‘John I. Cline must resign as Chairman of BVIHSA Board’- Premier Smith
Word reaching our newsroom is that the Premier and Leader of Government Business, Dr The Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL), has reportedly asked for the resignation of Chairman of the BVI Health Services Authority (BVISHA) Board, Bishop John I. Cline, the outspoken preacher.
To this end, the Premier has directed his Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Hon Ronnie W. Skelton (AL), to convey this information to Mr Cline.
What got Cline in trouble?
The tension developed following the revelation of a scathing letter last week. The news of the strongly worded letter was first and accurately broken by our newsroom. It was written by a passionate NDP supporter and party spokeswoman, former Legislator Eileene L. Parsons OBE, bashing Dr Smith’s poor leadership and calling for the Ministry of Finance to be taken away from him and given to Hon Skelton.
Following the news article surrounding the letter, Mr Cline was interviewed last Friday January 6, 2017 on ZROD 103.7 FM’s International Morning Ride Show and was asked about his opinion on Mrs Parsons’ letter.
Mr Cline responded: “I think people need to stay within their skills. Ronnie, if you have seen what he has done with his family business out in Fish Bay…the leadership of Ronnie Skelton…remember when he was Finance Minister we did not have complaints about anything, Finance is one of his strengths.”
In further endorsing the idea that Hon Skelton should become the new Minister of Finance, taking away the portfolio from Premier Smith, Mr Cline told the public that “if you have a particular strength that benefits the country then we elect you to find the best strength in each person and let them use those strengths to help the country, and I think Ronnie Skelton is very positioned, very experienced in being Finance Minister,” according to Cline.
Premier was hurt by Cline’s statement
This statement reportedly got under the skin of many of Premier Smith’s inner circle, including allegedly his wife Lorna G. Smith OBE.
The next day, according to the source, there were calls by a small group of Premier Smith’s loyalists for Mr Cline’s resignation and over the weekend Minister Skelton, who was overseas at the time, was to convey the word to the Chairman. Over the weekend, the 11 elected members of the NDP met on the matter and today just the Government front bench met on the issue.
Is there a resignation letter? Anymore to go?
It remains unclear whether a letter of resignation was submitted to Hon Skelton from Mr Cline, the fiery Baptist Minister, as there are conflicting reports and our newsroom has not obtained a copy of the letter.
This also sets up tension between the Health and Social Development Minister Skelton, a backer of Bishop Cline, and Premier Smith. It is now left to be seen the next move by both men.
Premier Smith told a local radio station today January 9, 2017 that he has not fired the Health Minister but warned a few days ago changes will be made in his government, short of him giving up the Ministry of Finance.
When reached by our newsroom, Chairman Cline said he will speak to the press tomorrow Tuesday, January 11, 2017 and declined to comment further.
Others are wondering if Mrs Parsons, who also serves on the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) Board, will also face sanctions for her straight talking letter.
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84 Responses to “‘John I. Cline must resign as Chairman of BVIHSA Board’- Premier Smith”
Do not resign
The first salvo, first shot across the bow has been fired. Who is next to go? Eileen is probably persona non grata at this point; she is a goner. It would be surprising if Ronnie hang around. There is something dysfunctional and sinister going on within the NDP. The Premier came under fire but yet to see one caucus member come forward in support of him. In a subtle way, it appears as if there is a strong desire for him to exit stage left.
Is it the beginning of the end for the NDP? The unraveling has started. Tribal politics is real and raging. The sad thing is that the ship of state's compass is broken and as a result it is off course. Can the current captain command the crews loyalty to get it back on course. Who will hang and toll with Doc?
The territory is experiencing serious financial challenges and is dangling precariously off the fiscal cliff and needs a Noel, Lavity, Mandela, Joseph, Moses...,, etc to lead it out of the financial abyss. There are dark gathering clouds swirling overhead and rough,turbulent seas roaring ashore. Residents need to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Let's get some pop corn, adult beverage and plop down in the Lazy Boy and watch the show.
Moreover, a cabinet/ministry reshuffle is coming, for a sleeping giant has been awaken. The only uncertainty is who is going where. Ronnie ( if he still around) to MCW, Mark to MEC(?), Kedric to MHSS and Myron to MLNR. If Ronnie goes, Archie to MCW. Junior Ministers can be Delores to MEC or Marlon to MoF or Alvera to MLNR.
If the situation with his relative that is currently before the courts is any indication of things will go; I will wait and see how much (% wise) information he will be willing to speak out on now his dinghy has been cut from the NDP cruise-liner. Will we get 99% or 5% of the insider information and views? The treasury will be gutted once NDP are finished and we will hear the next government crying that there are no funds left to keep the country afloat.
All those campaign donators and the promises made (airport, TPP, protection of sharks, BVI Airways..etc.) to them have to materialize for the snap election costed the NDP a cool couple millions - so JIC should've known better but there has to be more to the story than we have heard so far ppl! Will the NDP fragment further over this and a splinter group forms? Who knws but this is a very interesting twist of events.
Doc isn't even the head of his home how can he be head of party & country?
L... did this.
They killing all kinds of people in that hospital they all need to go
There’s one thing worse than a corrupt politicians and that’s voting for corrupt politicians.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” (Edmund Burke). (Let's not lie on our laurels, its time to rise up and speak out or else....)
Open your eyes BVI people. We need to make the BVI great again!
The NDP is over!
The old saying that "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely", is very true.
Hopefully now that the party appears to be divided, someone among them may be motivated to come clean about our "real" financial situation, "IF" any of them actually knows enough about it to be of value. Unfortunately, it's very easy to refute claims when there is no audit trail, and no proof available.
My concern is that (in my opinion) there isn't a single man or woman among them, capable of running this country honestly, competently, responsibly, intelligently, and without selling us out to the communist Chinese. That is certainly the direction this particular government appears to be headed, and many of us don't like it one bit!
The dilemma we all face is what on Earth are we going to do? Surely, there is someone out there who can LISTEN to the people and lead without tripping all over their inflated ego, or forcefully cramming their personal agenda down our throats.
Lord PLEASE provide us with at least ONE intelligent person who possesses the gift of COMMON SENSE!