Pastor Claude Skelton Cline

Claude Skelton Cline said based on the current political atmosphere, it is an opportune time to begin a conversation with the good people of the Territory regarding the challenges in the British Virgin Islands, which he said can be summed up in one word, “Infrastructure”.  

Every major sector, Public Health, Public Education, Public Safety, Electricity, Water, Sewerage, Roads, and Beach/Coastal Erosion are in disrepair and in need of a Master Plan, Cline articulated.

“These are the basics that anyone about to run for political office or seeking to return to office, should be concerned about.  There should be a focus on fixing the fundamentals,” the pastor and community advocate told VINO in an exclusive interview.

“Given those challenges, how do you craft or develop a master plan that begins to address these issues,” he questioned, pointing out that such critical issues cannot be solved in one year or even one political cycle but rather with a clear and concrete Master Plan, over a specific time period with bench marks built in, so both the people and the leadership can measure progress. 

“It is in the best interests of the Territory to designate the next 7-10 years solving these problems so that the good citizens and visitors to our shores can live the next 50 years with confidence that we are not some third world country falling apart at the seams.”   

 “Now, community and political will, time, energy and sacrifice by everyone are required, to work our way out of this. And what should the people look for?  Read and understand the budget.  The budget is the legal and moral document that tells you the priorities of the Territory. If what they are communicating to you is not reflected in the budget that they are presenting, then don’t believe the talk.  Why, because if there is no money to pay for it it can’t be done and it won’t be done,” Skelton Cline explained.

Very little done in 16 years

“This is not the time for false hope, empty promises and temporary fixes for permanent situations.  The truth of the matter is that when it comes to upgrading and maintaining the basics of our infrastructure, we need a reality check and admit that in far too many ways, whomever the governments or parties have been, we have failed our people over these many years.  It has not been a lack of finances, it has been a lack of priority,” Skelton Cline stated,   “So let there be no mistake, we will have to behave our way out of what we have behaved ourselves into; a culture of complicit complacency.” 

“I’m looking at and we are serving citizens out of the same hospital that I was birth in (same chronic space).  The Cane Garden Bay now Ivan Dawson primary school that I attended looks the same, the roads erode every rainfall, the asphalt comes up every year, our beaches are getting worst (more dirt in the sand, than sand), ponds are dead, ghuts and culburts are blocked … all of this is having a cumulative negative impact and effect and therefore, ongoing deterioration of the quality of our Territory,” stated the community advocate

A section of the Rose Hill road project in Cane Garden Bay before it was completed. Photo: VINO

An infrastructural master plan framework

Skelton Cline who is from the Cane Garden Bay community, said a master plan needs to be developed by territorial consultation, designed to fix the fundamental infrastructural issues.

He believes at minimum a timeline of seven to ten years is required to properly fix the fundamentals.  To some this may seem long, he pointed out but noted that it’s the greatest sacrifice that can be made to ensure the people of the Territory can enjoy and live comfortably.

Coupled with fixing the infrastructures of the Territory, the community advocate said the immigration policy will also have to be looked at seriously and redressed, based on the continuous increase in the population footprint, the “stretching” of the Territory’s resources and depleting infrastructure to accommodate such increases.

“These things must be priority for leadership and there must be coordinated from top.  The whole issue of immigration and population growth cannot be divorced from the infrastructural challenge as it is directly tied to the ongoing problem and deterioration of the infrastructure. There are more lights to turn on, more toilets to flush, garbage to dispose off, students to enroll in school and visits to the hospital, all of these things creates a burden on an already existing but insufficient system,” Skelton Cline explained to VINO, noting that the population growth has to be managed.

“Any thoughtful leader has to think… how are we going to re-engineer the BVI?  How are we are going to protect and preserve the nationals to fully participate in the “territorial pie” while at the same time loving our neighbors as we love ourselves,” Skelton Cline asked rhetorically pointing out that the Virgin Islands will have to begin to manage its population growth just like any other developing country in the world.

“If not managed properly, it would destroy us because the infrastructure is not in place to support the influx of people,” he charged.

A view of the Brewers Bay Beach. Photo: Provided

Consorted and coordinated effort required

Skelton Cline made it clear that one person alone cannot fix the problems that exists, but rather the Territory would have to pull together its resources, consult and work together with those who have the expertise in those areas.

“There needs to be a concerted and coordinated effort amongst leadership, professionals (with the expertise in all the specific areas) and the citizens in the creation of a plan to remedy all of these issues,” the community advocate proposes.

Following the formulation of the master plan, he said it is equally important that it be clearly communicated to the general population as to what is going to happen and how it will be done and for them to ready their minds for the sacrifices and inconveniences that it may cost.

An aerial view of the Cane Garden Bay community. Photo: Provided

District 2 Community Actions

Cline noted that the construct that is applied in the Cane Garden Bay community where the community gets involved, get their voices heard and the stakeholders take a vested interest in addressing the needs, is what he hopes can be duplicated in every other area.

He noted that the Second District, between Cane Garden Bay and Brewers Bay is the number one cruise ship and even over night tourist destination but the same area is also plagued with serious beach erosion, coral reef damage, dumping of waste in the sea, damaged roads and seawalls, among other things.

Following a public community meeting in September, the residents of Cane Garden Bay have begun working along with the Minister of Labor and Natural Resources, Omar Hodge and the Conservation and Fisheries Department to address some of the areas of concern.

The Minister did a tour of the area and according to Skelton Cline, the Natural Resources Minister has committed to assisting and remedying some of the issues and it is the expectation that there will be persons on the ground doing assessments, evaluation and recommendations before Christmas.

Country first, then party

As part of the solution to the issues in the Territory, Skelton Cline believes persons need to start thinking of what is best for the country and its people.

“I think that our country is too small, all of us are family or close friends every where in this Territory and historically our current party structure has driven a wedge that is unsustainable for our population. We are too small a population to be so divisive and if we continue on that path, nobody wins,” he said.

He said there needs to be a way to “fly the BVI flag above the party flag”, and to begin to enable people to think country first which he said cannot just become a “convenient cliché that we pick up during election but that it has to be a change in our mindset and our culture that the priority of our country is in fact above personal gains and self aggrandizement”.

“So in the next election cycle, it will be up to the people to chose candidates that we believe have the best interest of the country above anything else,” Skelton Cline stated, “So whoever those like minds are that we believe would have the greater opportunity to advance the Territory that should be our choice.”

A view of Jost van Dyke. Photo: Provided

Skelton Cline said he has confidence in the intelligence of the voting population of the VI and he believes that “we the people are no longer thinking about ourselves but about the future of our children and grand children.  So I am confident that we will make the right choices.”

He also believes that the voting population understands that they cannot be making a choice solely based on party lines, nevertheless holding the Government that they elect accountable.

The community advocate said now will be a good time for all stakeholders or persons who have an interest in taking up leadership in the Territory to reach out to the people and understand the issues and be ready to work together to help make the Virgin Islands a better place for all.

Asked what his role will be in helping to find solutions and fixing the problems that exist, the pastor and community advocate said his role is two-fold, firstly in the capacity of a concern citizen of the Territory and secondly, in a servant/leadership capacity if the people so chose.

“In a democracy the most important office is the office of the citizen,” said Winston Churchill and because we live in a democracy the citizen and not the politician is where the power lies,” he explained.

He equally explained that: “if the people are willing to provide me an opportunity to serve them and charge me with the fiduciary responsibility of governance, I do believe I have the skills set.  All my life I have spent serving people, mostly in pastoral care or as a community developer, my love and heart for people is naturally who I am and what I am about.”

He said he believes he has the ability to articulate clearly the “hearts, hopes, the hurts and dreams of people in a way that can enact policies and legislations that lifts the quality of people’s lives”.

Skelton Cline said he is not about party loyalty but people loyalty and if he would chose to run he would be asking people to change their representatives even if they do not change their party. However, he made it clear that people would also have to understand that one individual alone cannot make the difference and would need to be part of a team.

 The community leader said he will still function as a community advocate regardless of what position is offered to him because he is a citizen of the Virgin Islands, a father and a husband and someone who is concerned about the future of his family and the Territory.

“At the end of the day, our Territory cannot truly be open for business until we fix the fundamentals.  We cannot prepare our children to compete in the region and on the global stage in the 21^st century with 19^th century infrastructures and thinking.   And one final note, we must set and regain our moral compass in these our British Virgin Islands, for this too is an infrastructure issue that has eternal implications.  I remain hopeful that we can, for we must and we will, prevail,” Skelton Cline said.