Opposition members sharply criticize government’s move to hire Ministerial Political Advisors

Leader of the opposition Marlon Penn says the ill-conceived decision by Premier Andrew Fahie and his government to hire Ministerial Political Advisors to the tune of more than one million dollars annually in consultancy fees is wrong and outrageous and must not be accepted.

The opposition leader says the people of the BVI are in the midst of a pandemic which has significantly depleted the territory’s resources, especially the country’s revenue and at a time like this, the attention of “leaders” should be laser-focused on managing these areas and ensuring that there is a long term economic and health plan to sustain everyone. According to Penn, the Premier and his Administration have yet to tell the people their plans for rebuilding the territory’s schools and improving the educational system and there is the wastage of 40 million dollars of Social Security Board’s funds and more than 12 million dollars in unaccounted COVID-19 spending, with nothing tangible to show and the planned hiring adds salt to the wound.

Meanwhile, Second District representative Melvin Mitch Turnbull has called the government of Andrew Fahie a ‘Help and Hurt’ government. In a statement, Turnbull said what is even more troubling with this announcement from the Premier and his cabinet, is the fact that he knows vigorous attempts will be made to try to justify this apparently insensitive decision, which will be paid for by the people in these dismal times.