Amidst the narrative by some that the Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) Virgin Islands Party (VIP) Government is seeking to force independence on them and not speaking to the people about it, Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) has said he has always been having the conversation with the people. Photo: GIS/File

Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7), right, during the re-enactment of the Great March of 1949 on Main Street on May 17, 2013. Photo: Dame Peters Photography/Facebook

It was during the talk show VI 360 on Tola Radio VI on September 4, 2024, that Premier Wheatley disclosed that persons told the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation that was in the Virgin Islands recently that he was trying to force the VI into independence or go into independence without talking to the people.

“I want to know if people understand I have been having a conversation about this since I returned to the Virgin Islands,” Dr Wheatley stated, adding that others before him, such as Roy Hodge and Washasha X, were also speaking to the people.

Are we listening?

“This was a conversation that was happening all the time, but the question is, are we listening? Have we been listening?” Premier Wheatley asked.

He continued that others who have been having the conversation about independence include The Rastafari Progressive Inity, the African Studies Club, Ed Ju Enka, Virgin Islands Communal Association (VICA), Gill Trott, and Dr Melvin A. Turnbull.

“But the question is are we listening? Our mission and goal as a people, what it is we owe to our ancestors, what we owe to the next generation, is to reclaim our sovereignty,” Premier Wheatley said.

The leader of government business admitted; however, that more educating of the people regarding independence has to be done.