'Return $7.2M before hospital is renamed'-Rajah A. Smith
In fact, Mr Smith believes that renaming the Peebles Hospital in honour of outgoing Premier and Minister of Finance, Dr the Honourable D. Orlando Smith (AL), would in fact be a travesty—at least until he is able to recover the $7.2M, that was lost to BVI Airways.
Political Gesture
The Independent Candidate was at the time a guest of Mr Claude O. Skelton-Cline’s Honestly Speaking, aired live on Wednesday January 16, 2019, when he voiced his objection to the renaming of the hospital, in patronage of Premier Smith.
The At Large Candidate told Skelton-Cline—and radio listeners—while he is supportive of Dr Smith’s contribution to the Territory, the outgoing Premier was in fact being rewarded for major financial blunders, including the $7.2M still to be recovered from BVI Airways
“We need to get that back and then we could see what happens, we need to get back that money,” Mr Smith insisted.
He said, too while Dr Smith is among the finest Premier’s the Virgin Islands (VI) has had, the hospital had already been named in recognition of a prominent Virgin Islander.
Belongs to the People
According to Mr Smith, perhaps a ward in the Hospital could have been renamed after the outgoing Premier but in any cases these are matters for public discussion first.
“I think we don’t have enough public discussion…the general public should have a say,” Smith said and reminded that the various facilities, such as the Peebles Hospital, do not actually belong to the NDP but rather the people of the VI, collectively.
“We need to have public discussion and debate going forward,” he said.
Host, Mr Skelton-Cline, while not opposing the renaming of the hospital in the manner proposed, objected to its timing, calling it a political gesture.
Blunders
According to Skelton-Cline, several decisions would have been made by the NDP administration that would have had financial implications for the Treasury and the $7.2M was one such blunder but at the same time, “I think he (Dr Smith) has certainly made his contribution both privately and publicly….and I am always in favour of naming our stuff after our people.”
Should the motion be approved, Mr Skelton-Cline said, he would laud the move and that his only concern was, “about the optics and the timing of it…they (NDP) are making it very political given the current climate.”
According to the Honestly Speaking Host, he would have preferred to see some time elapse before making any such move and he would have been a proponent.
He said the politicizing of the issue has created a cloud, “where they should not have been a cloud.”
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10 Responses to “'Return $7.2M before hospital is renamed'-Rajah A. Smith”
Also, what I understand he is saying is before we rename the hospital in honor of Dr. O. Smith we should at least have a closure for BVI Airways.
I could be wrong..