Hon Walwyn ‘very much out of place’- Doug Wheatley
Hon Fraser had claimed that he was on his way to the Rita Francis Festiville in Road Town, having been invited to speak in his capacity of Opposition Leader by Director of Culture Luce Hodge-Smith, when he received a call by Hodge-Smith saying that he should no longer come as Hon Walwyn did not want him on the programme.
The controversial Minister has admitted that he blocked Hon Fraser from speaking on the programme, saying it is not customary for Opposition Leaders to speak at the opening of Festival unless they were the representative of that district in which the event was being held.
Hon Walwyn had also said Hon Fraser’s name appearing on the programme to give remarks was an error made by the Director of Culture.
Speaking on his weekly show, Speak out BVI aired on July 26, 2016 on ZBVI 780 AM, Mr Wheatley recalled when he had responsibility for tourism in the 1970s that he had looked at the invitation list for tourism events and noticed a heavy preponderance of Caucasians on the list and only a few members of the local community.
He said he gave instructions to rebalance the list and some Caucasians were left out at the next event, however; a couple that was not invited turned up. Mr Wheatley said he nevertheless proceeded to personally welcome the couple as he did not want to cause them any embarrassment.
“Right there and then we thought it would not have been the proper thing to embarrass the couple by not welcoming them, by not treating them well, by turning them away. I say that to say that is the kind of humanity I think you have to show in situations like that.”
Opposition Leader must be treated with respect
According to the talk show host, the Leader of the Opposition is the Leader of the Opposition today but tomorrow he could be the Premier and therefore one should not treat the Leader of the Opposition in such a manner.
“Even if a mistake had been made, all you had to do was allow the Leader of the Opposition to come as he was invited and to give his speech and no one would have been the wiser. The public out there listening would not have known that there was something amiss.
‘Terrible mistake’
“But to turn him back and to not allow him to give a speech was very very much out of place, and I think the Honourable Minister made a terrible mistake in not allowing the Honourable Leader of the Opposition to speak as he was intended to.”
Mr Wheatley said he hopes a lesson is learnt from that fiasco and that it is never repeated, noting that persons in leadership positions must have the wisdom and understanding to deal with certain situations so that they are not escalated.
“If one of our staff members makes an error you don’t, in front of the whole public, let them know that person made an error et cetera.
“You deal with it in a particular way that nobody is aware and then afterwards you can have a meeting with those persons and you can explain what went wrong [but] you don’t embarrass your staff and most importantly you don’t embarrass the Leader of the Opposition,” Mr Wheatley said.
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27 Responses to “Hon Walwyn ‘very much out of place’- Doug Wheatley”
Politics is tearing us asunder.
ALL POLITICIANS (VIP & NDP) and those guys on the radio shows are a set of dead horses!
When they not in power they act like angels and have the best ideas in the World! These guys on the radio blast the Government until they get a little contract, then they gone hush!
When you vote and put these guys in, they suddenly have amnesia to the ideas they were suggesting when they were in the opposition! They also forget they were campaigning about the other Government wasting money yet they go in and do the same nonsense!
I refuse to believe that those we so elevate to leadership positions in our country's Government, those who would honour themselves and demand honour from us, refuse to honour each other! The honour is not for the man, but for the position that he holds at our bequest.
Such is the indecency of those not taught BVI values, manners and BVI cultural norms.
Such is the arrogance of those who believe that they what they have and what they do!
Such is the result of squandering our votes on those not fit to carry the fruit of those votes with common grace!
Oh for decent persons in Leadership again! That's what we had when the BVI was the BVI!
Some people say VI People soft, but the elders say that even a timid dog will eventually give you the worst of bite if you keep kicking that dog long enough; with pains from wounds so severe, you will never ever forget the episode for as long as you live.
Walwyn: Man don't take that to heart, its just a political move
Fraser: But I am way older than you, you know that; and I can endure hardship
Walwyn: True that
Fraser: So what you intend to do about that to appease the people
Walwyn: Hon Fraser, I humbly apologize and will see to it that history does not repeat its self
Fraser: Accepted, but I could be your father you know?
Walwyn: What?!!!!
Fraser: I did not say I am your father; I said I could be your father, meaning you could learn from me in this politics thing. You would have had a much better reaction from the public if you had come on stage with me during my speech like how you and Fahie was beating that drum; remember?
Walwyn: Oh yeah, I remember. as I said, I am sorry.
Oh i forgot...try stay off mvw nutsack na man, Geeez