VI needs 'someone like Dame Janice Pereira’ to lead- Claude O. Skelton-Cline
The former Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC) was appointed as a member of His Majesty King Charles III’s Privy Council in August 2024.
According to Skelton-Cline, he made this comment years ago and during his show on ZBVI 780 AM on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, said, “We need someone like the former Chief Justice Dame Janice Pereira…I believe that we need someone like her or her to give leadership to this country.”
The VI, he said, someone like Dame Pereira is needed because of the current relationship the VI has with the United Kingdom.
“We need someone with the presence [and] the prowess to represent this country.”
VI needs someone with that kind of gravitas
Skelton-Cline added that he recognises that current leadership will take offence to his statement, but he said he is telling them what this country needs.
He said what amazes him is what elected officials do when they are given suggestions.
“You you should be the one who is able to say Skelton-Cline we don’t currently have her as that, but what we can do is encircle ourselves with persons descriptive, character, virtues, capacity, ability of which you speak, whom we will lean on, listen to, learn from, and then inform our decisions, our policies and a path forward.”
Playing on the topic of Tuesday’s show, ‘What to do about yesterday’, Skelton-Cline asked, “What are you going to do about yesterday? Ya’ll don’t listen to anybody.”
He added that while he is an ally of all thirteen elected members of the House of Assembly, he stands firm in his belief that the VI needs “someone with that kind of gravitas” to lead.
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21 Responses to “VI needs 'someone like Dame Janice Pereira’ to lead- Claude O. Skelton-Cline”
What we need are people in the Civil Service who are there to WORK and not to collect money until retirement. You can change the parties and politicians all you want but the people that are charged with carrying out the necessary tasks are the real problem which is why the BVI is currently 25yrs behind EVERYTHING! Look at all the departments, layers and layers of bulls***, paperwork, back and forth, all in the name of beating their chest. Then look at BVIFSC, everything online, globally, seamlessly, professional service, quick turn-around. Politicians are not the problem, government's system and the people on the ground that make it up are the issue. Leadership matters and the PS's are never held accountable for anything despite their remit.
Often, it is assumed that if one is a strong leader, he/she also is a strong manager. Applying the halo effect can be chaotic.
Generally, leadership is about behavior, motivation, vision and mission, personality, interpersonal relationships, representation,etc. On the other hand, a manager is about efficiency, effectiveness, resources wizardry, tactical and strategic planning., etc. etc.
Moreover, a leader cannot achieve success alone; it requires a team,team work, supporting, trusting, uniting , and following the team. The bottom line is a majority of the electorate indirectly, coupled with the support of six(6) other elected members determines who is appointed Premier, ie, leader.