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by pltm
(PLTM) - Premier and Minister for Finance Hon. Andrew Fahie has described the working relationship with former Governor Augustus Jaspert as abusive.
During his appearance before the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Thursday, October 21, he was asked by Counsel to the CoI, Mr. Bilal Rawat, about the personality clash between himself and the former Governor and whether it was a fundamental weakness in the Constitution, because of a different interpretation of the role of the Governor.
He replied: “I have taught over 3,000 students, I have worked with thousands of persons in my life, they may say sometimes that I am hasty, but I never heard them say I am not someone they could work with even if we didn’t agree on areas.”
Premier Fahie painted a picture that started the moment he became Premier following the February 25 2019 polls.
He said the next day, “I thought I would be sworn in as Premier,” however, he received a call from the former Governor’s Office informing him that the swearing-in ceremony could not be held on that day.
Premier Fahie said he was told the reason was “because they were not ready to swear me in yet because they had some technical difficulties and they told me I would have to come the next day. I found that to be a little queer.”
He said the next day came, and a call came from the Governor’s Office informing him that the ceremony would take place at about 10 am and sometime after another call came, indicating that the time had been pushed to 2 pm the next day.
“I decided that this was out of hand, so I went with all my members that won the election and those who didn’t, and I told them I’m going to sit in the Governor’s Office until I was sworn in as Premier.”
He continued: “Of course, this already started rumours that we couldn’t get along to form the government, but that wasn’t the case, I just couldn’t be sworn in as Premier because of technical issues.”
While there, Premier Fahie said he was informed that the staff could not find a document for election for his constituency, and while they were aware that he won, they needed the paperwork.
“I told them whatever it is, tell the Governor I have to get sworn in today, I have the country to run and let’s get going.”
He said the ceremony got underway, he was looking forward to a professional relationship, but after the ceremony, he was asked to remain by the former Governor's Office, and he was asked about some documents relating to the United Kingdom (UK) that needed to be signed.
Premier Fahie said it took him by surprise because he had just been sworn in, but he pushed the signing of the documents back for another time as it would be premature to sign at the time.
“I thought he was a little aggressive on how he responded, but I chalked that up to him having a rough day.”
Premier said the next day when he went into office for the first time, he asked for a meeting with the Permanent Secretaries “for a courtesy call,” and while in the meeting, the Governor called him and shouted at him.
“The Governor came on shouting, there were no cuss words, but telling me I have just started and I am ready to cross the line by meeting with Permanent Secretaries and not going through him," Premier Fahie told the CoI.
"The old me would have answered back, but I am older now and more mature so I just listened, and when he was finished, I said, "Governor, with due respect, I know that you want to speak to me, but in this tone and tenner that you are doing it I don’t think you are speaking to me."
He said in his early days, the Governor would also summon him to his office sometimes three times a day, until he was told that he had to ‘lay the foundation that this cannot continue,’ and he did.
“…It was an abusive relationship if you ask me,” he remarked.
Furthermore, in an attempt at peace, Premier said he called a meeting with witnesses to apologize for any thing he may have done to Jaspert in an attempt to reset the relationship, but that did not help.
Premier said he also wrote the UK on many occasions about the behavior to intercede on his behalf.
Jaspert was questioned about those letters during his appearance before the CoI yesterday, prior to the Premier’s testimony, but he dismissed those claims. He maintained that he was professional and had a good working relationship with the Virgin Islands Party administration as he did with the National Democratic Party.
