Let public officers run for elected office
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has called for changes to the law to allow public officers to contest elections without first resigning from their jobs. “It’s time that we allow public officers to ...
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has called for changes to the law to allow public officers to contest elections without first resigning from their jobs. “It’s time that we allow public officers to run for elected office. Find a mechanism for it,” Walwyn said during the constitutional debate in the House of Assembly. “Why, if I want to represent my country, I got to resign from my job?
I can’t see the sense in it.” Under the Virgin Islands Constitution Order, public officers are barred from contesting general elections unless they first resign. The restriction is meant to prevent conflicts of interest and maintain political neutrality in the public service. But Walwyn argued the rule is outdated and unnecessarily blocks many qualified professionals from entering political life. “We need to make sure that we get the biggest and brightest brains in the country and the civil service has most of those, but those people can’t run,” he said.
He cited a case in Barbados where, he claimed, the issue of public officers’ constitutional rights was successfully challenged in court, suggesting the same could happen in the Virgin Islands. The Opposition Leader acknowledged that safeguards would be needed if the law were to change. “If I have a permanent secretary who ran in the election and comes back expecting to be my permanent secretary, it can’t happen,” he said. “But you can come back to the service in another position, with whatever you had intact.” Walwyn also criticised restrictions on civil servants’ personal lives, saying many feel forced to “duck and hide” even at political rallies. “Your spouse [is] running for an election and you can’t go under the tent to clap?
And we think that makes sense?” he asked. “Everybody’s got political leanings. We got to move past some of these things.” His comments add to the wider debate on constitutional reform and political participation as the Virgin Islands prepares for key negotiations with the United Kingdom.
Primary source: BVI News