Our people love to run to the Governor – Vincent Wheatley

Office of the Governor

Health Minister Vincent Wheatley has taken aim at residents who bypass elected leaders and instead turn to the governor with grievances, saying the pattern shows a lack of trust in local leadership.

Wheatley made the comments in the House of Assembly during a debate on part two of the controversial Review of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Bodies in the British Virgin Islands, which forms part of ongoing reforms tied to the 2022 Commission of Inquiry.

“A lot of our people have more confidence and trust and feel they will be treated more fairly by a UK-appointed governor than by their own people,” Wheatley argued. “Our people don’t often trust us. They don’t think much of us. So whenever they can’t get their own way… they like to run down by the governor.”

“You would think that governors are infallible. I know better,” Wheatley added. “They will paint us with the ugly brush, but they’re not touching their own.”

Wheatley suggested that the growing perception of fairness from the Governor’s Office over locally elected officials has fed a troubling dynamic. “Somehow you feel that we don’t like you, we hate you, this or that… we’re not treating you fairly, so you run down there,” he argued.

The minister criticised past UK-appointed governors, highlighting incidents that he said showed misuse of authority and bias. He recalled Governor Martin Stavely’s involvement in the 1967 decision to lease vast areas of Anegada and Wickhams Cay to a private individual on a 199-year lease, a move he said only reversed after public uproar.

He also cited an earlier case involving Commissioner Cruikshank, who he claimed misused government funds to improve the official residence and allegedly denied land titles to residents in Baughers Bay.

Wheatley made clear his opposition to any expansion of the Governor’s powers as proposed in the latest report. “I do not in any way, shape or form support the UK-appointed governor taking on any more responsibility.”

The report recommends strengthening oversight of law enforcement institutions and proposing shifting more responsibilities under the Governor’s control—recommendations that have stirred intense political debate and public concern across the territory.

According to the Health Minister, these recommendations risk rolling back decades of progress. “This report here, if we ever make the mistake and accept it, takes us back 75 years,” he warned.

Wheatley said he believes the Virgin Islands must continue striving for self-governance, rooted in the identity and aspirations of its people.