Insults fly as no-confidence vote bumped again

Heated exchanges erupted in the House of Assembly on Tuesday evening after Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley suddenly changed the parliamentary agenda and further delayed a motion of no confidence against his government.

Opposition members branded the move to “pack” the parliamentary agenda an “abuse” of power, but Dr. Wheatley hit back by saying he was “ready for them” and accusing them of playing “politricks.”

The premier sparked complaints from the opposition by changing the HOA order paper to make time before the no-confidence motion to consider legislation such as the Counter Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2024, and supplementary budget appropriations.

Opposition member Myron Walwyn (R-D6) said the HOA was being brought into “disrepute” by the premier’s “abuse” of the order paper.

“What is clearly happening here is an abuse of this House,” Mr. Walwyn said. “What we are seeing here now is the order paper being deliberately packed up by the premier so that we do not get to the vote of no confidence. He has already indicated before that he will do everything within his power to make sure we do not get to that vote. Packing up the order paper with another set of bills: That is wrong.”

‘Complete lies’

The premier, however, pushed back.

“I have never witnessed, since I have been in the House, such reckless abuse of decorum: to stand on one’s feet and just utter complete lies,” he said.

The premier strongly disputed Mr. Walwyn’s claims.

“Not once have I ever said that I will do whatever is in my power to ensure that this vote of no confidence will not happen,” he said. “That is a lie.”

The premier added that he was not trying to block the no-confidence motion.
“In fact, I am quite happy for the vote of no confidence to move forward,” he said.

Dr. Wheatley added that he had previously told Opposition Leader Ronnie Skelton he did not think there was time to tackle the motion before the budget address on Nov. 11.

“It is completely inappropriate and nothing but politics — politricks, I should say,” the premier said. “They are trying to make the people of these Virgin Islands believe that the Counter Terrorism (Amendment) Act that has to be passed before year-end [is] some nonsense, some childish ploy to prevent members getting up and saying whatever it is they have to say.”

Dr. Wheatley insisted he would be robust in his response to a no-confidence debate.

‘Ready for them’

“I’m ready for them: I’m ready right now,” he said. “We have a financial services industry to protect and support, and we don’t have time for the nonsense.”

Previous delay

A move to bring a no-confidence vote in September failed due to a parliamentary technicality, and attempts in October ran out of HOA time.

‘Another hurricane’

Meanwhile, speaking before the order paper clash, opposition member Lorna Smith spoke for the first time in the HOA about her abrupt sacking by Dr. Wheatley as deputy premier and financial services minister last week.

“I mentioned the hurricane of 2017, and I have to mention another hurricane that struck last week when I was dismissed from my position as the minister of financial services,” she said. “Since then, I have been receiving so many comments about the fragility of our financial services and the importance of strong leadership in our financial services.”