The government blames poor Andrew for all its failures

Disgraced former Prime Minister Andrew Fahie.

Sixth District MP Myron Walwyn has accused the government of Prime Minister Dr. Natalio Wheatley of strategically blaming former Prime Minister Andrew Fahie for the government's failures.

Walwyn made the observation on Tuesday, September 2, during a press conference with members of the parliamentary opposition where they discussed the motion of no confidence they plan to bring against Prime Minister Wheatley.

According to Walwyn, the Wheatley government is using Fahie – who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence in the United States for drug trafficking and money laundering – as a scapegoat for mistakes that reflect badly on the government.

“Anything that leaves a stain on them, they throw at poor Andrew. Everything is Andrew – Andrew this, Andrew that,” Walwyn said, pointing to Auditor General reports showing questionable government grants being given to relatives of elected politicians during the COVID pandemic.

“We simply have a lot [those] Reports with the names of all their cronies who got money three and four times. We had a number of reports before where we saw how much money was given. The cabinet approves an amount, they go back and give to whoever they want. For example, there was one church where the cabinet approved $20,000, but when you go back you see that the church got $260,000. And when you raise these issues they say, 'Oh, that's Andrew,' as if the rest of them haven't done anything. But when something goes well, it's them. That's been their behavior,” Walwyn explained.

20 charges

The opposition's no-confidence motion, which Premier Wheatley is trying to block on technical grounds, contains 20 clauses listing the reasons for dissolving the current government. One clause that Walwyn highlighted was the rejection of the $400 million loan guarantee that Britain had offered to the British Virgin Islands for hurricane reconstruction efforts.

“They have been neglecting their job for a long time. The issue of the loan guarantee was raised; that's where it all started. Before the 2019 election, there was already an exchange of notes, letters and discussions with the UK regarding the loan guarantee. Whoever won government in 2019 just had to pick up where we had negotiated and start the discussions with the lending institutions. The loan guarantee was withdrawn and then you see the Prime Minister at the last opportunity travelled back to the UK to try and ask them if they would be willing to reinstate it,” Walwyn added.

Premier Wheatley and Walwyn have clashed on the issue. The discussion arose from a question Walwyn asked in the House of Assembly (HOA) in September 2023. He wanted to know whether Andrew Fahie was the right decision to reject the UK's offer after Walwyn's previously ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) negotiated the loan guarantee before being voted out of power in 2019.