The Commission of Inquiry Implementation Unit is advising the public that it has reported to the Governor and Premier on the status of work completed up to the end of December 2022.

Based on the timelines agreed in the Framework for Implementation of the Recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry Report and Other Reforms, the Director of the Unit Ms. Hadassah Ward has advised that work on 48 of the 50 Framework recommendations has begun.

Ms. Ward said, “15 of the Recommendations have been completed and 33 Recommendations are in progress. The Recommendations are currently split into 132 Actions. Of these, 52 (39%) are completed, 31 (23%) are in progress and on track, 26 (20%) are in progress but experiencing challenges and 22 (17%) have not been started as yet.”

She noted that during the month of December:

• Two Independent Reviewers completed and submitted their reports: B25 – The Establishment and Maintenance of Statutory Bodies and B29 - Review of the Membership of Statutory Boards. These will be submitted to Cabinet as Information Papers and laid before the House of Assembly before the relevant Ministries begin public consultation and continuing to change the relevant policies and procedures and requesting legislative amendments.
• The Auditor General completed and submitted three Reports: B12 – HOA Assistance Grants, B22 - Claude Skelton-Cline Government contracts since 2019 and B23 EZ Shipping – Government Contracts for radar barges since 2019.

She said that the Dashboard gives a pictorial summary of the status of the fulfilment of the COI recommendations as agreed in the Framework. The Key shares each of the 50 Framework Recommendations, now being worked on as the main focus of Government of the Virgin Islands to raise our standards of governance in our beautiful Territory, so you can track the status of work on each recommendation.

If you have any specific questions on the implementation of any of the COI Framework Recommendations, please email the COI Implementation Unit directly at implementationunit@gov.vg.

The COI Implementation Unit assists in coordinating the overall delivery of the COI recommendations, which includes providing support to ministries in developing work plans for the delivery of recommendations, assist in drafting policy directions, and the development of new programmes and systems. The unit is also responsible for preparing monthly progress reports, reports on specific work programmes, and reports to identify key issues associated with implementation and suggest remedies. The unit reports directly to the Permanent Secretary Mrs. Carolyn Stoutt Igwe in the Premier’s Office, who chairs the COI Implementation Steering Committee. The Governor and Premier receive the monthly report on the 15^th of each month.