Belongers shouldn’t have a say BVI’s self-determination — commentator
Commentator and clergyman Claude Skelton Cline has declared that only Virgin Islanders by birth should participate in any referendum on self-determination for the Virgin Islands.
“Unless you are a Virgin Islander by blood and birth, with the proper requisite of the Nationality Act, you cannot be allowed to vote in a referendum on the political status and future of this country, that will not be for you to do,” Skelton Cline stated on his Honestly Speaking programme.
He stressed that people holding Belonger status should not participate.
“No Belonger … No, no, you cannot, you cannot, you will not, I will not support, I will not be an advocate for you voting on a referendum for our self-determined path for Virgin Islanders,” he argued.
Skelton Cline challenged regional voices who argue that the Virgin Islands is not ready for independence.
“I dare any Jamaican … any Vincentian, any Grenadian, any Guyanese, any Kittitian, any Dominican, any one of our regional neighbours… You should lend nothing but your support,” he insisted.
He added: “St Kitts and Nevis are independent, Antigua is independent, St Vincent is independent, Jamaica is independent, Grenada is independent, Trinidad and Tobago is independent, Guyana is independent. How are you going to come to the Virgin Islands and then want to set the tone and temperature for us Virgin Islanders? No, that is specifically our business.”
The commentator said that a referendum would help to educate and unify the population, but emphasised that the choice of political future must remain with Virgin Islanders.
“I love my Jamaicans. I love my Kittitians, my Dominicans. I love you to death, but on this matter, about what happens in the master bedroom, that’s for us. Now you can sleep in all other beds in the rest of the house, but that particular piece on the referendum about our self-determined path, that’s for Virgin Islanders. Not Belongership,” he explained.
The issue of self-determination has gained momentum as the House of Assembly prepares to debate the Constitutional Review Commission’s report next week. Lawmakers and civil society groups have urged the public to engage in discussions about the territory’s political future.
In recent months, calls have grown from some quarters for a referendum on independence, association or integration, with some politicians insisting that the people must be central to deciding the outcome.
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Go sit dong.
This is such a divisive and terrible thing to say. CSC expresses the views of those whom he is close to. Watch the game. If this is our mentality then we are going no where fast.
Hope you say that to your congregation too … only BVIslanders in my church! Rest of you, only welcome to donate money and keep my life full of cash.
Seriously!!? STFU Sir! Clergyman biggot!
Trying to decide who.disgusts me more this morning.. or elected leadership, or men of the ‘cloth’.
As you are a Belonger you should follow what you pontificate, close your orifices and stop blowing smoke. Same old, same old, anything out of them orifices to get a reaction!
Please BVINews go out and find some news and turn off the radio.
IM SURE ITS NOT ANY PEOPLE FROM THE LIST OF INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES HE NAME PUSHING THIS!! IT IS YOUR OWN PEOPLE WHO WAS BORN HERE AND FROM HERE BY BLOOD!!! THE “BELONGERS” KNOW BVI IS NOT READY FOR INDEPENDANCE BY JUST THE FACT WE CAME FROM COUNTRIES THAT ARE AND WE SEE WHAT THE BVI IS LACKING! WE LOVE IT HERE BUT DONT TRY TO GET US INVOVLED WITH YOUR OWN PEOPLE WHO WAS BORN HER DECISIONS. WE KNOW WE HAVE NO SAY AND YOU DONT WANT US TO HAVE ANY SAY!
He is definitely speaking on behalf of his family. It is well known that they despise people from the Caribbean.
He’s gone all George Orwell… Some BVIslanders are more equal than others.
In a developed country the hate speech spewed from this racist f**k would be considered a prosecutable crime.
It gets clearer by the day that the plan is to force independence through so the untrammeled looting can get back into full swing.
Belongers get the vote. Full stop that’s it.
1st he said there shouldn’t be a referendum, now he’s saying only BVIslanders by birth should only be able to vote. The guy knows any referendum for that would never pass. The only referendum that would pass is one that only him, the premier and selected few others can only vote on.
Both my parents were born on Tortola. My grandparents and some great grand were born in Tortola. I am a Belonger but I am just as much as Virgin Islander. I lived there and contributed my entire live to the country. If there is any vote as it relates to our independence, I have every right to vote. If that’s the case, Belongers shouldn’t vote during a general election then. Someone needs to take his mic.
I hope the belongers hear this and stop supporting his business. Let the so called indigenous alone buy his dry pizza.
At He’s a fool. No need to get personal. You are wasting your time and you are still going to buy dry pizza when you are well and ready.
Rather than calling out this man’s repulsive behaviour you come in here defending the post about his dry pizza? Are you good in your head? Or are you one of the family members who quietly encourage him to do what is doing so you could feel satisfaction in your cruel heart? CSC’s utterances would qualify as hate speech in other parts of the world. You see nothing wrong with that? But you come on here defending crap. If you had any decency you would have called him out on his nonsense.
If someone from Jamaica comes to the BVI, marries a BVIslander/Belonger and in 5 years they themselves become a ‘Belonger’. Should they have a right to vote on BVI’s self-determination having been in the BVI for only 5 years? I think the point here is that not all ‘Belongers’ got their status in the same way. Someone getting their status after 5yrs is not the same as someone who was born in USVI or elsewhere to parents or at least one parent who are a multi-generational BVIslander by descent. We need to have serious conversations around here instead of agreeing with who we like and disagreeing with who we dislike. No other country has these questions as to who has the right to what, only us and then when we get squeezed we complain.
A Belonger is a Belonger, is a Belonger, is a Belonger. Did you get that Claud Skelton-Cline.
By definition a belonger belongs. Let’s stop making things too unnecessarily complicated.
As a Belongers I agree I don’t want any say. This is your country if it’s doing good it’s on the people who governor it if it does bad it’s on those same people. I want no part in how it works or doesn’t but I will still voice my opinion very rarely.
This preacher been saying and showing his “patriotism” for years. His Caribbean followers have been sitting faithfully supporting his pronouncements for years. Why would he stop when these forgiving people walk in HIS church hoping that he can lead them to paradise
Taxation without representation. Sound familiar? Go back to Detroit and take your wicked ways
“You are on the this council, but we do not grant you the rank of master” Ahhhhh
And you CSC, you need to stop acting like the H. B. I. C. AKA HEAD BI**H IN CHARGE.
So according to this bigot, after over 25 years of living and making a life in the BVI, people shouldn’t have a say, in how the country runs. I guess he wants a say, in how to skim more cream from the top. A truly hideous human being
If belongers can’t vote on a referendum, why would they vote for an administration that wants to have one? Or, is it that belongers not born here cannot now vote?
Oh boy he is scared of democracy
Guy sure does talk a whole lot for a business and pastor. Anyways, there you have it, as long as youre not an indigenous local, don’t support his church or his business.
THAT HE IS A ” HOL-E ” CHILD OF THE CLOTH / OR HE MIGHT OF BEEN FLEXING OFF HIS EVILNESS WITH AH “AK 47 ” SO WE HAVE TO SAY THANK YOU LORD FOR PROTECTING US FROM CSC (AKA) JIM JONES ASK THE GUYANESE , ABOUT HIM , IF YOU DON’T KNOW OR REMEMBER •
Claude Skelton Cline shouldn’t have a say BVI’s Goverment Policies
Oh, boo hoo, poor souls born in the British Virgin Islands but unable to get a passport because their parents weren’t born there. What a tragedy,And of course, they can’t vote either, so who cares, right? I mean, being born in the British Virgin Islands is clearly the only qualification that matters. But hey, keep making those disrespectful comments and playing the victim card that’s definitely the way for the country to progress. But anyways, who am I speak? I have only been here for the past 28 years invested in business and just a nobody, what’s going in the territory……It’s doing great right now because of mindset like this….carry on