Skelton & Walwyn's call for HoA protest on ‘Vote of No Confidence’ flops
Both Leader of the Opposition Hon Ronnie W. Skelton (AL) and Honourable Myron V. Walwyn (R6) took the lead in calling for the protest so the public could show support for the Vote of No Conference against the Virgin Islands Party Government led by Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7).
Public protest called to support vote of no confidence
Hon Walwyn, for example, made the call while speaking on ZBVI Radio Station 780 AM with Zan Lewis last week and both he and Hon Skelton, while speaking at the three-hour-long Opposition press conference held on October 15, 2024, on the Vote of No Conference, invited the public to attend the HoA meeting on Friday, October 18, 2024.
The Vote of No Confidence was wrongly placed on the Order Paper last month, according to the ruling of Speaker of the HoA Hon Corine N. George-Massicote, but it has since been done correctly and is on the agenda of the Order Paper.
The objective of the protest, according to Hon Walwyn, was to “show contempt for Dr Wheatley’s attempts to pack the Order Paper so that the Vote of No Confidence could be delayed”. Hon Walwyn told ZBVI, "I want everyone to come down to the HoA to protest peacefully" and repeated the protest call about two times at the Opposition Press Conference on October 15, 2024, hosted by former legislator Eileene L. Parsons, OBE in the studio of ZBVI Radio Station.
The Leader of the Opposition also told the local newspaper, The BVI Beacon, that "everyone must come down to the HoA in mass to show public support for the Vote of No Confidence" on Friday, October 18, 2024. “We want the whole country to come down to the HoA on Friday...all those people who are concerned about the economy and everything else that is going on,” Hon Skelton stated.
Big flop; No one showed up to protest
Despite the calls from the two Opposition Members, no one showed up to protest at the HoA. In other words, their call flopped or fell on deaf ears and the Opposition was said to be “very surprised and embarrassed that no one showed up despite the calls.” Virgin Islands News Online visited the HoA on Friday and saw no one there. Our reporter did observe four residents sitting in the gallery (one of the four was a young child) and by afternoon it had dwindled to one person.
Tri-party Opposition embarrassed with no-show of protestors
A local political scientist, speaking to our news centre on condition of anonymity, noted that “This was a serious message to the Opposition, [that] while the current Government is very unpopular the opposition is not the alternative....they could not even get out at least 10 persons to protest, it says a lot about the influence of the Opposition, especially its Leader and Mr Walwyn”. She noted that while the Vote of No Confidence has some important and topical issues, some residents were turned off by the press conference and that it was clear they were not all on the same page, with Hon Fraser throwing cold water on the night every time he spoke...”
The Political Scientist; however, noted that the Opposition is within its rights to call for a Vote of No Confidence, as it’s a tool used in the Westminster system forms of democratic governance.
While the Vote of No Confidence is on the Order Paper, it remains unclear when it will be debated. The HoA will continue its Twentieth Sitting of the First Session of the Fifth HoA on Friday, October 25, 2024.
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