Governor John Rankin has said that “additional action will be necessary” should the Government of the Virgin Islands fail to make significant progress in the implementation of the Commission of Inquiry Reforms by the time of his next Quarterly Review.
“If we do not see the ‘meat on the bones’ of these reforms by my next Quarterly Review, additional action will be necessary. I will hence be exploring options for additional resources, powers and technical expertise to accelerate reforms. In particular I will consider whether the necessary resources are allocated to the reform process, whether work is sufficiently prioritised, and whether the reforms are implemented in practice” he said in his third quarterly review dated June 9.
As for the work already done, the Governor concluded that progress “continues to be slow”.
“There are particular areas in which I believe progress is too slow and this could be partly due to a lack of resources: namely, within the Immigration Department and with law enforcement agencies (particularly the Royal Virgin Islands Police, Attorney General’s Chambers, and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions). The BVI will struggle to move forwards if there is a continued backlog of applications for status and if criminal investigations that date back many years cannot be progressed due to a lack of resources, and I welcome the commitment of the Premier to address both of these issues.”
He noted that the recently held General Election had a significant impact on the Government’s ability to make progress.
Stating that momentum must be regained, the Governor charged the new Government to “prioritise this vital programme to improve governance and tackle the serious failings identified in the COI report”.
Despite these concerns the Governor shared this positive note on the implementations so far.
“There have been some welcome achievements over the past few months: I am pleased that the Protocol for Statutory Board Appointments is starting to be applied, the Public Service Management Code represents a significant step forwards, the scoping visit for the law enforcement review has taken place, and I am encouraged by improvements to procurement in some, though not all, areas.”
He also noted that “the majority of reviews and audits have now been received and many of these are now in the public domain. The need now is to consult as necessary on the recommendations made and then swiftly take action to implement substantive reforms.”
“Genuine reform will take time”, he said as he directed focus to assessing the commitment of those tasked with implementing the reforms. A commitment that he said, “must be demonstrated through prioritisation and the allocation of resources.”