Edmund G. Maduro gives Rajah A. Smith ‘10/10’ for chiding VIP leaders
In a surprise statement sent to the media on June 20, 2016, Virgin Islands Party (VIP) candidate in the June 8, 2015 general elections, Mr Smith made no bones about his disappointment with his own party.
Smith also bashed the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) for what he termed their reckless overspending by some ministers of government and said that many have been left to wonder if people who are “running our territory are ‘educated fools.’”
Bold move
Mr Maduro, in an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online on June 27, 2016, described Mr Smith’s action as a bold move that is not always easy to do.
“When some of us express our opinion and the powers that be don’t agree they would try to kill us even though what we are expressing is correct,” said Mr Maduro.
The controversial talk show host said he feels very proud of Mr Smith’s stand and thinks Virgin Islands Party Chairman Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) and his party should take this time to move forward. “I think that Mr Fraser and the party as such should know this is the time to move forward and reorganise for the next election.”
Full credit to Smith
Mr Maduro stressed that the VIP cannot wait until elections is just around the corner to get reorganised. “…and Rajah is speaking out from wisdom and he is a wise man to come out at this time and say what he said. I give him full credit, 10 out of 10.”
Maduro said that the three persons targeted in Mr Smith’s recent press release, Hon Fraser, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1) and VIP Chairman Carvin Malone are the ‘King Pins’ of the party and need to now take a certain stand if the party is to survive to contest the next elections. “What they must understand is that they must push aside greed, they must push aside selfishness and work for what is best for the majority of the people, the majority of the people of the British Virgin Islands. That is what government is all about,” the talk show host said.
He went on the say, “If there is something that the majority thinks is good and a few thinks it’s bad we still got to fight it but not with hate, not with enmity, not with a desire to kill anybody.”
VIP members in contentious civil war
Mr Smith had said that while he sympathises with the people of the territory over their plight since the NDP came to power, his team, the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) has a lot to [be] blamed for, as he lashed out at Hon Fraser, First District Representative Hon Andrew A. Fahie and President of the VIP, Mr Carvin Malone.
“While people are looking for hope, the VIP members are engaged in a contentious civil war for power, from the Chairman to the President to the Congress,” Mr Smith said, adding that the party has a democratically elected chairman that was never fully embraced by his opponents after the election, “a president that’s not objective, a senior member who led an unsuccessful coup against its own leader and a divided congress with no unity near in sight.”
According to Smith, for the betterment of the party and the territory “these three grown men need to put aside their personal ambitions, their egos, and find common ground and unite for the greater good or step aside.”
15 Responses to “Edmund G. Maduro gives Rajah A. Smith ‘10/10’ for chiding VIP leaders”
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