BVI has a leadership challenge, says Skelton Cline
Commentator and clergyman Claude Skelton Cline said he believes the BVI has been dealing with a leadership challenge in recent times.
According to Skelton Cline, the BVI needs a profile or some sort of threshold that not only speaks to the way in which persons are elected, but also addresses choosing the people that are elected.
“Leadership is the critical issue. One of the main reasons why I believe that the people of this country, humbly, are not going to wholeheartedly vote any of these parties into power — the main parties -– is because of the leadership that has presented themselves,“ Skelton Cline said.
But the outspoken commentator noted that the circumstances were not unique to the territory and argued that the problem was shared by both the United States and the United Kingdom.
“I think they got the same problem in America, I think they got the same problem in the UK, that’s why they have had to have four or five Prime Ministers, that’s why they’re still up here [in the US] deciding between Biden and Trump, some 70-odd-year-old men,” he said.
Skelton Cline argued that the issue in relation to the territory is about who is made to sit at the head of the electoral ‘tickets’.
“The truth of the matter is, that’s how a party succeeds or not. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. People give the benefit of the doubt based upon the confidence, [or] the belief they have, in whoever is leading the party at the time,” he argued.
In recent months, Skelton Cline suggested a number of female leaders that can potentially fill the leadership gap that he has identified as a major issue for the territory. One of those female leaders he has endorsed is the current head of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), Chief Justice Dame Janice Pereira.
Skelton Cline has been bashing party politics for months, claiming it has failed the territory. He’s also said voters should choose candidates at the ballot box on the basis of their own individual merits instead of voting for parties as a whole.
“Leadership is the critical issue. One of the main reasons why I believe that the people of this country, humbly, are not going to wholeheartedly vote any of these parties into power — the main parties -– is because of the leadership that has presented themselves,“ Skelton Cline said.
But the outspoken commentator noted that the circumstances were not unique to the territory and argued that the problem was shared by both the United States and the United Kingdom.
“I think they got the same problem in America, I think they got the same problem in the UK, that’s why they have had to have four or five Prime Ministers, that’s why they’re still up here [in the US] deciding between Biden and Trump, some 70-odd-year-old men,” he said.
Skelton Cline argued that the issue in relation to the territory is about who is made to sit at the head of the electoral ‘tickets’.
“The truth of the matter is, that’s how a party succeeds or not. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves. People give the benefit of the doubt based upon the confidence, [or] the belief they have, in whoever is leading the party at the time,” he argued.
In recent months, Skelton Cline suggested a number of female leaders that can potentially fill the leadership gap that he has identified as a major issue for the territory. One of those female leaders he has endorsed is the current head of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC), Chief Justice Dame Janice Pereira.
Skelton Cline has been bashing party politics for months, claiming it has failed the territory. He’s also said voters should choose candidates at the ballot box on the basis of their own individual merits instead of voting for parties as a whole.
