Shameful! HOA still held in gym, says Skelton Cline
Political commentator and clergyman, Pastor Claude Skelton Cline said it is a “national disgrace” that the House of Assembly (HOA) continues to meet in a gymnasium nearly five years after Hurricane Irma damaged its original location in Road Town.
He made that comment on his Honestly Speaking radio programme this week.
“I’m sitting there looking at what goes out worldwide and has become a part of the public history, documented. To see the guys and the gals – the people that we elect – conducting business in a gym for so long a period of time. It’s a shame and a national disgrace.”
Skelton Cline said he called out the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) government on the issue and is now doing the same with the governing Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration.
The House of Assembly, Skelton Cline said, is supposed to be a stately and sophisticated body and an anchor that communicates surety.
“We need to get out of gyms. We need to get out of every other building that is not the House of Assembly and conduct the people’s business in the requisite House that bespeaks who we are with all of its symbols and substance,” Skelton Cline argued.
The clergyman argued that too much injustice and mediocrity is accepted by persons in the BVI and said that residents of the BVI have become too comfortable in a bad place and their eyes have adjusted too well to the darkness.
While House sittings were relocated to the Duff’s Bottom-based gymnasium when the physical HOA structure was damaged during the hurricanes, legislative proceedings have not been held there all this time.
Legislators did eventually fix the building and returned to the designated space but relocated back to the gym because of COVID-19 and social distancing requirements.
It is not clear whether that is the primary reason why they’ve remained at the HOA.
“I’m sitting there looking at what goes out worldwide and has become a part of the public history, documented. To see the guys and the gals – the people that we elect – conducting business in a gym for so long a period of time. It’s a shame and a national disgrace.”
Skelton Cline said he called out the previous National Democratic Party (NDP) government on the issue and is now doing the same with the governing Virgin Islands Party (VIP) administration.
The House of Assembly, Skelton Cline said, is supposed to be a stately and sophisticated body and an anchor that communicates surety.
“We need to get out of gyms. We need to get out of every other building that is not the House of Assembly and conduct the people’s business in the requisite House that bespeaks who we are with all of its symbols and substance,” Skelton Cline argued.
The clergyman argued that too much injustice and mediocrity is accepted by persons in the BVI and said that residents of the BVI have become too comfortable in a bad place and their eyes have adjusted too well to the darkness.
While House sittings were relocated to the Duff’s Bottom-based gymnasium when the physical HOA structure was damaged during the hurricanes, legislative proceedings have not been held there all this time.
Legislators did eventually fix the building and returned to the designated space but relocated back to the gym because of COVID-19 and social distancing requirements.
It is not clear whether that is the primary reason why they’ve remained at the HOA.
