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  by pltm
• Sep 10, 2019
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(PLTM) - Premier and Minister for Finance, Hon. Andrew Fahie stated that the Chairman of the Committee that would be tasked with reviewing the Territory’s Constitution would be in place by the end of September. Additionally, Hon. Fahie announced that decisions about the overdue constitutional review will be made by the House of Assembly at an informal meeting that would be called soon.

The Premier made the disclosure about the plans for constitutional review on September 3 while he was a guest on the Honestly Speaking With Claude Skelton-Cline radio talk show.

In response to a question from Skelton-Cline, Hon. Fahie said, “We are going to be having an informal meeting very soon of the members of the House, and that is going to be one of the things on the agenda--in terms of the constitutional review because the time is now to push for that.”

“Our aim is at least by the end of September to name a Chairman for the constitutional review and also to get input from the other members in terms of the makeup of the membership. Also, what the target points are going to be in terms of what we are looking for towards the constitutional review, because the time is now,” the Premier said.

Meanwhile, Hon. Fahie pointed out that the review of the Constitution is not expected to be done overnight.

“It is important to know that a constitutional review of these Constitution go beyond the life of a sitting Government. It is not a political Constitution, this is a Constitution for the people of the Virgin Islands, so the input of the entire Virgin Islands would be sought in terms of the areas of the Constitution that we need to improve upon.”

Oversight and transparency seem to be areas that will be looked at during the constitutional review process. In making that disclosure, Hon. Fahie said, “How do we improve upon the accountability and transparency, not only of elected officials but of Governors and also how do we make sure that we continue to strengthen our self-governance in a way. We are not talking independence, but that we make sure that we continue to show that we are continuing to mature,” the Premier added.

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