‘People of the BVI stand up, speak up & show up’- Bishop John I. Cline
The Bishop in a June 2, 2022, social media video, illustrated that it is clear the Governor, H.E. John J. Rankin, CMG is listening to some sections of the VI and no doubt passing information to the UK.
Smell the Coffee - Bishop Cline
He referenced statements by the Government saying the ‘small number' of people who turned out to the two demonstrations against direct rule is not a representation of the wider community and called on the VI to stop the pettiness and fight for their right to have a country.
“UK don't deal with petty stupidness, they have a strategy, and they wait you out year after year… and use an opportunity to get what they want.”
“So I'm saying to the people of the Virgin Islands, wake up, smell the coffee. Or else yall ain’t going to have no country, because if you think the UK will act in your interest, your best interests in mind, show me a jurisdiction where they have done that, where people of colour were involved. Show me one,” he added.
The Bishop reminded that the UK is the same people ‘that enslave you’ and hence, Virgin Islanders should not believe they will be set free.
“You think your oppressors will set you free? Show me one. And you think they have changed?” he questioned.
Governor had oversight of Public Sector - Bishop Cline
“To somehow think that direct rule is ok because a CoI was partially done over government that he himself has the power over, he has the power over civil servants...if there were deficiencies in the system, it should have been addressed under many governor administrations,” he added.
Bishop Cline said deficiencies should have been addressed under previous governments over many generations.
“But now, because they found deficiencies that could lend itself to misgovernance, you use that to want to take over our country that we've been building for the last 70 years and you think that's OK? Cause we look stupid?”
Slap in the face
He said the CoI conclusion that the VI has no good political leader that can take the country forward is also a slap in the face, “What a slap in the face. To the many politicians, good men, and women who have gone before and got us to where we are.”
“People of the BVI, wake up, stand up, speak up. Show up when we ask you to show up. Or else you ain't going to have no country,” he added.
He said the direct rule proposal is also a slap in the face of voters who went out and placed their confidence to elect local leaders and added that the UK is now positioning itself as a White Knight that comes in to save the BVI, a country they left and thought would be nothing.
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45 Responses to “‘People of the BVI stand up, speak up & show up’- Bishop John I. Cline ”
False Gods
How did we get here? How did it come to be that many Christians seem more confident and outspoken about their political ideology than the Christian gospel? Why do many Christians seem more at home in the “family” of their political tribe than in the family of God?
In Political Visions and Illusions, David Koyzis says Christians mistakenly see their political camp as merely an opinion or ideology about how policies should be shaped. On the contrary, though, each political ideology is “based on a specific soteriology—that is, on a worked-out theory promising deliverance to human beings from some sort of fundamental evil.”
In other words, politics can often become an idolatrous substitute religion with fundamentalist zeal, as David French points out is occurring on both sides of the American political spectrum.
While the political religions of the left and right may contribute some astute observations regarding our cultural moment, the overconfident hubris of both tends to ignore the reality of sin’s corrupting infection of every individual, culture, and political system—no matter how right we feel. Political solutions won’t ultimately be our salvation. If we start thinking they will, we’ve put our trust in a false god.
Has he fled already?
Time for the self appointed "Bishop" to join him.
I had enough of of you and this government, just take change. Cause anything this government do will benefit you, because they ain't doing sh** for me all these years.
Pastor r#m go and take ???? seat
Only overseas territory that did not have a parade, but that is okay. However, all the whites in VISA who is a volunteer group got medals. But the hard working civilian staffs in the Police, Immigration, Customs and Prisons couldn't get a medal because they are civilians working under the departments which says Her Majesty........Food For thought
No, they're getting PAID fat salaries to sit in air conditioned offices all day pushing papers.
Go away. You couldn't have come up with a stupider, more racist comment if you tried.
Listen to the man he knows what he is saying. People open your eyes don't wait for your family members loose their government jobs and can't pay the bank for that beautiful house they have work so hard to build,and because the COI report recommended that the public service be down sized your family members got sent home and can't pay the bank ,that their house is put up for sale by the bank . Can you picture in your little mind that person only had one more year to complete the payment ,but because the COI recommended down sizing the public service your family member suffer the lost of their home. Just picture people loosing all they have worked so hard for. How on earth can this be one of the recommendation to take bread out of one's mouth. People are going to be homeless and jobless ,then the robberies will start Al lol over again. People will become desperate and crime will be on the rise like before. This one man army who made all this recommendations don't care if we kill each other . I serve a mighty God and he don't like ugly. Just so the governor knows he is not God and the God that I serve will not let him go free , so let them w....folks play like them is God who come to save us from the big bad b..... man. There is a pastor in the USA that says it like this "When you w.....you right When you black stay b...." that how they feel ,but we won't stay back cause we black we will fight for our country and our children and their feature. When God lift up his hands against England the whole world will know how bad they have been . God bless these beautiful Virgin islands and it's people .
To fake bishop John Cline, sit down, shut up, and stop exposing yourself shamefully to our people, and the world of how ignorantly you are not interesting, but rather a hater of good or at least better governance for the people of the British Virgin Islands.
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The UK don't want the BVI or anything but see the ship is going off coarse here...they just want to make things fair for the people and not a select few that have grabbed all the power and money.
Undoubtedly, suspending the HOA and ministers is suspending the constitution. The right to vote is the most democratic right. The late former US President Lyndon B. Johnson and the late iconic civil right’s leader, social activist and Congressman John Lewis eloquently wrote:
“The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change
agent you have in a democratic society. You must
use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.”
-JOHN LEWIS
“This right to vote is the basic right without which
all others are meaningless
-PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON
It is apparent that suspending the constitution and imposing direct rule was a fait accompli. It is also apparent that the VI has a Hobson’s choice. The process seems grossly undemocratic, for the VI people seemed to have no means of redressing any unilateral action. However, the unilateral action is consistent with the colonialism institution. The VI constitution too is not an exemplary democratic document; it is riddled with many undemocratic practices.
Moreover, Governor Rankin’s push back against CARICOM, OECS, other agencies, along with regional leaders, is not earth shattering surprising news. The Governor is a diplomat appointed by the UK to represent the UK’s interest and is duty bound to support the UK’s position. Numbers do tell a story. But in analyzing and in other to get a relative accurate read, typically, outliers are taken out of the sample. The VI population is an interesting mix that cannot be conveniently and deliberatively overlooked. A 100 nationals reside in the VI. In WAG, the make of the population is 70:30 or 65:35, respectively, immigrant workers:local. As said, it is WAG.
Will suspending the constitution and imposing direct rule in the 21st Century be part of the legacy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Ii, as she relishes and celebrates her Platinum Jubilee (70 years on the throne)? The VI like the UK has governing challenges. It has had governing failures. And the VI and the VI people must own the failures, lean forward, fail forward, and learn and develop from the failures. The VI and its people must unite, cooperate and collaborate and together solve the problem(s). Unless there are some hidden agendas, the constitution does not need to be suspended and direct rule imposed to solve the problems.
There is tenuous democracy with the existing system, and it is used to benefit the few not the many.
Without removing all those in place who are explicitly or implicitly complicit in the fraud that has been maintained to rob the people of the BVI for YEARS, and starting afresh - how will things change?
When a company is struggling to perform, external administrators come in to administrate - to ensure the minimum services and operations continue whilst everything else is reordered. We the BVI are a small company when comparing our income and spending - and a very unprofitable and inefficient one as that.
Do we not deserve better?
In my humble opinion, the public sector may adopt/adapt some best management practice from the private sector. Nonetheless, government cannot be run like a company. Companies can target specific customers they want to serve; whereas, government has to cater to the whole community; it cannot segment a community into segments it wants service.
Nevertheless, government must operate effectively and efficiently and the electorate has the role and responsibility to ensure that it does. Failure to do so can result in government derailing. The VI has some governing challenges which the VI people contributed to causing and the VI people must all circle the wagon and get aboard to fixing the VI themselves. They cannot depend on others to do so for them. It is about national pride and self-empowerment.
“ The VI like the UK has governing challenges. It has had governing failures. And the VI and the VI people must own the failures, lean forward, fail forward, and learn and develop from the failures. The VI and its people must unite, cooperate and cooperate and together solve the problem(s).
get real