Social commentator and talk show host Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline has said the impact of the wars has now begun affecting the Virgin Islands (VI). Photo: PBS

Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline during a special edition of Honestly Speaking on March 11, 2026. Photo: Facebook

Social commentator and talk show host Pastor Claude O. Skelton-Cline has called on the BVI Electriticy Corporation and the private sector to come up with a plan for the Virgin Islands to cushion the impact of increasing global tensions. Photo: BVIEC

Skelton-Cline has been sounding the alarm on his show for several months, even posing the question of the VI’s readiness to face the impending impacts directly to Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) on the March 3, 2026, airing of Honestly Speaking. 

During a special airing of his show on Thursday, March 12, 2026, titled ‘Mindset Matters, Finding Solutions’, Skelton-Cline said, “You and I may think that we’re on television, watching bombs being dropped in Iran, bombs being dropped in Iraq, bombs being dropped in Ukraine, bombs being dropped in Sudan. these stuff is being televised, but it’s not just what’s happening to them, it’s about what’s about to happen to us”

He again asked about the plan for the Virgin Islands.

“We don’t have one right now. What do we need to do? We need to engage with the persons, the entities who supply us with gas, diesel, petrol, about barges, about reserves, about engaging, appropriating a certain amount of funding for a quantum of diesel, a quantum of gasoline at least, so that we can survive three months.”

BVIEC & private sector should plan

He added that some team in that industry or through the BVI Electricity Corporation (BVIEC) needs to be mobilised immediately. 

“As a matter of fact, I call upon the General Manager of BVIEC, himself, to form a team, present a plan within the next two weeks of what needs to be done, how it can be done and an approximate cost for it being done and then they go into the House…reappropriate whatever funding for the purpose of [this plan]”

Skelton-Cline said, according to the Protocols for Effective Financial Management, there needs to be a reserve of 20% liquidity of the national budget at any time. 

“So there’s funding there. So we need now a plan in this country, when the supply chains snap, when the ships are not able to move…we have to come up with solutions.”

Skelton-Cline also said the Virgin Islands cannot wait on the government and called on the private sector to step up. 

“Since they’re not doing it, we need to pull together and present a plan that can be executed.”

He said with the troubles encountered after the hurricanes, “This is not new to us,” adding, “Why have we allowed ourselves to be lulled into this false comfort?”