TRC Chair and Deputy Chair Appointed

By Mellica McPherson

Dr. Joseph S. Archibald Q.C. and Ms. Linnell Abbott were approved by Legislators on Friday 12 January as the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) respectively. Three members of the Opposition did not support the motion piloted by Minister of Communications and Works, Hon. Elmore Stoutt to confirm them.

The Opposition Members who did not support the motion were very careful to point out that they believed that Dr. Archibald and Ms. Abbott were the most qualified candidates for the positions, and that the two individuals were highly recognized in the community and are best suited for the post. However, the members stated that they could not support the motion because the consultation between the Minister of Communications and Works, Hon. Stoutt and the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal was not carried out the way that it was supposed to.

In presenting the motion the Communications and Works Minister stated that the appointment of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is of paramount importance if the Territory is to move forward with the Liberalization process. Hon. Stoutt said that once the Chairman, and Deputy Chairperson are in place the BVI can be assured of forward movement with regards to the implementation of Government’s liberalization policy, the promulgation of the rules and regulations governing telecommunications activities, the granting of the new licences through clear open and transparent licensing processes, ensuring a smooth transition for consumers and operators to a full competitive communications market, optimizing the efficiency of radio frequency and spectrum utilization, while enhancing the ability, scope and quality available in the Virgin Islands.

The motion was seconded by the Minister responsible for Education and Culture, Hon. Lloyd Black.

Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal announced that he was not in support of the motion, not because he did not approve of the appointees, but because he had difficulties with the consultation procedure: “I see the Commission as a dormant Commission and therefore I cannot and I want the record to show that I cannot support and will not support the appointment of anyone for the Board, I don’t care who it is, I will not support. The Hon. Minister of Communications and Works when I spoke to him he graciously wrote and stated who he proposed to appoint, and I suppose, that was the consultation. Therefore I can’t lend my support Madame Speaker,” Hon. O’Neal informed.

Third District Representative, Hon. Julian Frazer told the Acting Speaker of the House, Hon. Delores Christopher that he could not support that piece of Legislation, not because he was not in favor of Dr. Archibald and Ms. Abbott: “The motion asks that two individuals be appointed Chairman and Deputy Chairman and I don’t think that any of us will stand here and question the eminence of any of these two individuals Madame Speaker.”

 Hon. Frazer said that he was not pleased about the way the consultation was handled. He pointed out that the consultation did not occur the way it was supposed to.

Hon. Frazer even went as far as to say “I feel like this whole process of liberalization has gone a mock, it didn’t bring the entire House along with it, and whatever the results will be, it will be entirely that of this Government, and not the Legislature and I think that is unfortunate and unnecessary.  It shouldn’t be that way we should be able to sit down and discuss, sit down and talk, and after we have discussed if we don’t agree then at least the process would have had the benefit of our collected effort.”

Second District Representative Hon. Alvin Christopher explained that he had received a letter from the Leader of the Opposition that questioned the process of consultation. Hon. Christopher opined that “consultation in the law has a much wider connotation than the way it is used.” He said that he strongly believes that the consultation process had not taken place and for that reason he could not support the motion. “I don’t think consultation in this sense means to inform, or in this case the Minister just tells the Leader of the Opposition the name of the person who he has appointed, that Madame Speaker is not consultation in my opinion,” the Second District Representative commented.

Chief Minister, Dr. the Hon. D. Orlando Smith said that he is sure that consultation between the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister of Communications and Works took place: “I have heard various reviews of that consultation, but I am sure that consultation took place. There must have been some sort of discussion,” the Chief Minister pointed out. He mentioned that consultation takes many forms.

 The BVI Leader spoke highly of Dr. Archibald and Ms. Abbott. He said “Dr. Archibald as you might know has been around for many years and has been an eminent lawyer in the BVI. Apart from being a good lawyer he is also a family man. With him as the Chairman of the TRC we expect to see fairness, and to see the TRC completes its job effectively, so that we can see good regulation of the Territory’s telecommunications services in the BVI.”

Similarly Hon. Smith informed the Council of Ms. Abbott’s merits: “She is the owner/manager of the BVI Beacon newspaper for many years. When she came and started that publication she was able to look at situations and report fairly and adequately about what she saw. I have read many of her editorials and they do demonstrate a sincere interest in the continued development and progress of the BVI as a community and so I would also like to recommend highly to the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Ms. Abbott. “

Seventh District Representative, Hon. Dr. Kedrick Pickering rose to support the motion and he used that forum to discuss the process of liberalization and to refute the comments made by the Second District Representative about the alleged flaws of the process.

Hon Pickering pointed out that “there is no country in the world and I say that without fear of contradiction, because I did significant research and I have been involved in the whole process. There is no country in the world that took on liberalization and got it right, or perfect right through. Madame Speaker every country in the world made mistakes, they did things that had to be changed as they went along. All of the research in the Caribbean showed that Jamaica was the only country that came the closest to getting it right in terms of the process of liberalization. There was no road map that says step one, step two, etcetera. Liberalization is a process that had to come to pass, because the BVI had fallen way behind, it is still way behind, and has a lot of catching up to do in order to bring the Telecommunications standard not only up to par, but to allow international businesses within this territory to be able to compete on the international front. I take exception Madame Speaker, and I respectfully disagree with my colleague from the 2nd District who said that this process was a “mockery”. We have made mistakes, and I don’t think anyone on this side would sit and say that we haven’t made mistakes, but we didn’t make any monumental mistake that would put this country into any cataclysmic event, so I respectfully disagree with the using of the term mockery to make it look like we are a bunch of whatevers, over here on this side trying to deceive the people. I disagree totally with that Madame Speaker. The process, no matter which side did it, will always be flawed with mistakes. It is an ongoing procedure; there is no smooth ride, it had to be done,” Hon. Pickering commented.

The Seventh District Representative then turned his attention to the names of the two appointees and said “if you tell me that there is somebody in the BVI more preeminently qualified than Dr. Archibald to do something like this, then, we have missed. Why would Dr. Archibald lend his name to something like this, if he thought it was fishy? Why would he lend his name to something if he thought we made a mockery of this thing?  Dr. Archibald is one of the members of the Committee that chooses the Judges for the Caribbean Court of Justice, and that is probably as preeminent a position that any Caribbean jurist can hold at this time. Ms. Abbott is the publisher of a newspaper that continues to be of the highest quality in this country and as the Chief Minister pointed out, in her articles and editorials she is not afraid to criticize the Government or whoever she has to criticize. She is not anybody’s lanky, so it can’t be said that she was chosen by the Government because she is some big supporter, because I have read her articles where she criticizes this Government without fear.“

Deputy Chief Minister, and Minister responsible for Finance , Health and Welfare, Hon. Ronnie Skelton also supported the appointees, and said that “there is no doubt that these are two people with independent minds, just what we were looking for when we went out there looking for a Chairman and a Deputy Chairman of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.” 

“Madame Speaker to be blunt I didn’t expect the other side to support this motion. I expected them to find a reason why they should not, and they did it, and that is commendable. The leader of the Opposition mentioned that what my colleague the Minister of Communications and Works did was not consultation, but the fact is-- consultation takes different forms,” the Deputy Chief Minister noted.

The motion was passed with a division of the Council where seven members voted yes.