After six days of debating constitutional reform in public, the House of Assembly entered a closed-door committee session on Friday to continue the talks in private — despite calls for greater transparency from Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn.
In the closed-door session, which recessed on Friday but is set to resume Oct. 13, members will decide which of the 57 recommendations in the 2022-2023 Constitutional Review Commission Report to carry forward into negotiations with the United Kingdom.
“If there are any portions of the report that are not accepted, members’ suggestions will be annotated and included in a supplementary report,” the HOA told the Beacon. “Once this process is complete, including all agreed-upon points and suggested changes, the full information will be compiled and tabled.”
The HOA added that members’ final report is expected to take around three months to prepare and will likely be completed before the end of the year.
“At that time, the report will be formally laid before the House, making it public and available for review,” the HOA told the Beacon.
In the meantime, Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley is also expected to appoint members of a negotiating committee who will join CRC Chairwoman Lisa Penn-Lettsome in taking the final report into talks with the UK.
Transparency
The closed-door committee session came despite several members’ calls for a transparent constitutional debate.
Mr. Walwyn went further, saying that the committee session itself should be open.
“Even now when we are looking at this constitutional review in committee, it needs to be public, because this is a document that belongs to everybody,” he said on Sept. 22 while backing a CRC recommendation to make all HOA committee sessions public whenever possible. “Let us defy the odds: Make this committee public for the people, because it’s the people’s Constitution, and 13 people going to be in here in secret … saying what they want for themselves personally, what suits their agenda — and the people are excluded.”
Asked Tuesday for comment on the HOA’s decision to proceed to closed-door committee despite his call for transparency, Mr. Walwyn told the Beacon, “I am not sure what more I can add. I made the call for it to be done publicly. It is for the House to accept or reject my proposal.”
Yesterday, Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley defended the decision.
“Committee sessions are not public,” he told the Beacon. “This is based on the Standing Orders. Hon. Walwyn is a part of the Standing Orders Committee. He can propose an amendment to the Standing Orders if he wishes to.”
Mr. Wheatley also noted that the HOA recently amended the Standing Orders in a way that allowed for committee discussions on tabled documents like the CRC report.
“The purpose of debate is to express our positions publicly,” he added.
Public debate
Before entering a closed-door committee on Friday afternoon, all 13 legislators contributed at length to the public portion of the debate over the course of six days.
They often focused on broad calls for greater self-governance, but they also covered specific CRC recommendations addressing topics including premier term limits, party politics, freedom of information, calls for a bicameral legislature, and many others.
During her Sept. 23 contribution, Education, Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Sharie de Castro expressed support for the existing party system under the territory’s Westminster model of parliamentary government — despite a CRC position that “party politics has no place in the Constitution.”
“Across our region, we have seen cases where governments made up largely of independents struggle to come together around a single mandate, a single vision, a single course of action: too many voices, too many positions and no clear national direction,” Ms. de Castro said. “Madam Speaker, the blessing in the party system is that it allows a group of people to unite around a vision, a manifesto, a mandate for the future — and then to work together to deliver it.”
However, she also acknowledged problems with the way the party system is managed in the territory.
“At times, one of the things I detest most in this House is how poisonous and toxic it has become,” she said, adding, “I do not believe the fault lies in the system itself. I believe the fault is in how we as leaders have chosen to practise it. That is where change has to take place.”
‘They get nervous’
Opposition member Ronnie Skelton spoke the next day, seeking at one point to reassure the public about calls for greater self-governance.
“I know of people that whenever they hear about self-governance, … they get nervous: ‘What happens if you get somebody and they’re a dictatorship — [somebody who] wants to do what they want how they want?’” he said, adding, “Even with systems in place, look at what has happened around the globe. You can’t not do what you’re supposed to do because you’re scared of people taking advantage of you.”
He also called for steady but measured progress toward greater autonomy in the future.
“I am for total internal self-government, and I will put a time on it after that: four years or five years that you go independent,” he said. “So you walk towards it.”
‘Long and comprehensive’
Financial Services and Economic Development Junior Minister Lorna Smith focused her contribution largely on CRC recommendations for areas including the role of the Cabinet, the potential creation of a sixth ministry, the role of junior ministers, the direct election of the premier, and the next steps toward greater autonomy.
“The [CRC report], as we all know, is long and comprehensive, and I hope that by the end of this debate — or certainly by the end of the committee stage — this House would have reached consensus on what is best for the people of the Virgin Islands,” she said on Sept. 22. “There are some excellent recommendations, and, naturally, Madam Speaker, there are others that I question.”
She also referenced the “Partnership for Progress and Prosperity,” a 1999 UK White Paper that redefined the relationship between the UK and its overseas territories.
“These tenets seem to have been long forgotten,” she said, adding, “These days it feels a lot more like confrontation and less like a partnership between us and the United Kingdom. … The aim of this government and indeed of this House is to always work collaboratively with His Majesty’s Government in the interest of the people we serve.”
Premier’s closing
On Friday afternoon, the premier wrapped up the public portion of the debate with a closing contribution that lasted about three hours.
“This journey to self-determination is a right, and it is enshrined in international law,” he said, citing United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541. “What we are doing is a continuation; we are not here of ourselves. What we are continuing is the journey of self-determination.”
To that end, also stressed the importance of education.
“When you get to be a leader, one of the responsibilities you have is to educate your people, to inspire your people,” he said. “If your people express notions which are antithetical to their very interests, you have to help to pull them out of that condition.”
He also criticised what he saw as political immaturity during the debates, urging HOA members to remember their duty to the public.
“There were some very disappointing things mentioned,” he said. “There were persons who threw shade in some instances and got in a political jab here or there. I thought that that was unfortunate. It doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything, but that we have a good-natured debate. I think we were able to do that for the most part.”
Mr. Contreras reported this story from New York, and Freeman Rogers contributed reporting in the Virgin Islands.
British Caribbean News
