Social Commentator Cindy Rosan recently took to the regional stage of the CaribUpdate Programme to share her views regarding the current social and political environment in the territory.
A key aspect of this discussion was, of course, the string of recent arrests involving public officers – with the most recent being Former Education Minister Myron Walwyn.
Rosan told CaribUpdate’s Calistra Farrier that within the current environment, Walwyn’s arrest was no surprise.
“Well, based on the climate and the investigations that the COI recommends, I think we are not surprised that the minister was arrested. I mean, another member for public office was arrested in the same case last week, so we did expect that this could be a possibility”, she said.
Rosan went on to express the view that as it currently stands, the charge of “Breach of Trust” is being blanketed over arrests within the investigation into the Elmore Stoutt High School Perimeter Wall Project.
“Normally, across the world, that’s a very serious charge. What we’re seeing in the BVI right now is that a broad brush is being used across all arrests that appear to be taking place at the moment. Every charge that is brought is a Breach of Trust, so we’re looking at it as a broad brush at the moment”, she said.
As for the trajectory she sees the territory taking in this regard, Rosan says that based on what she is seeing, more arrests are likely.
“I definitely don’t want to pre-empt and call names, because that would be based on my opinion anyway. But, based on what we’re seeing and based on the particular ministries and other projects that are under investigation – I foresee that we’ll have a few more arrests and I could see maybe a couple sitting members of the House of Assembly actually being arrested”, Rosan explained.
Walwyn was the third individual to be arrested as a result of investigations into the perimeter wall project.
Prior to that, Kelvin Thomas and Public Officer Lorna Stevens were similarly arrested and charged.