already agreed recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, therefore I’m unable to provide an estimated cost of staff to be required. In some instances… some departments have requested funding for vacant positions to be filled, while others have assigned existing staff to fulfill some of the duties. The sum of $135,000 was provided for the Office of the Auditor General, while the sum of $484,000 was provided for the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force”, he said.
According to the premier, the governing bodies for those newly recruited for these processes will be the Public Service Commission and the Police Service Commission.
Though he could not provide a timeline for the completion of assigned activities for each department, the premier assured that the territory is still well on track to succeed in implementing the recommendations of the COI Report within the intended two-year period.
Dr. Whealtey assured residents that as more information on these matters becomes accessible it will be made available to the Opposition and the public as necessary.
During the sitting, the premier and Territorial at Large Representative Honourable Carvin Malone agreed that the exchange of this information will take place outside of the House of Assembly.