Former legislator says politics behind push for Potter’s resignation
Former legislator Shereen Flax-Charles expressed concerns over the resignation push for BVI Health Services Authority (BVIHSA) Chairman Ron Potter, suggesting that political affiliation has prevented Potter from doing his job.
Potter revealed through a press release over the weekend that the BVIHSA has been without sufficient board members to hold a meeting since July. He further pointed out that appointing new board members is the Cabinet’s responsibility, at the Health Minister’s recommendation.
“A lot of things are blocked because of political affiliation. They might deny it, but I firmly believe that political affiliation has a lot to do with why this chairman is not able to get what he wants to get done,” Flax-Charles said in an interview with JTV.
Flax-Charles said she felt the public needed more information about the situation and argued that the chairman’s role is mainly voluntary and not a full-time job. “The chair gets a thousand-dollar stipend. The chair is not an employee of the Board … You cannot survive on a thousand dollars a month,” she explained.
She described the Minister’s push for Potter’s resignation as a ‘dire’ situation. She criticised Health Minister Vincent Wheatley’s approach, suggesting a lack of transparency and effective communication.
“I don’t know what will become of the resignation issue. But I think that we are always asking about transparency and accountability. And we need transparent answers from all and sundry. We need the truth,” Flax-Charles urged.
The situation has become more critical following the death of Virgin Gorda resident Revovion Sprauve, known as “Bucky,” who passed away on August 31 after reportedly being denied timely access to medical services on the sister island.
Wheatley told BVI News last week that his request for Potter’s resignation isn’t meant to be political.
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She was the same when she was in the HoA. Didn’t say a word for months, then was on every new outlet for a week or so doing a lot of shouting, then disappeared for month before coming back for another week of shouting.
so you’re back , we know you were a better choice than the chicken hawk but you walked into a pit of snakes , hopefully you didn’t hurt my Lil Fren while sitting on the hit asphalt with those actors
FOR YA’LL TO OPEN YOUR MOUTHS & EYES / WHERE WERE YA’LL ALL THE TIME – EH❓️ / WHEYN HE FLEXING OFF ON THEM ISLAND PEOPLE AND YOU ALL KEPT QUIET LIKE LAMBS / DON’T YOU THINK OUR TIME IS NEXT THST MONEY GRAM SAGA WAS JUST A WARM UP FOR THE GOD FATHER VINNIE ( AKDMA ) THE CHICKEN HAWK
I keep seeing Potter’s defenders point out that he only receives a modest $1,000 per month and serves voluntarily. What I don’t understand is the reluctance to step aside if that’s the case. Is it about the prestige of the position? Is he really that altruistic? If the Chairman does not share the Minister’s vision for the future of Health Services, he inevitably becomes an obstacle to progress. In such a case, the honorable and patriotic course of action would be to step aside, allowing the necessary alignment for reform to take place. True service to the public requires knowing when to make way for the advancement of the common good, rather than clinging to a position for its own sake.
oh, BVI the minister is deceiving all of you, go and check his desk for the proposals and reports that were given to him by the Chairman of the Board months upon months ago, of which he did nothing about. He has not even read the reports given to him and now that the virgin Gorda man died the minister want it to look like it was the Chairman’s fault, the lord God almighty is not pleased with what He is seeing in this island.
Why has been asked to resign? That is what the public needs to know and yet we want independence.
Ordinarily, one should not stay where one us not wants. But in this case cuz, hang tough, stand your ground. Former rep. ms. Flax Charles, yes , it is about politics, it is a power play. The minister is a weakling, soft, etc. Asking cuz to resign quietly. He got jike . Did he even had a conversation with Ron? Did he have the courage, stones, to talk to Ron? By the way, which government put Ron on the board? We say it is about politics. Well, everything in the BVI is about politics. As another cuz of mi e wrote, “ If there is conflict, there is politics; no conflict no politics,” Cuz also wrote quoting Aristotle, “ that to be human is to be political ; we are political animals,” So being political is normal .
Perhaps not everyone saw the COE hearing in which Mr. Wheatley and the interviewer differed on the meaning of the word AUTONOMOUS. When questioned about the VIP firing all board members wholesale Mr. Wheatley’s response was that the party had campaigned on certain things in their Manifesto. So they wanted to make sure that everyone, including members of statutory boards were “on the same page”. They were all reminded back then about what a statutory board was meant to be – AUTONOMOUS. Mr. Potter has said he is not resigning and has sited his reasons including that Mr. Wheatley has no authority to fire him. He can request his resignation but if Mr. Potter decides not to resign there isn’t a single thing Mr. Wheatley can do except continue to try to frustrate the man, causing him to get fed up and voluntarily leave. Perhaps Mr. Wheatley wrongly thought this would be a great opportunity to get a
board member appointed by a member of another party off the board. So (1) how much the man makes as a board member, and how much of his time is voluntary is irrelevant. (2) this would be a great time of everyone, including Mr. Wheatley to look of the meaning of the word AUTONOMOUS. This is definitely a political move, a stupid and bad move, and anyone who can’t see that is dead from the neck up.
Voting has consequences! Enjoy the next 2 years of this s**t show. The funny (or not so funny) thing is all of this could have been avoided if Ronnie/Mitch and their ilk put their egos aside for the Territory. 2019 and then again in 2023 they could not put their power hungry attitudes aside for the betterment of the Territory but are here now with a vote of no confidence. I have no confidence in any of them at this point, totally shameful. In case you haven’t noticed, the politicians pretend to have beef with eachother but understand that their sweetened pension/exit plans are across the board, Govt side and Opposition side so either way they are all good. You guys can continue raising your pressure taking sides with this charade.
Potter cant even hire a competent CEO. Still pushing the lame duck. Where are the audits? Where is the board’s response to the outstanding investigations into the Authority? The one’s completed by the fired Internal Auditor and corroborated by the Auditor General? Wheatley should have shown this man the door months ago.
if she didn’t run we would have gotten rid of vincent, she is one of the reasons we are stuck with vip
Stop your nonsense
She only have one vote.
Y’all should have voted for Koy only.
Of course it’s politics, dear.
Mis go sit down you look crazy and stop letting them old man go on u, u are ageing fast to
She is spot. It ain’t everyone going keep allowing you all to destroy people and don’t say something. You all need to go. You all talk about the NDP but you all are horrible and you all are no VIP.
That is why the UK should not lift the Order of Council
Dog will eat dog .