I never expected so much hatred — Premier Wheatley
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has expressed surprise at the amount of negative feedback he has received since assuming leadership of the territory.
“I find that in these Virgin Islands, we express too much unkindness and too much hatred. In fact, I would have never thought getting in this position that it would have inspired so much hatred by so many persons,” Premier Wheatley said in the House of Assembly.
Premier Wheatley expressed gratitude to those who have shown him support and encouragement.
“Faith, hope and love, the greatest of these are love. Love is the greatest,” the Premier said. “So, I’m grateful for those who love me, and who encourage me, and who push me to be better than I am, and who accept me even for my mistakes and my failures, and those areas where I fall short.”
Pray and repent
Premier Wheatley, while noting the most recent murder in the community, pleaded with residents to repent and show more patience and long-suffering in their approach to conflict resolution.
“I pray that we repent of such behaviour and that we pray for God to clean our hearts of whatever the hatred is in our hearts that would lead us to injure our brothers and even kill our brothers and sisters,” Dr Wheatley said.
Turning his attention to the escalating violence, the territory’s leader said his government understands that crime is a holistic problem that needs to be tackled and said his government has pledged to support strategies being employed by the Police Commissioner to address the crime situation.
“I can say to you that we will not rest until this crime situation which is a threat to our personal security, a threat to our economy, a threat to these Virgin Islands – we will not rest until it’s under control,” the Premier stated.
“We have to ensure in our school system, in our social system, in our churches, in our communities, that we teach persons how to resolve conflict peacefully and that we give persons alternatives to a life of crime and robbing and killing,” he added.
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Let us not become distracted from the issue at hand here: corrupt government. In fact Mr. Wheatley, sir, you were deputy to one of the most corrupt in BVI history – at least that we know of. So while you want to try and turn the people’s attention to violent crime, the people have not forgotten that you stood by and did nothing to expose or stop the illegal activities by your peers. Some of whom seemingly have direct ties to these same criminal elements that are causing these senseless killings.
We hate you for how you treated andrew Fahie you are wicked plus what you did to carvin vincent and julian
Seriously???
It’s not hatred. It is that people know that you are far from qualified for the job. You performed poorly as minister for education. You mishandled the whole issue with the COI. You are not qualified or prepared to be Premier and Minister of Finance. I don’t think it’s hatred, people are just scared that our future is in the hands of a complete novice.
Who is we? lol Vincent needs to go from District 9!
Suwande, Suwande, Suwande. I would hope that no one hates to you personally as a person but certainly as leader of the territory you are greatly despised. It’s very simple, you are not deemed fit and proper to lead the country. I am very shocked that you are surprised by that?
Lets be real, what have you done to advance the country, what have you done?
We have to endure your foolishness for a little while longer, sitting eagerly until election day when we vote you out, until then try your best to keep your trap shut! Such a ridiculous poppy show of a government! SEND HELP!
Nobody hate you …! We just know you are not a leader. We haven’t forgotten that you were the Head coach right hand man and deputy while all his corruption and victimization took place. We haven’t forgotten you belligerent behavior and body language and being high during your COI. We haven’t forgotten how you gave away millions to non fishers and farmers because they with VIP. We haven’t forgotten how quick you were to grab for power as soon as Fahie got arrested. You never once considered letting another more seasoned politician take the helm. Easily swayed by your brother and father and vip cronies… We haven’t forgotten that district 7 is the worst looking district in the BVI! No hate! You just aren’t built for this. You need to go back to teaching.
Natalio, this negative energy is by a selected group who wants to see people like Ronnie, Myron, etc. back in office. These people has failed us and has put us where we are today.
The biggest mistake will be to put a dunce to lead this country in trying times just because they drive around in a Mercedes. I worked with these people and believe me they are not intelligent. They are just looking out for their family business interest.
I encourage to keep on pushing. Your work will speak for itself.
Perhaps you should listen to some of the feedback and get things going instead of just complaining.
The hatred now is fully justified.
Mr. Premier I hope nobody hates you. Perhaps what they hate are certain polices etc. However, if you are assessing the way ppl feel about you from the blogs on this site beware of the subversive campaign currently being waged against BVI leaders generally which includes paid bloggers. It’s, of course, meant to stir up emotions and keep us divided as a ppl in order to further whatever their objective are. Such campaigns have been used successfully in the past in other places, but hopefully will not be as effective here in 2022.
Paid bloggers….we see you!
Welcome to the club!
Its not hatred the people just don’t rate you. They don’t have no faith in your ability to lead us and I don’t blame them.
Nobody hates you. If you think that they do, then you are not paying attention. They hate the way you and your fellow politicians govern. They hate the corruption. They hate the cronyism. They hate the fact that power outages are so common. They hate the poor condition of most roads. They hate that schools are in such deplorable conditions. They hate the lack of action on COI recommendations. And so on….
Go take a damn hike with your pi**.
Dear Mr. Premier, hear this and hear well. Your people hearts are broken and weary.
From the hurricanes, to the pandemic that those guys your were with had people locked down, curfew after curfew, to the former Premier’s saga, to the high prices in the supermarkets.
What you need to do is create a sense of happiness for the residents of this territory. Stop thinking about self and think about everyone.
Give the citizens some sort of tax refund to assist with the every day pressures instead of finding ways to add more. Then you might see a bit more love.
of course, we hate his sl** ra**. Not fit for office we need a change this man is a do nothing Leader
I does laugh when I hear people commenting about “Paid Bloggers”. Is like think about it… Anybody got to pay anyone to make our government ministers look bad? The terrible job they been doing is enough; aint nobody got to tell no lies on them or make them “look bad” Anybody saying otherwise just got their head bury in the sand wanting to pretend like the backwardness and corruption don’t exist so it can continue.
Well, my friend I said it before not to hurt you, but you should talk less and when you speak make sure you think about what you are saying. You went from people hating you to crime.
You are in government because you put a government together and made some promises. Well, the people are waiting to see the outcome of those promises. This is what you should be talking about as well as getting the infrastructure in order.
As a doctor/politician you should expect criticism and you should be able to make your point without being all over the place. If you take this a hatred, I am sorry sir. Time to put on the big boy pants.
He cant even tell hatred from disappointment.
Why because we are like the bible say Jealousy in the last days
I think you meant to say complete incompetent or complete idiot. choose one or both.
For the unelected leader of a one party state and former assistant to a drug baron, who has achieved zero in his time in office , he has some face.
Come elections you will see what the place thinks of you
Sl** Wande Sl** Wande Sl** Wande, nobody hates you. They just hate the job you are doing. That’s all. You are a terrible leader and I’ll suited for the post of Premier. All of you in the administration are. The criticism can be cast through out the entire government and opposition. All bad
The people are tired of paying taxes, crazy fees while the HOA squander OUR dollars on stupid projects that are full of kickbacks/payoffs, never completed.
When you took up your predecessor’s habits and look down on us saying “don’t speak while I am speaking and send questions in advance before questioning me”, what do you expect? Open hands with love?
We now know when you and your brother put together the unity government, word got out on the street that you threw the papers on the desk saying, “this is how it is going to be”.
Never one day did you involve the public, however now that election is around the bend, you are coming off the clouds and remembering who is in charge? Don’t slip on your way down because there is no one to catch you.
Your plans as the premier were to be come just as the leader in Dominica.
Do as I say. Don’t ask me anything until I say you can. If you are not with me, I will deal with you one way or the other.
This is not the person we thought you were or the personality you were elected to be. Somehow the inner person comes out once you are in power.
You are a stranger and has become another version of the previous leader and that might be your demise.
I think he is the right person for right now but I’m deeply disappointed in his professed concern for the sanctity of marriage. Let the courts decide what is legal. The suggestion of a referendum seems performative and will be a waste of money. I’m hoping it’s the usual pre-election pandering to the bigoted religious community. Even so that’s disappointing too. Mr Premier, please, please, please be different. You are the right person for this time.
It is not hatred Mr Premiere, it is a recognition of incompetence…
coming from someone with the name weed I would understand that your mental capacity is more than compromised but 16 equally feeble minds SHM. You all get the Government you deserve. I will take a guy that has an MBA in Finance from one of the best university in the world than some of these other that lack qualifications, Facts
Dear Mr Premier, Deputy and Governer,the retired folk are again asking to have their increments paid to them immediately…
As, they are almost a decade past due. That is mal and ill practice and treatment of professional people and human beings any way you look at it. It is shameful.
Agreed! There is definitely signs of divide and conquer going on. It’s clear from historical comments, not just to this article. BVI people from my experience get upset with each other, but would go up against an outsider and protect each other for the most part on any given day.
The Premier is green in terms of leadership and his rebuttal in this article is an example of that. He just needs to have an open mind, willing to listen to respectful constructive criticism and let his work speak for itself; stop worrying about being liked or disliked. If Jesus experienced it, so will ALL of us… hence he should get over it, it is part of being a leader (good or bad). If everyone likes you or what you are doing you better do some serious self examination. That’s when you should be concerned.
The other issue is he has a negative public record that is memorialized and has spoken for him. In other words, as some commenters have said in these comments, his reputation precedes him. Some have given concrete examples of exactly what he has done in the past (his experience or lack thereof and own words) that makes it challenging for others to believe that he is now a different person. Maybe he should start by humbling himself and publicly denounce that past positions he took. Otherwise, the citizens don’t know which side of him (the Andrew deputy or the new changed guy as premier) is showing up to work representing the BVI daily.
Instead of crying that he’s being hated, he should start by publicly addressing the BVI people’s concerns about past political grand standing that was unfavorable and be humble and sincere about it. I would love to be his consultant for FREE to help him rebrand his leadership style. I’ve spent a lengthy career off island, the past 15+ working around politicians (and no I am not the Detroit guy). The problem is our people don’t have tolerance for those of us who left or are only tangentially connected to the BVI through a parent or grandparents, and would like to use to our experience to help make a difference. Something will have to give soon or the BVI’s democracy will be in peril, heading in the direction of autocratization.
Suck it up buttercup. Maybe if you cry a little, your sheepeople would give a crap.
It’s called politics and you chose to step into the mess by appointing yourself leader
can say to you that we will not rest until this crime situation which is a threat to our personal security, a threat to our economy, a threat to these Virgin Islands – we will not rest until it’s under control,” the Premier stated.
I URGE YOU TO NAME ONE SINGLE THING YOU HAVE DONE TO BRING JUSTICE TO THE KILLERS OR PREVENT ANOTHER MURDER?
One single thing you have done????
Im waiting along with the rest of the territory…
Another political gimmick. Play on the public’s emotions. The same public who cannot afford to live on unfair salaries and low pensions, cannot afford the cost of living and the increase in food prices while the government seems to be ill equipped to do anything about it. When people are suffering on your watch but you are only concerned about who likes and dislikes you, what do you call that?
I believe you call that a M*****F****** F***!!!
You’re the Premier. Stop winning like a boy.