London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Aug 14, 2025

BVI’s Fear Country Could End Up Politically Like Turks and Caicos Islands

BVI’s Fear Country Could End Up Politically Like Turks and Caicos Islands

There is growing fear that the British Virgin Islands could end up suffering the same fate as its sister British Overseas Territory, the Turks and Caicos, which had its constitution yanked and direct rule from the United Kingdom instituted.
The fear came as the country eagerly awaits the ruling and recommendations from the commission of inquiry, expected to be delivered in January. It is the view of some that in the God-forbidden event that the commission recommends that the constitution be suspended, it could set the country back probably two decades, or even longer.

The Turks and Caicos Islands had its constitution pulled after a commission of inquiry, which began in 2008, recommended in 2009 that the 2006 Constitution – one of the most modern in the region at the time - be annulled, after claiming that widespread systemic corruption was uncovered.

The then Michael Misick administration accused the British of political overreach, over what it described as baseless claims. Misick and most of his ministers were charged with corruption, a rap many of them still fight in the court today.

Ex-premier Misick, on many occasions, declared that many of the charges levelled against his administration were mere policy decisions by his government.

The protracted ensuing court case is also weighing heavily on the public purse strings, as more than $100million has already been spent so far, and there is no foreseeable end in sight. This is incidentally happening at a time when the country is in dire need of funds to spend on social services and infrastructural development.

That replacement constitution has been dubbed by many Turks and Caicos Islanders as modern-day colonialism, seeing that the governor has been given unilateral powers to reverse and/or void even laws passed in parliament and override cabinet decisions, which is referred to in the replacement constitution as “Reserve Powers".

Many BVI’s are of the view that the British Government is on a path to recolonizing its overseas territories by any means necessary, even if they have to accuse democratically elected governments of baseless charges of corruption.

Many islanders are of the view that the commission of inquiry was at best “a subversive activity against the human rights of the islanders,” and its “illegal activities.”

The commission of inquiry has also been dismissed by many Islanders as another “cynical instance of those with the really dirty hands pointing the finger at others.”

Many are not confident that the recommendations would return with any other verdict other than corruption in the Fahie administration.

“…The final conclusion of the COI will be that there is corruption in the BVI government, since that was the outcome that had been pre-determined even before they began gathering evidence,” writes a BVI political commentator.

Some of the residents, who claimed that the commission of inquiry was a slap in the face of the people of the Virgin Islands, recommended in hindsight that the British investigators should have been arrested as soon as they set foot on the county’s soil, and then dragged before the courts and tried for an attempted coup of a democratically elected government.

However, there are some British Virgin Islanders who commend the Fahie administration for not being rash, but while vehemently denying the charges against the government, cooperated with the commission of inquiry.

“I believe that trying to stop the COI would, in the minds of many, exhibit guilt. So, I would not fault him for cooperating, even though if he had tried to stop it, he would have been well within his rights as a democratically elected government, who the people went to the polls and chose,” said another local political pundit.

According to some political commentators, the wait for the commission of inquiry results has placed the BVI in a spin of uncertainty, which they believe is bad for investment, especially foreign ones.

“No one wants to invest in a climate of uncertainty. When a country or a government is stable, it breeds investor confidence, but with this dark cloud of uncertainty hanging over the BVI, the country is precariously perched, and at this time the equilibrium of the country is not looking so good,” an online commentator wrote.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
UK has added India to a list of countries whose nationals, convicted of crimes, will face immediate deportation without the option to appeal from within the UK
Southwest Airlines Apologizes After 'Accidentally Forgetting' Two Blind Passengers at New Orleans Airport and Faces Criticism Over Poor Service for Passengers with Disabilities
Russian Forces Advance on Donetsk Front, Cutting Key Supply Routes Near Pokrovsk
It’s Not the Algorithm: New Study Claims Social Networks Are Fundamentally Broken
Sixty-Year-Old Claims: “My Biological Age Is Twenty-One.” Want the Same? Remember the Name Spermidine
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
U.S. Investigation Reports No Russian Interference in Romanian Election First Round
Oasis Reunion Tour Linked to Temporary Rise in UK Inflation
Musk Alleges Apple Favors OpenAI in App Store Rankings
Denmark Revives EU ‘Chat Control’ Proposal for Encrypted Message Scanning
US Teen Pilot Reaches Deal to Leave Chile After Unauthorized Antarctic Landing
Trump considers lawsuit against Powell over Fed renovation costs
Trump Criticizes Goldman Sachs Over Tariff Cost Forecasts
Perplexity makes unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash offer for Google’s Chrome browser
Kodak warns of liquidity crisis as debt obligations loom
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Taylor Swift announces 12th studio album on Travis Kelce’s podcast after high-profile year together
South Korean court orders arrest of former First Lady Kim Keon Hee on bribery and corruption allegations
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
JD Vance to meet Tory MP Robert Jenrick and Reform’s Nigel Farage on UK visit
Trump and Putin Meeting: Focus on Listening and Communication
Instagram Released a New Feature – and Sent Users Into a Panic
China Accuses: Nvidia Chips Are U.S. Espionage Tools
Mercedes’ CEO Is Killing Germany’s Auto Legacy
Trump Proposes Land Concessions to End Ukraine War
New Road Safety Measures Proposed in the UK: Focus on Eye Tests and Stricter Drink-Driving Limits
Viktor Orbán Criticizes EU's Financial Support for Ukraine Amid Economic Concerns
South Korea's Military Shrinks by 20% Amid Declining Birthrate
US Postal Service Targets Unregulated Vape Distributors in Crackdown
Duluth International Airport Running on Tech Older Than Your Grandmother's Vinyl Player
RFK Jr. Announces HHS Investigation into Big Pharma Incentives to Doctors
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Security flaws in a carmaker’s web portal let one hacker remotely unlock cars from anywhere
Street justice isn’t pretty but how else do you deal with this kind of insanity? Sometimes someone needs to standup and say something
Armenia and Azerbaijan sign U.S.-brokered accord at White House outlining transit link via southern Armenia
Barcelona Resolves Captaincy Issue with Marc-André ter Stegen
US Justice Department Seeks Release of Epstein and Maxwell Grand Jury Exhibits Amid Legal and Victim Challenges
Trump Urges Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to Resign Over Alleged Chinese Business Ties
Scotland’s First Minister Meets Trump Amid Visit Highlighting Whisky Tariffs, Gaza Crisis and Heritage Links
Trump Administration Increases Reward for Arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to Fifty Million Dollars
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
OpenAI Launches GPT‑5, Its Most Advanced AI Model Yet
Embarrassment in Britain: Homelessness Minister Evicted Tenants and Forced to Resign
President Trump nominated Stephen Miran, his top economic adviser and a critic of the Federal Reserve, to temporarily fill an open Fed seat
The AI-Powered Education Revolution: Market Potential and Transformative Impact
Chikungunya Virus Outbreak in Southern China: Over 7,000 Hospitalized
×