Past political experiences prepared me to be Premier
Premier Dr Natalio Wheatley has disclosed that his previous political failings early in his political career before gaining office in 2019 have given him the relevant experience to tackle his current post as Premier of the Virgin Islands.
Dr Wheatley said he was recruited to the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) from the People’s Empowerment Party (PEP) after the political drubbing at the hands of the National Democratic Party in 2015. At that time, they were in a rebuild with only two candidates in the House of Assembly – Andrew Fahie and Julian Fraser.
The Premier said he became the president of the VIP and in 2019, he ran as a candidate for District Seven and was finally successful.
“I think people were looking for a change at that particular time and people saw me as representing a change and they supported me,” Dr Wheatley said.
The arrest of former Premier Fahie at the end of April meant Dr Wheatley had to assume the role of Premier and it is something he said his experiences have prepared him for.
“The unfortunate events of the last few weeks have propelled me into the Premier seat. It is something I have prepared for. All my life, I really wanted the opportunity to help people and God has given me certain gifts that I believe I can use to lead the people at this particular time,” Dr Wheatley said.
Activism
He noted that throughout his life, he always cared about helping the people of the Virgin Islands. As a result, he found himself in political organisations, activist and community groups and consequently the natural progression was to seek elected office.
“I think at the time where I was running for office, I did not see persons representing the perspective that I really wanted to represent. So, I put myself forward for service,” the Premier said.
He admitted it had been a challenging journey but nonetheless, he said it has helped him to become who he is today. Dr Wheatley said when he first attempted to run for office, he did not think any of the two major political parties – NDP and VIP – represented his beliefs and ideas. He also highlighted his experiences with them activated him politically and he felt the Virgin Islands needed a new voice. .
Currently, Dr Wheatley said, as Premier, he wants to focus on pushing the good governance agenda. He noted the VIP’s campaign rested heavily on good governance. And despite passing legislation, he thinks more can be done.
“We must reaffirm our commitment to the good governance agenda. Not only in such a way where we are ticking boxes and going through the motions but something where we really evaluate some of the practices and the bad habits of government,” Dr Wheatley said.
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You are not ready for the task ahead. You Just do not have what it takes to run this country. This is just my opinion. I would say why but BVI news will not post. Bias news site.
Based on his last press conference, I totally agree with this assessment
Crafty political operators like Fahie, always pick some d**b yes man as their deputy. That way they minimize the threat of insider backstabbing.
Slow Wonder fit the bill perfectly.
Hahahahhahahahahahahaha!!! Aye Dios!
You will serve the shortest time {10 months} as premier in BVI’s history because you wont be re-elected. Could be shorter too if the UK take over
We need to abandon the title “Premier.” We are a nation of only 30,000 souls. The next leaders of our country should be a new generation of well educated and talented managers. They should report to us. They should be held accountable based on measurable results. We need more transparency and community participation. We need a fresh start. We should no longer think of ourselves as a narco state with broken schools, broken infrastructure, burning dump. We need to believe in ourselves.
This dude seconded all the bad decisions that the former premier did
And the same group of members now with him, one by one stood up in full agreement.
They all allegedly went along with the illegal payouts ( as long as their relatives and cronies got some ) , they all closed their eyes to the illegal contracts ( as long as their relatives and cronies got some )
And they all knew Fahie was an alleged crook from way back but they still backed him ( as long as their relatives and cronies got some )
Waiting on the responses to this one
But you are not prepared and neither are we for you. Somebody had to die to make you king boss. We would have never voted for you for that job. Never. Especially after we see how you ruin the education ministry after the former minister brought it up.
Same man different suit
Natalio is in great error, the moment is not to think about you, he only says Me. You are not all together without opposition, it is everyone at the table and the voice of the people in general, all legal persons with social security in BVI must have a voice because everyone pays taxes and has been affected, leave your self, leave your selfishness egocentrism
Natalio is in great error, the moment is not to think about you, he only says Me. You are not all together without opposition, it is everyone at the table and the voice of the people in general, all legal persons with social security in BVI must have a voice because everyone pays taxes and has been affected, leave your self, leave your selfishness egocentrism
said to the phony emperor in Rome “The days of honoring yourself will soon come to an end in this life or the next.”
He’s learned everything from Andrew. UK quit dragging this out. lock them up & move on
He always voted at his party’s call, and never thought of thinking for himself at all.
Natalio Wheatley, You are a very th**k headed person, and not smart when you say your previous political failings early in his political career before gaining office in 2019 have given you the relevant experience to tackle your current post as Premier of the Virgin Islands. Your so call experience is no good for the BVI because it came under the VIP headed by the corrupt Andrew Fahie government so as far as we know your experience is no good for the BVI.
I had to check my calendar to see if today is April Fool’s Day!! Mehn. Wow! Priceless!!!! Well sah. Ah sweating ? jokes can’t done.
What kinda “tute my own horn” BS is this. Slowwande is a waste of time. He spends too much time praising himself. What I do know is that he was deputy under arguably the worst Primier in the history of the BVI. Slowwande never distinguished himself whilst there was a lot to do only talking about “colonizers” rather than putting anything helpful on the table and Slowwande lacks any leadership during this time. He needs to go sit the heck down and STFU
When at the circus they always bring in the clowns to distract the audience….welcome to the BVI circus!
Let’s put his leadership to the test. Let’s see if he can rally 5000 ppl to protest. This man even rally 300. He needs to go and sit down . Call free elections, Slow Wande. Enough of these games, we do not want you or the “Unity” bunch
In my view, the VI failed due to its success. But failure and setbacks are inevitable; both organizations are individuals fail. James Quincey wrote: “There is no learning without failing, and there are no successes without setbacks.” Though failure is inevitable, the fear of failing is common place. And most people are consumed with preventing and/or minimizing failure.
Nonetheless, there are positive aspects to failure. As such, both organizations and individuals should embrace and own failures and fail forward, ie, they should learn and develop from failure, capitalizing on the return from failure as capitalizing on the return of investment.
Moreover, crisis, and the VI is in crisis, brings out the best in people, pushing them to blossom. Crisis forces people to reach deep and produce positive outcomes. Typically, a leader is a planner, visionary, strategist and big thinker. But a leader leads a team to produce positive outcomes. They share the positive outcomes but must shoulder any blame (ultimate responsibility). Further, opportunity often gives people the chance to excel. Premier Natalio Wheatley should be given the same opportunity to excel that would be given to personnel from the UK. VI people should be given a fair and equal opportunity to excel.
The VI must stop the self-reinforcing discrimination, ie, it puts faith and trust in others over their own and if people come from above Round Rock, they are better than locals. That was a 30s, 40s and 50s belittling attitude that cause friction in the community. Let’s be proud of who we are.
Moreover, I don’t know Premier Wheatley. I met him once briefly at a funeral at the East End Methodist Church many years ago. I’m just calling balls and strikes.
@E.Leonard, “I’m just calling balls and strikes.” No. You with your elitist book nonsense is supporting the premier with his book nonsense. Two doctors who could not plan ah yu way out of a phone booth. Dr know nothings. Take a couple of seats. I read the mumbo jumbo nonsense and spill my good bush tea.
@@E. Leonard, it is true that I cannot plan my way out of a phone boot. But one thing that is not true is that I’m not a doctor. I’m a graduate of the school of “Hard Knocks.” Just correcting the record and keeping it real.