COMMISSION: GOVERNOR’S RESPONSIBILITIES SHOULD BE SCALED BACK

The Virgin Islands Constitutional Commission has recommended scaling back the Governor’s responsibilities. In its report the Commission recommended that responsibility for the public service be transferred to the Chief Minister and responsibility for internal security be transferred to a National Security Council.

Commissioners further recommended that the Governor’s reserve powers be eliminated, and that his authority to formulate policy be limited to those areas for which he has responsibility.

The report will be the subject of a special debate in Legislative Council before it is forwarded to the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Enactment of recommended changes will depend on the outcome of future negotiations between Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and will require adoption by the UK Privy Council. In addition, many of the recommended changes to the Territory’s constitution would require concurrent amendments to other laws.

According to the Commission’s recommendations, the National Security Council (NSC) would comprise the Governor, Chief Minister and one other Minister. The NSC would be responsible for formulating policies in relation to internal security, the functioning of the police force, and would approve high-level police appointments. The Commissioner of Police would continue to be responsible for day-to-day police operations.

Commissioners said that the NSC would allow for shared responsibility between Ministers and the Governor in the area of internal security. “It is the Commission’s view that there should be a sharing of responsibilities for internal security, so that elected representatives can have a direct say in the decision making and policy making in relation to internal security and the police force,” the report states.

In relation to the public service, Commissioners recommended that executive authority to hire, fire, and discipline public servants be vested in the Public Service Commission, which would report to the Chief Minister.

Commissioners said there seemed to be broad public support for this change. “Throughout the course of public meetings in the Territory, most persons stated that the responsibility for constituting officers within the public service should no longer be reposed with the Governor, but should be reposed in a Minister, subject to checks and balances,” the report states.

The Commission did not recommend changes to the Governor’s responsibility for administration of the courts or defense. In regard to external affairs, the Commission recommended that the local government be responsible for regional affairs and external affairs as they relate to financial services.

Mr. Gerard St. C. Farara, Q.C., chaired the nine-member Constitutional Commission, the first ever to be undertaken locally and not as a declaration of Her Majesty’s Government. Other members were Messrs. Elihu Rhymer, Edison O’Neal, Vance Lewis, Audley Maduro, Carvin Malone, Stuart Donovan, Mrs. Persia Stoutt, and Mrs. JoAnn Williams-Roberts.