Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Hasten your footsteps on reparations, constitutional review

Hasten your footsteps on reparations, constitutional review

The Virgin Islands government has been called on to act swiftly to review the territory’s Constitution and move forward on the issue of reparations from the United Kingdom (UK).

That advice is coming from Government Consultant and host of the Honestly Speaking Radio Programme, Mr Claude O. Skelton-Cline.

“I want to call on the government to hasten their own steps in the formation of this constitutional review; to hasten their steps of what the Premier said he would do some weeks ago about forming a Reparations Committee that can be joined with our Caribbean brothers and sisters that we can together be a force in representing our position to the so-called powers that be, France, the United Kingdom, all of them,” he said on his show aired on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, on ZBVI 780Am and live-streamed on Facebook.


The matter of reparations was raised on September 7, 2020, when Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert told 284 Media in an interview that despite the United Kingdom recognising that the transatlantic slave trade was a horrific period, the UK has not committed to paying up.


Skelton-Cline said, referring to reparations that “it is together we are stronger. Unified we can put forward a more effective case on these matters. We must hasten the steps.”

Plans have commenced to review the Constitution with a view of identifying loopholes in the existing document and reviewing the vision of the people of the territory.

Meanwhile, Premier and Minister of Finance, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie (R1) said he too backs the rest of the region in its attempt at seeking reparations from Britain.

He also said the territory should consider renaming the Sir Francis Drake Channel and the like as the territory moves away from its dark past to become a more independent jurisdiction.


Premier and Minister of Finance, Honourable Andrew A. Fahie has said he too backs the rest of the region in its attempt at seeking reparations from Britain

Slave masters were compensated!


Premier Fahie bemoaned that the slave masters were compensated by the United Kingdom in the sum of £20 million in 1833, yet the descendants of slaves, have yet to be paid.

The matter of reparations was raised on September 7, 2020, when Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert told 284 Media in an interview that despite the UK recognising that the transatlantic slave trade was a horrific period, the UK has not committed to paying up.

He said: “That’s not a position that the United Kingdom has taken.”

In response, Premier Fahie had said, Mr Jaspert’s comments are reflective of the perception of how the UK views the people of the territory.

He then wrote to Minister for the Overseas Territories Baronness Elizabeth G. Sugg on the matter on September 14, 2020.

However, Sugg said she was in support of Governor Jaspert’s statements.

“The British government expresses deep regret for this country’s past role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We recognise fully the strong sense of injustice, and the legacy of slavery still felt in the most affected parts of the world. We feel that the most effective way for Britons today to respond is to ensure that future generations do not forget what happened and to work to ensure that slavery has no place in today’s world,” Sugg replied on September 18, 2020.

In commenting on the letter, Fahie said, it was disappointing that it is apparent that the UK believes a “statement of regret” is sufficient for the enslavement of people.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×