ROADTOWN Tortola, BVI, March 23rd 2011 - In a recent exclusive interview with Claude Skelton Cline, who expressed his interest in running for electoral office in the District 2 and will make his official announcement this afternoon March 23 at 6 p.m. at Big Bananas in Cane Garden Bay, he took a swing at the current representative Hon. J. Alvin Christopher, referring to Mr. Christopher as being “politically damaged” stating that Christopher may never be able to serve the people the way they deserve to be served nor will any party trust him with a ministry again.
Mr. Skelton Cline was at the time speaking to VINO about what he brings to the table against what the residents of District 2 are receiving from the current district representative.
“The existing representative is politically damage. He has been on both parties and both governments. He has been a minister twice, for Natural Resources and Labour and Communications and Works. He has been dismissed from both parties, and given the current party’s apparatus, neither leadership would ever trust him again to give him a ministry,” Mr. Skelton Cline asserted.
Skelton Cline says that JVD and the other sister islands have been neglected with no development plan for Jost van Dyke. Photo Credit: www.zimbio.com
He further claimed that such a history translates to mean that while Mr. Christopher may be as “well-intended as he may be and as well as the people deserve to be served, he will never be in a position to do so because he has been damaged politically.”
“He is considered damaged goods by the political apparatus,” Mr. Skelton Cline charged.
The 2nd district candidate further charged that for the last 10 of the 16 years of the current District Representative, he has not been able to do “anything”.
“Our sister island has been treated as third class citizens, they are suffering from the lack of attention, benign neglect. There is no development plan for JVD or for Brewers Bay. There is no strengthening or plan to strengthen the tourism product in Cane Garden Bay, there is no advocacy for the road, water and electrical system that is delivered to the second district. There has been pure silence,” Mr. Skelton Cline pointed out.
The 2nd district candidate also said what is required is the ability to communicate passionately the hurt and hopes of the people to the powers that be, to champion their cause and to be their voice, and be able to sit with the Government and express the needs of the people.
While acknowledging that Government cannot solve every problem, he said there are basic things that the Government must do, including providing adequate health care, public safety and infrastructure for its people among others.
Mr. Skelton Cline said he brings a spirit of collaboration and communication stating that “no one man can run a ship, it demands team work, a spirit of collaboration and to cross the isle so to speak to build relationships across party lines.”
Speaking indirectly about Hon. Christopher, Mr. Skelton Cline said even if one is not a minister “you must be able to get things done for your people”.
In this light, Mr. Skelton Cline said he is the “connective tissue” which is in contrast distinction to the existing representative.
“So I am here now, to offer hope. That is why I am here,” he added, making it clear that his vision is not only for Cane Garden Bay, but for the entire district and the Territory as a whole since the issues of the second district are the same forthe entire Territory.
“I offer myself as the servant leader,” Mr. Skelton Cline declared.
Skelton Cline invites persons to attend his launch, to learn more about what he brings to the table with his “fresh eyes and fresh vision” for the second district.
When VINO contacted Hon. Christopher, he had no comments to offer at this time.
J. Alvin Christopher, who is from Brewers Bay, began his political career in February 1995 when he won his first bid for elective office in the second district, running as an independent candidate. He was then appointed Minister for Communications and Works, and joined the Virgin Islands Party Government headed by the late H. Lavity Stoutt.
He was reappointed Minster of Communications and Works in 1999 and on August 25, 2000 he was appointed Deputy Chief Minister. In 2002, he was fired from the VIP government of Premier Ralph T. O’Neal and joined the National Democratic Party and won the election of 2003 on the NDP ticket and was appointed Minister for Natural Resources and Labour.
In 2006, he was fired by the NDP under the Leadership of Dr. D. Orlando Smith as Minster for Communications and Works and ran as an independent and won, but supported the VIP in the 2007 elections. He re-joined the VI party after the elections and now sits as a VIP member on the back beach.
Article taken from Virgin Islands News Online
British Virgin Islands News