The difference between a wise man and a fool is that a wise man knows how not to get into trouble, whereas a fool may know just enough to get out. Mr. Fahie is not stupid, but he is far from being smart. And unfortunately, a leader he is not.
A modest leader would have declared the COI as a subversive activity against the human rights of the islanders as soon as the ridiculous travesty got going. He would have refused to cooperate with the COI's blatantly illegal activities. He would have banned all members of his government from falling into the trap set by the previous Governor and the corrupt, racist, colonial government that sent him. He would have rejected out of hand the COI as yet another cynical instance of those with the really dirty hands pointing the finger at others.
The fear that not cooperating with the COI would be interpreted as confirmation that there is corruption is absurd. First of all, because the fact that there is corruption in a government is not something that needs either examination or proof. Corruption is the oxygen of every democratic government in the world. The BVI is no exception and is no more innocent than the Pope sitting chastely in the Vatican (amidst the bunch of thousands of paedophiles that surround him). And secondly, one does not have to be a prophet to understand that the 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.
So a modest leader would have simply refused to cooperate with the COI, instead of accepting it as a legitimate foreign intervention. Whatever happens in BVI is the concern of the BVI, and not the focus of finger-pointing by dirty foreign hands. in non of their dirty business.
A real leader would have immediately arrested all the members of the COI as soon as they land in VI, and put them on trial for attempting a coup.
But Mr. Fahie still suffers from slavery syndrome. He believes that God will help the people who refuse to help themselves. A leader he is not. He is still kneeling at the bottom of the cave, looking up at the white English people - with their big egos and small everything else. Instead he should be looking down on them as the rapists, robbers and ruffians who made all what they have by Opium trading, genocide, slavery, and theft worldwide.
The people who will pay the price for Mr. Fahie’s weakness, lack of leadership and inferiority complex are the citizens of BVI.
Almost all of them will pay the price for Mr. Fahei's failure to depict the COI as an illegitimate initiative, except for the few local BVI traitors who are cooperating with the fascist regime of colonial Britain. These are the ones who are denying the islanders the human right to manage their own lives and fight the corruption that obviously exists in BVI - just as it does in the UK and elsewhere.
"No governmentt could survive this COI and its terms"
Fahie shared that view when he appeared before the COI on Monday, October 11, and raised renewed concerns about the Inquiry’s terms of reference which his government continues argue are ‘too broad’.
“There is no government that could survive a Commission of Inquiry and come out unblemished with the terms of reference like what you have been given, none,” Premier Fahie told the Commission.
The COI is charged to look into whether corruption, abuse of office or other serious dishonesty may have taken place “in recent years”. And Premier Fahie reasoned that these terms of reference are so wide that one could pick any law in the territory to see if the government was being consistent or inconsistent in its implementation.
In further explaining his point, Premier Fahie said governments may not sometimes be as consistent with every single policy that was being put in place.
He said if there are areas of concern in governance in the BVI, then “it can’t always be [that] the only road being led to is the Cabinet and the elected officials to see if they are corrupt”.
New governor praised for engagement
Meanwhile, the Premier commended current Governor, John Rankin, whom he suggested was more inclusive in the role he played in allowing Fahie and Deputy Governor, David Archer Jr, to examine approaches together for the transformation of the public service.
Governors in the BVI typically have oversight of the public service and Premier Fahie has argued consistently that some focus needs to be directed to the role of the governor in an effort to create more accountable governance in the BVI.
He said this was in addition to a code of ethics for behaviour, integrity in public life and other areas of concern that were being examined.
“So we may have differences in certain areas,” Premier Fahie said, “but at least this governor, I must say, has had the professionalism about him to sit and let us look at the real core of the problems with the present Deputy Governor — but I can’t say that was the case for most of the time I was in politics.”