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  by pltm
• Jun 24, 2022
• 1

(PLTM) - During the first of a series of public engagement sessions earlier this week, it was expressed that there was some uncertainty, and need for further clarification on Recommendation A3 of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report.

In addition, it was conveyed that some residents are of the opinion that Ministers enjoy disproportionate powers.

In addressing the query by one of the members of the audience, the Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr. Natalio Wheatley explained that several pieces of legislation allow for Ministers to act unrestrained in several areas of governance.

“All we are really talking about is defining: if you have discretion, you define the parameters and limitations of how you can use discretion, as opposed to it just being open-ended, which would not allow for the proper boundaries,” Dr. Wheatley noted.

Dr. Wheatley also indicated that this recommendation will be useful based on how discretionary powers have been executed previously and admitted that he believes the “discretionary power” provision enables Ministers to execute a significant amount of powers.

He mentioned that although the curtailment of Ministerial powers has been emphasized in the CoI report, this was a criticism that predates the CoI, and it includes also, senior public officers.

Hon. Marlon Penn added that there is an existing framework to accommodate for the “clearly expressed and published guidelines” that the recommendation emphasized.

He stated that, “Specifically, we have a former AG [Attorney General], who actually outlined how discretionary powers should be used. So we have a framework and a guide for this. So the only now is for us to look at how to implement across the governments’ systems.”

According to the framework for implementing the CoI recommendations, the start date for enforcing these guidelines is scheduled for July 1 while October 31 is the intended date of completion.

The CoI report recommends that there be a review of discretionary powers held by elected public officials (including Cabinet), with a view to removing the powers where they are unnecessary; or, where they are considered necessary, ensuring that they are exercised in accordance with clearly expressed and published guidelines. This review could be conducted by a senior BVI lawyer, or retired BVI/Eastern Caribbean judge.”