PVIM, NDP leaders rejected symbiotic merger, chose absorption
Opposition Leader Myron Walwyn has revealed that political leaders of the Progressive Virgin Islands Movement (PVIM) and the National Democratic Party (NDP), Ronnie Skelton and Marlon Penn, rejected a proposal for a structured merger between the two parties in favor of one simply absorbing the other.
Speaking in an interview with 284media last week, Walwyn explained that integrating both parties in a way that respected their individual constitutions would have prevented internal discord. However, he suggested that Penn and Skelton were uninterested in that approach.
“To subsume NDP into PVIM or PVIM into NDP—we did not believe was the best thing because we would have bad blood. We would have issues of trust,” Walwyn argued. “We were saying, let’s blend the parties so that we have a level playing field, a fair platform where everyone can walk away with their dignity intact. We could work together, review both constitutions, build something that works, and then contest the general elections—whoever wins, wins.”
“To me, that was a very plausible approach. But it was not accepted at that meeting,” Walwyn stated.
He said the meeting ended with an agreement to reconvene at a later date. However, during a subsequent discussion, Penn and Skelton maintained their position that one party should absorb the other. They promised to provide an update in April.
While awaiting further discussions, Walwyn’s political allies, Stacy Mather and Melvin “Mitch” Turnbull, decided to address concerns about the leadership of the Opposition. This led to Walwyn being installed as the new Opposition Leader, replacing Skelton.
“We see the leadership of the Opposition and the merger as two separate and distinct issues because we had concerns about the effectiveness of the Opposition,” Walwyn explained. “We believed there was a major fumble with the vote of no confidence.”
He emphasized that their move to change the Opposition Leader was unrelated to the merger discussions.
“We left that meeting expecting an update in April, but lo and behold, I was sworn in as Opposition Leader on Monday, and by Wednesday, I heard that PVIM was being subsumed into NDP. I must say, I was extremely troubled by it. I felt betrayed. It felt like a repeat of 2018, and it was done to exclude us,” Walwyn added.
Skelton and Penn have since claimed they were blindsided by Walwyn’s appointment, with Skelton stating he was never officially notified of his removal.
However, Mather, a PVIM member, said he had a lengthy one-on-one discussion with Skelton beforehand, during which he expressed dissatisfaction with Skelton’s leadership as head of the Opposition.
Within 24 hours of Skelton’s removal, Penn and Skelton merged PVIM into the NDP.
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Fu**y man will continue bashing Malone and Ronnie to get power at all cost but water boiling for he
I think the proposal by the alliance is the best way to get the parties together. Let PVIM and NDP disappear and a new entity made up of both be formed. It’s cleaner and provides a level playing field for all. Ronnie dissolve PVIM and went to NDP by himself with his other members outside.
My assessment is Marlon wouldn’t want this approach because he loses his advantage to have leadership that he would have in the NDP. Ronnie on the other hand had already lost Mather and Turnbull so he thought about himself and ran back to the NDP. Marlon and Ronnie are the ones who are power hungry.
NDP HAS A HUGE VOTER BASE. PVIM IS MUCH SMALLER. Keep the base add the PVIM base which is smaller and you have the majority of voters on the unified parties . Great move
B$ – if what you claimed is facts; then why didn’t NDP garner more votes in the last election for their team? I’ll tell you why, under their current leader the voting public had little confidence in that team! That is why PVIM obtained (3) seats to the NDP’s (2). Well MW ran under the banner of the family; the tensions between Marlon, Lorna and Myron was deep mehson!
What sense does that make with the same people from the same parties simple forming a new one. It’s the individuals that matter not the name of the party or the alliance. April has only now arrived, but they made sure that they did what they had to do prior to that date.
@ watch Dog , how you know who man fu**y? You had Fun with Dem?, you watch too much, take care you don’t see what carry on in your house infrastructure yor face
@ the watch dog , one Fu**y man know the next,
Ha! Ha! Ha! Power we want at all cost, it’s either Ronnie are me penn, I not going into a election for party leadership against Myron meh son, cause if mighty Ronnie could lose how about little me Marlon penn.
The Alliance approach is the way it should be done. It would also provide a new opportunity to provide something fresh and reinvigorating to the voters. It would allow for all players of both parties to come together on an even platform to thrash out their differences, take the best practices from both parties, and build something different and better together while regaining trust. After that is done you hold internal elections for leadership.
That is most practical and fairest way.
But of course, Marlon knows he would not win that election because no body wants him as leader. Ronnie knows what happened the last time. Those two are thinking only about themselves.
NDP is an establishment that has been around over 25yrs and won multiple elections. PVIM was spawned out of a falling out within NDP and barely lasted 6yrs. The voters wanted the NDP back together and have been asking for this for years. Nobody asked for a new party because it makes no damn sense. The bad blood story is rubbish because bad blood is bad blood wither under a new banner or the current one. The sensible thing is them reigniting the NDP as it already has support, structure, branding etc. Anyone with half a brain knows that starting a new party is all about power, nothing about making sense.
@: @bamboo – NDP been around 25 years in what shape and form? The current NDP lost at the last polls in-spite of them fielding more candidates than PVIM. If the voters wanted NDP under its current leader, they would have RALLIED and supported him and by extension the NDP slate!
It is selfish reasons why Ronnie and Marlon want to dictate and hold on to their fading power. NDP base has eroded under Penn. Ronnie wants title and no work! So what you expect the other opposition members to do? walk with their mouths tied behind two useless leaders? Nah man – Marlon and Ronnie been in this ting for too long to be acting like DICTATORS which they are by all appearances!
Since a merger with the Alliance and NDP would be a new party regardless of how some would want to spin it, a new name is fitting. How about the NDP Alliance?
Let’s do this thing. Problem solve instead of blame-gaming.
So Ronnie dissolved PVIM because he lost the leader of the opposition position. Therefore the parties could only merge properly if he is the leader of the opposition. SELFISH SELFISH SELFISH.
Your name should be DOTISH! How could Ronnie dissolve PVIM on his own? Any other members refuting that it’s dissolved? The leader said it’s dissolved, outside of the 2 members of the new group, nobody has disputed that. If those 2 had information contrary to what skelton has said surely they would have brought it forward. The BVI is not a real place.
PVIM is not made up of three people, so after the two left the members of the party made the decision, not Ronney on his own.
Could Ronnie have done that on his own? Ronnie is only one member of the PVIM and Marlon is only one member of the NDP. Is it a fact that they are making these decisions alone. We need to think like we have sense.
“ However, Mather, a PVIM member, said he had a lengthy one-on-one discussion with Skelton beforehand, during which he expressed dissatisfaction with Skelton’s leadership as head of the Opposition “
Everyone in the opposition and even the public was dissatisfied with Ronnie’s leadership as opposition leader. But know his buddies out there bashing Myron for accepting the support of his colleagues to do the job. This is the ENTITLEMENT that they have. He is not performing but the position is his.
Skelton told Alliance to give him until April to come back with them on a plan for the two parties. Marlon was not interested in no discussions.
The alliance change the opposition leader and Skelton miraculously turned the end of April into 24 hours.
All I could say is WOW!
When Skelton replaced Andrew was Andrew officially notified? Skelton in an interview said that the governor called to tell him that a new leader was being sworn in. What more notification does he need?
Ronnie just spoiled and entitled. That’s all.
So pulling the two parties together and starting a new one is any different to coming back under NDP where everyone was? The brand with 25yrs of history? The party that has won elections before? Whatever bad blood that would exist then you deal with it. Why would the bad blood exist under NDP but not under a new party that includes NDP? Some serious information is missing from this equation.
I understand the difference. You have to consider that there would be bad blood and mistrust. Some people chose to go with PVIM over NDP for a reason including the leadership. People do not have confidence in Marlon. To go back under that structure would not work for them. Also, the NDP has some serious stains on its name that it can’t get over and nothing has been done to correct it. It is not as simple as you are making it sound.
Please stop reaching! Whatever stains NDP has would remain on the candidates even if they started a party called XXX. If these people truly cared about the BVI, they would have come back together in the easiest way and address the people. I don’t want to hear the rigmarole bulls**t about stains on names, easiest to this, that or the other. Do you know how much it costs to form a new political party? Does that make sense? You are already saying it’s a merger of NDP and PVIM so the stain is removed after the merger? Please explain!
yes. a coalition is different than a merger. Both parties would have maintained some equity as opposed to one being phased out and absorbed.
This comment here is exactly why we are where we are. whole lotta mouth with zero common sense.
Just a loudmouth: he should go take a seat: he will never be Premier. Premier to do what? Crazy for power. John Cline is correct: when they are mad for power be careful.
That is your opinion, sans, opinions are like a..h…s, everyone has one.You can’t put your feet in Myron’s shoes. Myron is going to be the next Premier of the British Virgin Island. What the Universe put or set in place for someone, no man can break or stop.No man is more powerful than the Universe. The Universe has the last say on everything
What I get from Myron’s statement is that these guys want the easy way out so rather than deal with the issues, pretend as if nothing happened and start a new thing. I would imagine this being Turnbull’s idea since him and his cohorts are really the ones that dismantled NDP. I do not think these guys give the voters credit for the brains they have, people are not stupid. Why would anybody spend all that money recreating a party when they already have one that everybody in this scenario except Mather was already a part of.
This is another win for the VIP. Let’s get behind Dr. Wheatley and the VIP Party and move our country forward.
You sound like a hater. If it had not been for Myron dissecting, explaining and highlighting the bills coming through the house we would have been a lot more trouble. John Cline and the entitled establishment just vex because Myron is the leader of the opposition now. They want to hold on to their power and influence at all cost and if you don’t kiss their ring then you are the target. The truth is Ronnie was a bad opposition leader. A bad opposition leader will make a bad Premier. Marlon is lazy and effective. The best choice is Myron. Myron has expatriate parents that is why they are picking on him like that. If his name was Myron Smith, Myron Fahie, Myron Penn or one of the other BVI names they would not dare attack him that way. We are a set of xenophobic bigots in the BVI.
Very valid point. Myron Smith, Myron Fahie or Myron Penn would not be treated this way at all. Myron Hodge, Myron Wheatley, Myron de Castro…there is a pattern here. The hatred and xenophobia in this country is its downfall. It seems like a practice from slavery days. You proudly wear your slave owner’s name. I wonder how the other races view this level of ignorance.
Myron is too ambitious: voters do not like that.
please check the origin of the names Skelton and de castro
Someone please tell Gua**berry if they are going to be making multiple posts defending Alliance at least change up their style. It is really tiring now reading the same BS over and over on every single news story. They are all politicians and have over a year to figure things out. You are not an influencer so please stop wasting your time.
So you don’t have to read a F thing. Is anyone tying your A down and jamming your face to the screen to read what they are posting? You are the BS you stupid dumb A.
Thank you for the truth. Bishop Cline continues to spew and talk on his friend Skelton. Who is the one that actually caused the split after he lost, refuse to merge in 2019 and 2023. He has done little as the Leader of the Opposition, and has done what is convenient. A true leader would empower not discourage young men from taking up the mantle.
Meh son Tortola is a special place, look how conspicuous it look after a COI, the two cline with connection to family connecting on both side of the isles who are purported to be men of the cloth, but benefit from different corrupt deals and contracts they can get their family members in government to reward them with, are fuming at the mouth because Myron is not a man in the clique of connections, so the gravy train coming to an end for them so they squealing on the radio and need paper daily.the UK and other officials of the BVI must be saying, are these guys stupid to be still fighting for the cheese that the COI brought an interruption too? It’s obvious to the BVI people and UK it’s a family government where individuals are rewarded with contracts and cash point blank. It is changing because Myron and Mitch and Mather look committed to a new paradigm shift in political integrity.go alliance the people conceive you to whip sowandie and the entitled bunch tail.
Personally, and for multiple reasons, I liked the old NDP to the core. They were us and we were them but, if the family, people and race are disunited, should not those real issues affect a political party equally?
In mentioning old wombs of the NDP, the greatest misjudgement it/they made was fooling folk about increments, pay raises and food on the table for a minimum of at least twelve consecutive years. For many, that was the last straw and it/their down fall.
Indeed, most retired civil servants and especially educators would have been much better off today had theyreceived what was promised……
Last, the notion today that the elders, social security and pension dwellers, as a result, are not in dire need of a cost of living increase, is a thought that is riddled with uncaring, in sensitivity and heartlessness.. As, the pain of rediculous greedy prices and cost of living are out of reach to most, btu hey remain silent.
This election coming should rove to be one about economics and easing the ain of that specific group, if not before.
Seems to me that someone thinks he’s smarter than everyone else.
It is not that he thinks he is smarter, he is smarter. Have you ever had an in-depth conversation with Myron? The man is very smart.and knowledgeable.Only a person with bad intentions or jealousy towards someone would say or think that way.
The people voted for Donald Trump to clean up the mess, i’ m quite the people is voting for Myron to clean up the mess that we are in. I have said it plenty of times and I will say it again. Myron is best suited to lead the Territory.
At this rate, they will never come back together and the VIP will win once again. It’s clear as day that these guys do not give a f**k about what the people want, it’s all about what they want. 7yrs now people are literally kissing your a** to get it together and you are still out here doing nonsense and trying to defend it? This display is just shameful and then we blame the UK and others for our issues.
I would join the VIP and to h**l with Myron and his Alliance
THE ALLIANCE PARTY CAN NEVER WIN A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT MARLON AND RONNIE