Incumbent District 6 Representative and Junior Minister for Tourism Hon. Alvera Maduro-Caines believes that following the completed implementation of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) Recommendations things should be smooth sailing for the Virgin Islands.
That is, unless the United Kingdom (UK) raises further issues at such a time, she said.
Maduro-Caines spoke as a guest on 284 Media’s Just for the Record where she faced questions on many topical issues facing District 6 and the wider territory.
She made the aforementioned comment while responding to the question of whether she believes the findings of the COI Report were a fair representation of what has transpired in the Virgin Islands in recent years.
“With the COI, they looked at things differently from how we looked at it… They did say in the report that they found no signs of corruption but there were things that we’re doing that they didn’t like, they felt we were doing it wrong”, she said.
While Maduro-Caines said she accepted the concerns raised in the report, she believes that the UK should have proceeded with the approach of offering guidance to the Virgin Islands to address the areas of concern rather than threatening draconian action such as the suspension of the constitution.
“Walk us through it, you know. Put the guidelines in place so we could follow”, she said.
“It took how many years to do that? It took over 70 years that we’ve been doing things this way and now you come and say that we’ve been doing this wrong over that time”, she added.
As for the timeline provided for implementation, Maduro-Caines said that the time was not enough.
“The changes can come but me, personally, I think the timeline to put the changes in place was too short… The timeframe? It’s a lot. But we are trying”, she said.
During that same interview Maduro-Caines addressed the issue of same sex marriage, the possibility of developing a cannabis industry in the Virgin Islands, the alleged gang affiliations of “Zone 6”, the impact that her appointment as Junior Minister for Tourism has had on her district and much more.
See full interview below.
