Skelton-Cline apologises to R. Dancia Penn for ‘empty kerosene can’ remarks
One such example was the infamous public bashing of the then Eighth District Representative Mrs R. Dancia Penn QC by the National Democratic Party (NDP) candidate Mr Claude O. Skelton-Cline at an NDP meeting on October 13, 2011 in Baughers Bay.
Penn would later lose her Eighth District seat to newcomer Marlon A. Penn and Skelton-Cline, who was campaigning for a Second District seat, was defeated by J. Alvin Christopher.
However, six years after the man of the cloth has sought the forgiveness of his former political rival, making the announcement five minutes before the end of a live interview on the show ‘Spotlight’ on JTV Channel 55 with host Cromwell Smith aka Edju En Ka on April 18, 2017.
Background
It was in 2007 Penn was elected with bells and whistles on, but four years later she was labeled as perhaps the greatest disappointment in the history of the Virgin Islands by the then Second District candidate under the National Democratic Party’s umbrella, Claude O. Skelton-Cline.
“She is good for hiding behind words like an empty kerosene can, ain’t nothing happening, her policies and her practice are not good for the BVI. The hospital is not finished, the folks will not get paid, and Adina Donovan is still the same. Nothing is being done,” Skelton-Cline infamously said six years ago.
“Go sit down somewhere and let Marlon Penn be your next district representative...She came in 2007, with great fanfare and four years later we have discovered that the member of the Eighth District is probably the greatest disappointment in the history of the BVI,” were the uttered words of Mr Skelton-Cline.
Skelton-Cline, who was a pastor and novice politician at the time, candidly remarked that a real leader takes control, adding “You want to be the first this, and the first that and end up being nothing,” adding that the district representative, who was also the Minister for Health and Social Development, sat at “the table of decision” while her Government spent recklessly and sold the country out to BiWater, and now she had the nerve to tell her constituents about contingent liability.
“The devil is a liar. It is time to vote you out of office. You sat at the table of the decision and presented no Auditor General’s report in four years, but you want to hop around the globe first class in the name of the BVI and you can’t even represent the 1,314 people in the East End district. Go sit down somewhere,” Mr Skelton-Cline boldly stated.
The Apology
And it was as if Mr Skelton-Cline desperately wanted to get it off his chest- to let the public know- that he had sought forgiveness and apologized to Mrs Penn.
“I was on the political campaign trail and I made statements on that trail and a few weeks ago one of the statements was against a very fine citizen, Honorable Dancia Penn-Sallah. And again the key to communication it’s not what you said but what was heard, and I said some things that were received and appeared to be disparaging,” he continued on the show Spotlight on April 18, 2017.
Eating back some of his words uttered six years ago, Mr Skelton-Cline acknowledged that Mrs Penn had made significant contributions to the territory.
“…and I went to her, and I should have gone to her on the heels of it happening, but I thought it important to go to her as a woman who had made meaningful and substantial contributions to this territory a few weeks ago and asked for her forgiveness, to beg her pardon, to tell her I was sorry.”
Regrets
According to Skelton-Cline, “In the heat of the battle you say things that probably should not have been said or should have been said differently, and it was for that cause I went to her. And because I said it publicly on a stage, while I am on this public forum, I want to also say it again publicly, those remarks that I made as it relates to Honourable Dancia Penn, I was wrong. I have asked her for her forgiveness, she has extended it to me and for that I am eternally grateful. I am learning from that and I am prepared to move on.”
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45 Responses to “Skelton-Cline apologises to R. Dancia Penn for ‘empty kerosene can’ remarks”
They all hold hands and sing cum bah yah! NDP have to go and some to jail.
But where is Fraser in the mix?
40 million can't go unanswered for.
be taken seriously again. I appreciate him standing up and holding NDP feet to the fire, but is he the right guy to lead objectively?? I think not. we need new faces. Also, sorry to say, while I'm sure Cline feels remorse, it is also timely now that the election is around the corner and the players are re-grouping.
Ain buying this one at all!!
We need constitutional reforms with strict separation of powers, accountability and local autonomy.
but what comes up to Skelton Cline there is a saying
goes like this and I quote fishes die by their mouth end quote think before you speak that's all I have to say iam a virgin islander living in the united states.
Continue on in love for this is the greatest commandment.