Radio & Television Broadcast By Hon. Ralph T. O'Neal On 9th June

Greetings to you my people through the length and breadth of the British Virgin Islands and those in the wider Caribbean who are able to hear this broadcast. It was my intention to make a broadcast to mark the first year of the Virgin Islands Party term in office and I still intend to do so, but there are a few matters which I should address immediately.

Firstly, there is the question of the Constitution Order arising out of the Constitutional Commission. On Tuesday 6th June, I announced that an order had been made by Her Majesty's Privy Council on the 17th May, 2000. I received a copy on the 31st of May and this was laid on the Table of the Legislative Council on the 6th of June. On Wednesday 7th June, His Excellency the Governor signed an Order, bringing several parts of the Constitution in force on the 12th of June.

As a result of this, there will be five Ministers instead of four. The Public Service Commission would be increased from three to five members (this is the Body that makes recommendations to His Excellency the Governor for appointment to the Civil Service and has to do with matters like promotion, discipline, recommending training and other matters dealing with the Civil Service). There will be a Complaints Commissioner and also a Register of Interest for all Members of the Legislative Council, including Ministers and other Senior Officers, except the Governor.

One section of the Constitution Order that will not come into operation on the 12th of June is the section dealing with belonger status. The Immigration and Passport Act has to be amended to blend with the new provisions in the Order and this amendment will be done very quickly and the Draft Legislation sent to the Legislative Council for consideration. This matter will be given top priority as I believe the new provisions for belonger status, such as the attainment of belonger status by any child born abroad of a British Virgin Islander father or mother and the removal of automatic belonger status to any non British Virgin Islander woman who marries a British Virgin Islander male are provisions which were needed for some time now and are most welcome. Secondly, at the same meeting on the 6th of June, the Honourable Minister for Health, Education and Welfare made a statement that the Dialysis Machine at Peebles Hospital was now in operation and that the six patients who travel to St. Thomas weekly will now no longer have to do so. I would like to record my thanks to the St. Thomas Medical authorities for allowing us the use of their facilities for our patients during that time and also to the Captains of the ferries who transported the patients at little or no cost.

Thirdly, there was an incident at the meeting on 6th June when the Members of the Opposition decided that they would walk out of Council when the Honourable Speaker made his ruling about the admissibility of a motion that was brought to the House by the Honourable At Large Representative Mr Ronnie Skelton. The motion was introduced by the Honourable At Large Member, who spoke for over an hour and then it was seconded by the Honourable Member for the 7th District, but who reserved his right to speak until some time afterwards. This is a rule of the Legislative Council. The next speaker was the Leader of the Opposition who started his speech by saying and I quote, "I could have called the Chief Minister and this matter could have been discussed among us informally but I preferred to take this route." When he was finished, there were speeches by Honourable Member for the Fourth District Mark Vanterpool, the Territorial Member Honourable Reeial George, the Member for the 8th District Honourable Lloyd Black, Member for the 6th District Honourable Omar Hodge and the Member for the 7th District Honourable Dr. Kedrick Pickering (not necessarily in the order just given). When the Honourable Member for the 8th District was speaking, he said that there are financial implications in this motion, so that the Members of the Opposition must have realised that there were these financial implications. I caught the Speaker's eye after Dr. Pickering had spoken and I explained that I was in sympathy with the part of the motion that dealt with the concern of crime and domestic violence in the community. I mentioned that I had seen a delegation of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens and had had a three-hour discussion with them on Friday 2nd June and although all of them could not stay for the duration of the meeting, those who stayed could tell that we had a very constructive meeting.

I explained to the House that I had two concerns - the first one was that in accordance with the rules of the House, Special Select Committees must be composed of Members who would reflect the balance of parties in the House and that according to my calculations, if there was a committee of five Members, three would have to be from the Virgin Islands Party, one from the National Democratic Party and one from the Concerned Citizens Movement. But the greater concern was the rule of the Council which says that except with the approval of the Minister of Finance, the Council shall not proceed upon any motion or amendment to a motion, the effect of which, in the opinion of the Speaker, is that provision should be made for imposing or increasing any charge on the revenue or other funds of the territory or for altering any such charge, otherwise than by reducing it or for compounding it or remitting any debt due to the territory. After I had finished my speech, the Honourable Speaker sought the advice of the Honourable Attorney General, who pointed out that this rule was a Constitutional requirement and if the Honourable Speaker was of the opinion that there would be a charge incurred, he would have to rule according to the rules of the House.

Now, let us look at the motion. It says "Now therefore be it resolved that the Legislative Council of the Virgin Islands do appoint a Special Select Committee of five Legislators under Rule No. 78 of the Standing Orders of the Legislative Council, three of whom shall form a quorum, to investigate and make recommendations on how to address the root causes of the above mentioned activities." Now, my people, I can see a committee of five of us in the House who are no experts in Criminology or Sociology or Psychology, investigating the problem and making recommendations on how to address the root causes and again I say how to address the root causes. In order to do this, necessary expertise would have to be hired to carry out the investigations and advise the Committee on what recommendations to make and of course, some of these experts' fees could be very high.

When the Honourable Speaker suggested that we adjourn for a short while, the Government side decided that the thirteen Legislators should meet informally together and discuss the matter and prepare some rough estimates and make provision in the schedule of supplementary provision which I plan to bring to the House around the end of this month and then the Honourable Territorial Member, Mr. Skelton could bring the motion to the House and we would then be able to have smooth sailing. I told the Leader of the Opposition this in the presence of the Honourable Speaker, but he informed me after he had consulted with his team that this was not acceptable. The country is governed by laws; we respect the rule of the law. The Constitution of this country must be respected at all times. Whenever the Parliamentary Draftsman is asked to prepare draft legislation, he consults the Constitution to see if there is the authority in the Constitution for that type of Legislation. I am informed that he must do that and make sure that any laws, regulations made in this country are in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution or any citizen could take the matter before the Courts of Justice and if the law is not in accordance with the Constitution, it would be ruled unconstitutional. We must take this question of the sacredness of our Constitution very seriously. In many countries, the Constitution is so highly regarded that there is an entrenched provision in the Constitution itself, that there must be at least a two-thirds majority to effect any change to it. This provision of course is made to prevent change at every whim and fancy of elected representatives.

We are all in a learning process. I remember some years ago, there was an incident in the Council and the Council had to take the necessary action to ensure that the Constitution was upheld. The then Governor never discussed the matter with me until after the action was taken. He said and I quote, "Mr. O'Neal, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was very much concerned and they were waiting to see if you were going to condone the infraction of the Constitution and then they would have taken their action". How could one ever forget a statement like that? As regards the rules of the Legislative Council, immediately after the 14th Legislative Council was sworn in, I organized a Conference, especially for the new Members to become acquainted with the conduct of business in the House. I did not expect that new Members would learn everything at this Conference, but it would give them the opportunity to start off on the right foot. I do not believe in nit-picking because at meetings of the House, there are times when a Member will get up and call another Member by his name and I would say to myself, why should I call him to order for that. I consider that a slip of the tongue and not a fault of the mind. But when it comes to respecting our Institutions, I am a stickler for that and since a matter was brought formally to the House, it must be dealt with formally and this matter was brought formally by a motion (and especially when the Leader of the Opposition admitted that this matter could have been discussed with the Chief Minister).

Those of you who were listening to the proceedings in the House will recall that earlier in the morning, the Member for the Seventh District was talking about the lack of respect that he has witnessed in this country. He referred to the fact that just outside the House, a car was parked up with a radio blasting and a couple hours after the Members of the Opposition saw fit to unceremoniously leave the Council Chamber. What sort of message are we sending to our young people? In my years in the House, many times the Speaker has ruled and I did not like the ruling, but I had to accept his ruling and act in a responsible manner.

Now as to Crime and Domestic Violence in our society. Yes, they are on the increase. Yes, the Police are doing their best and thanks to them for the job they are doing under very strained and stressful circumstances. It is no easy task. I have seen an advertisement on television that one of the problems with domestic violence is the silence. It must be remembered that it was the Virgin Islands Party Government that introduced the Domestic Violence Act in 1996 and it was passed and is now being implemented. One of the difficulties the Commissioner of Police reports is the unwillingness of the victims to attend court and give evidence. But, the Police are now prepared that once a complaint has been made to take the offender to court and even if the victims proves to be a hostile witness, it would be left quite rightly to the courts to decide. There has been established a Women's Desk and in 1998, the Government commissioned Dr. Haniff to make a study of domestic violence in the territory. One of the things she advocated was that there should be a more secluded office so that victims would feel that they are more private than having to come to the Central Administration Building and this has been done. She also advocated the strengthening of the Women's Desk. This, too, has been done. The Rainbow Children's Home has been in operation for several years and has been a haven for children who have been abused or neglected.

Then, there was the establishment of the Sandy Lane Centre, where drug users are being rehabilitated. These have all been attempts made by the Government to tackle some of the social problems in the territory. In addition, the Government is working closely with the various non-government organizations and churches that are tackling the problems confronting the society. These efforts will be continued and strengthened. But as I said in the debate on the 6th of June, we need to make a greater effort to demonstrate our Christian principles and to win souls for the Kingdom of God. A greater commitment to God will help to change attitudes in a way that no legislation can. I want to assure you my people, that I am deeply concerned and have been deeply concerned for many years now over the situation regarding crime, domestic violence, child abuse, child neglect, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, gambling, prostitution, violent and dirty television programmes that are shown daily, all impacting on the minds of our people. I am also very concerned about the greed which leads some of our people to exploit others.

These are some of the problems that we are faced with and I believe and have always believed that the more our Elected Representatives could come together and discuss these matters and try to find ways and means to provide solutions to the problems, the better for us all. Some people might want to make you believe that only they care. Some people would get emotional about problems and after a short while forget all about it. Some people will grand stand and try to convince you that nothing has been done until they arrive on the scene, but my people, these are matters that we must keep a cool and level head about and not become too worked up and irrational that we put our emotion before reason and then we cannot think clearly. I am appealing to all in the community to join hearts and hand together and let us strive to help eradicate some of these cancerous diseases from our society. It is a big task. It will entail sacrifice, but it would be worth sacrificing to achieve it. Thanks for listening and good-bye for now.