Wednesday, January 24, 2007

ROAD TOWN, BVI: Leader of the opposition, Ralph O'Neal, has given Chief Minister, Dr Orlando Smith, until the end of this month to tell the people of the British Virgin Islands what is expected from the final round of constitutional talks to take place in London next month.

The final round of talks is to take place from February 26 to March 2.

A delegation from the BVI and London has been holding talks over the past months aimed at providing a new constitution for the territory.

O'Neal said the new constitution is not for him, the Chief Minister or any political party, it is the people of the territory who have to live with the constitution and it is of importance that the leader of government business, who is the main leader in the country, to come out and tell the people what is expected to be done in England in these constitutional talks.

O'Neal, who is a member of the negotiating team, challenged the Chief Minister to come out and tell the people what they expect to achieve as a result of these talks.

He said if by the end of this month this is not done, he is going on radio and let the people know what the new constitution will provide.

The opposition leader said a constitution is not to be forced upon people and it should be the wishes of the people freely expressed without any coercion or intimidation.

O'Neal said the Chief Minister needs to tell the people of the BVI whether the Governor will still remain as chairman of the Executive Council, whether the police and the civil service will be removed from under the Governor, whether the Deputy Governor will become the head of the civil service and whether the Solicitor General will be a constitutional post and whether the Attorney General should still sit in Executive Council.

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