BVI in no position to negotiate constitution with UK
Talk-show host Claude Skelton Cline said the BVI must pause its planned constitutional talks with the United Kingdom, arguing that the territory is not in a fair position to negotiate.
“We are in no position to negotiate a new constitution with the United Kingdom. Why? Because you should not negotiate when you’re under threat,” Skelton Cline said on his Honestly Speaking radio show.
According to the talk show host, constitutional talks should never be attempted under duress.
“You should not negotiate when you’re under threat. You cannot, in good faith, from the other side of the table, expect to have any meaningful gains,” he argued.
Skelton Cline pointed to the 148 recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, which he said stripped powers from ministers and left the House of Assembly divided.
“Constitutional negotiation requires that all of the House of Assembly be on the same page. And it is clear to us that you are not. As a matter of fact, history may very well show that this [House] is one of the most divided,” he argued.
He also stressed that the 2007 Constitution still has unfulfilled provisions. “We stand more to lose than what we currently have in our 2007 Constitution,” he warned, adding that the territory cannot afford to risk further erosion of authority.
Skelton Cline called on residents to press their leaders with tough questions.
“At least posit the question to them, do you really think this is the time for us to be negotiating our constitution?” he urged.
He further appealed to UK citizens living in the territory. “I am calling on you to lend your voice in defence and offence of the advancement of these Virgin Islands for Virgin Islanders by Virgin Islanders,” he said.
Debates over constitutional change have intensified since the Commission of Inquiry report in 2022, which led to an Order in Council giving the UK powers to suspend parts of the local constitution if reforms stalled. The government later agreed to a framework for reforms, and Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley confirmed in July that negotiations with London were scheduled to resume later this year.
But Skelton Cline insisted that the current political climate makes such talks unwise. “Folks got a gun to your head. What negotiating power, leverage do you really have?” he asked.
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If we do get independence
You will be worst than Trump
You would be no
Better than the police who put their legs on the neck of the black
American
That is what you are trying to create in the BVI against your black brothers and sisters from the other Caribbean islands
I will be sorry for them if we get independence
nobody cares what this c – r – * – 0 – k has to say
“The Mad Man declares:
Stand up like lions after slumber!
Shake off the dust of fear!
Break the chains of mental slavery!
For the fullness of earth and heaven is with us.
And in that great day of reckoning,
It shall be said:
There were men and women,
Brave enough to play their part.
Thus saith The Mad Man.”
“We are in no position to negotiate a new constitution with the United Kingdom. Why? Because you should not negotiate when you’re under threat,” Skelton Cline.
That is the darn time to negotiate Jack Donkey.
In a good negotiation, both sides feel like they lost something. By judging from his contracts, I can assume that Cline knows how to negotiate. And I agree with him. We can’t begin to negotiate from a weakened position and with disunity in the HOA. We all need to be on the same page for that.
this man and other independent Caribbean nations is the mouth piece for the people man….
why all these talkative persons dont do a survey on the general public to see how we really feel? or yal alrdy know how we feel about yall schemes and performance so yall trying make your mouth loud to smother our cries for help hmmmmm
UN please keep out of this unless yall plan to clean up this place and provided food secuirty and host of other things that this place seriously needs
I am thrown off with the ,”Yall”.What is that.
..how can you be taken seriously with that..My apology. I am not questioning your intelligence but I am questioning your intelligence. Yuck!!!
An negotiation that seeks tangible results must ensue from a position of strength,it is only common sense to do so.
Hence, i endore the view of the article.
The order in council is something they have the power to do through UK parliament any time anyway. So whether it’s there or not, the threat is always there, which is what is supposed to keep us honest… but look at where we are. The order in council makes no difference. The systems of accountability remain either way and there is no escaping them. The sooner we adopt an honest approach, the sooner every person can prosper in peace.
The order in council is a hostile piece of legislation and a noose around the Virgin Islands neck.
It does not promote nor enhance good human relations, but instead look down upon those deemed less than and are in need of external governance.
It is a puntive piece of legislation that lacks humanity and considerations of freedom of a people.
It is a piece of legislation that is cloaked in colonialism, neo-colonialism and absentee rule, relics of a by-gone era, that are incompatible with modenity and human freedom rights.
Thus the continued firm debates relative to sef determination, in all its various forms, remain
viable valid points worth considering.
You talking bullsg*t if we have cleaned up our act / or have fulfilled the reQuirements of the ( COI) then our hands are clean / SO ISN’T IT TIME TO NEGOTIATE AND START AFRESH ? AND GET THE COUNTRY RUNNING PROPERLY / DRUG FREE / GUN FREE CORRUPTION FREE AND FREE OF ALL THE KILLINGS ETC ,