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The chair of the British Virgin Islands Port Authority is set to resign from his post, BVI Premier Dr. Natalio Wheatley has announced. Additionally, all board members will be replaced.
Mr. Wheatley indicated on Wednesday that he had been communicating with Kelvin Hodge, who indicated that he would be submitting his resignation. Mr. Wheatley went on to disclose that the rest of the board will have their terms expire in a matter of days, and that a new board would be appointed shortly thereafter.
Mr. Hodge’s departure, and the rest of the board’s replacement, comes two weeks after the agency’s executive head Oleanvine Maynard was arrested alongside disgraced former Premier Andrew Fahie and her son Kadeem Maynard, on drug smuggling and money laundering charges.
Mr. Wheatley, the new premier, said that concerns about security at the ports arising out of these arrests made the board reshuffle necessary, to ensure that its integrity was “beyond reproach”.
Mr. Wheatley also acknowledged that Oleanvine Maynard was still, as of now, the managing director of the Port Authority, saying that the legal and practical issues surrounding her termination were currently being examined.
The way in which statutory board appointments are made will change, Mr. Wheatley also promised. Situations that lead to having one person sit on multiple boards will be avoided in the future, as necessary changes are made in accordance with good practice, the premier said, while cautioning the public that these changes might be painful for some. “People we know and care about will be affected,” he said.
