Dancia Penn

Dancia Penn-Sallah

Ruth Dancia Penn, OBE, QC (born 1951) is a British Virgin Islands politician and former deputy governor of the British Virgin Islands from September 20, 2004 to April 1, 2007. She also formerly served as the Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands from 1992 to 1999.^[1]

Penn was the first woman to be appointed to either post, and the first British Virgin Islander to serve as Attorney General.

She served briefly as the acting Governor of the British Virgin Islands during 2006 in the gap between Tom Macan leaving office and David Pearey taking up his appointment.

Professionally Dancia Penn goes by her maiden name, but her legal name has been changed to Mrs Dancia Penn-Sallah since her marriage to Captain Sallah, Registrar of Ships in the British Virgin Islands.

In July 2007, Penn announced her candidacy, standing in the 8th district in the General Election held on 20 August 2007 in the British Virgin Islands.^[2] She was elected to office, defeating the incumbent Lloyd Black, and she was appointed the Minister of Heath and Welfare, and as the Deputy Premier of the British Virgin Islands. In the General Election held on 7 November 2011 she lost her 8th district seat to Marlon Penn.

There had been considerable speculation after the 2007 that when the then Premier of the British Virgin Islands, Ralph T. O'Neal retired, Penn would be named as his successor as leader of the Virgin Islands Party (VIP), and would thereby become the first female Premier in the Territory. Her defeat in the 2011 election appears likely to preclude (or at least defer) that possibility.

In 2007, Penn took up a temporary appointment as an acting judge of the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. She was required to give up that appointment shortly after formally entering politics as a candidate.

References

1. ^ "OBE for Dancia Penn, QC". The Island Sun. January 18, 2002. http://www.islandsun.com/2002-January/19012002/local1-v6i20.html. Retrieved 2008-01-26. 
2. ^ Andrews, Merrick (25 July 2007). "Dancia Penn-Sallah confirmed as VIP 8th district candidate". BVI News. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930015853/http://www.bvinews.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=198&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=3066&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1924&hn=bvinews&he=.com. Retrieved 2008-01-26. 

Offices

Political offices
Preceded by Karl Trotman	Attorney General of the British Virgin Islands 1992-1999	Succeeded by Cherno Jallow
Preceded by Elton Georges, OBE	Deputy Governor of the British Virgin Islands 2006	Succeeded by Elton Georges, OBE
Preceded by Lloyd Black	House of Assembly Member, 8th District 2007-2011	Succeeded by Marlon Penn

Sources

• Island Sun

Persondata
Name	Penn, Dancia
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	1951
Date of death
Place of death