Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

System set up for us to fail — Deputy Speaker

System set up for us to fail — Deputy Speaker

Deputy Speaker and Territorial At-Large Representative Neville ‘Sheep’ Smith has complained that the proverbial ‘system’ has been set up for lawmakers to fail.
Smith was speaking during the House of Assembly (HOA) debate over an Auditor General’s report on Claude Skelton Cline’s contracts with the Virgin Islands Party government between 2019 and 2021.

The report showed that Skelton Cline received more than $365,000 of taxpayer funds without delivering on the requirements of his three contracts. Auditor General Sonia Webster also concluded that the primary purpose of the consultancy services Skelton Cline provided to the government over the period in question “was not to add value to the government but rather to provide employment for the consultant (Skelton Cline)”.

Smith, while debating the issue, said he heard the phrase ‘the system does not work’ being uttered more than 15 times while listening to his colleagues debate the report on the contracts.

“It’s a serious report. They have a lot of stuff in here that speaks to what went down,” Smith said. “I’ve come to this House more than one time talking about the system that we have. [It] is set up for us to fail. And this is the very, very evidence of it — that the system is set up for us to fail.”

According to the Deputy Speaker, there should be some sort of mechanism in place to see a red light when such things are taking place so they can be stopped.

“Reading this [report] here, it’s telling you nothing was delivered. So how was he paid? How did he get paid? This is what, I don’t understand, How was he paid if he did not deliver. Isn’t that a failure in the system? Smith asked.

The first-term legislator argued, among other things, that the HOA’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is already an established system, along with the Auditor General’s Office that are supposed to be in place and should have been able to stop the issue from happening.

He also said the Financial Secretary had a duty to look at the issue and determine how payments were being made to Skelton Cline.

“This is a test. It’s a lesson that we have to put things in place and be accountable for things,” Smith said. “We cannot continue going down the road this way. I’ve said it from the time I was elected, and I’m saying it now again, we can’t continue talking about the system and ain’t doing nothing to fix it.”

Smith said people shouldn’t just blame politicians for the issue. He suggested that lawmakers were being pitted against each other for the sake of politics and argued that people were trying to fuel the problem instead of fixing it.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Challenges Facing EU Foreign Policy Amidst Diverging Interests
Reports Reveal Alarming Cognitive Decline in Biden Prior to Election Withdrawal
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
South Africans chant call to genocide against White people.
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Flip flop: UK Introduces New Immigration Policy to Reduce Net Migration
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Poland Tightens Immigration Policy with New Plan to Suspend Asylum Law
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
8-Year-Old Orders 70,000 Lollipops Using Mother’s Phone, Prompting $4,200 Amazon Bill and Viral Facebook Plea
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
American citizens account for 70% of worldwide pharmaceutical sales despite comprising only 4% of global population
New Details Emerge on Syrian Attacker's Motives in German Festival Stabbing
Brazil’s President Aims to Strengthen Ties with China Amid US Trade Tensions
Senate Democrats Move to Censure Trump Over Qatar Jet Gift
First White South Africans Resettled in the U.S. Amid Controversy Over Persecution Claims
Hamas Releases Last Living US Hostage from Gaza Amid Ongoing Conflict
India and Pakistan Agreement on Ceasefire Amid Ongoing Tensions
Arsenal Stages Comeback to Draw 2-2 Against Liverpool in Premier League Clash
Trump's Upcoming Visit to Gulf Nations: Investment and Security at the Forefront
Rodrigo Duterte Awaits Trial at The Hague. Next week he might be elected mayor of his hometown
Trump fires director of U.S. Copyright Office, sources say
Retired British police officer arrested over ‘thought crime’ tweet
Cardinal Robert Prevost Elected as Pope Leo XIV, Marking a Historic Papacy
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Arrested at ICE Facility Amid Congressional Visit
India-Pakistan conflict may be first test for Chinese military tech
Bill Gates Announces Plan to Wind Down Philanthropic Foundation and Disperse Wealth
Historic Papal Conclave Set to Commence in Rome
Huge Copper, Gold, and Silver Discovery in Argentina and Chile — But the Profits Go Abroad
Prince Harry is pleading for reconciliation — but the royals are just as sick of his victimhood as everyone else
The Road to Freedom: She Protested Putin, Escaped House Arrest, and Survived a 2,800-Kilometer Journey
OpenAI's Flip-Flop: No Longer Going Commercial, Back to Nonprofit, After Musk Lawsuit and Backlash
“Trump Supporter” Aims to Bring a MAGA-Style Shift to Romania
First From China: Zhao Xintong Wins the Snooker World Championship
Nvidia Faces Billion-Dollar Losses – Warns: China Is on Its Way to Becoming an AI Superpower
Trump Rules Out Third Term, Names JD Vance and Marco Rubio as Potential Successors
Mexico Says ‘No’ to U.S. Troops: President Sheinbaum Rejects Trump’s Offer to Fight Cartels
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Storms the Map, Wrecking the Two-Party Monopoly
DOGE: Reimagining Government Operations with AI
Common Sense Returns to Britain's Legal System: UK Supreme Court Declares a Woman Is… a Woman
Beijing Says U.S. Is ‘Reaching Out’ for Tariff Talks Amid Soaring Trade Tensions
U.K. Court Rejects Prince Harry’s Final Appeal Over Police Security
Prince Harry’s Heartfelt Outburst Rocks the Royal Family
Trump Shares AI-Generated Image of Himself as… Pope, Prompting Outrage Reaction
Transgender Swimmer Secures Five Gold Medals at U.S. Masters Championship
Prince Harry: “I Want Reconciliation with My Family”
Germany's Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party has now been officially labeled “right-wing extremist” by the federal office for the so-called “protection of the constitution.”
Amazon Launches Satellite Internet Service Amidst Competition with SpaceX
×