VIP was not ready for 2015 snap elections- Carvin Malone
Mr Malone made the disclosure while responding to a question posed by Natalio D. Wheatley aka Sowande Uhuru during a ninety-minute ‘Things to Talk’ radio programme on ZBVI 780 AM on Wednesday October 26, 2016, regarding whether the VIP has all it takes in terms of structure for governing the territory.
“That is correct. That structure was tested at the snap election and the fact is we were not in the state of readiness that we should have been and there were a number of reasons that one can dictate as to why that was, the fact is the structure is there and if it was followed sometimes you might have the best structure on paper, having it followed and having it fall through becomes very important,” Malone said.
The VIP won only two seats, Districts One and Three while the National Democratic Party (NDP) won 11.
Fear of speaking out
Meantime, Malone singled out the fear of the electorate speaking out on the wrongs taking place by elected officials as one of the challenges that the party has faced over the years.
He noted that the people must understand that those they elect to serve them must be held responsible for their actions. Furthermore, Malone said, the district committee’s power is underestimated.
“The challenge is to ensure that people understand the power that the district committees have, because if you fail to make elective representatives responsible for their actions, every action has reactions and every action has consequences,” he said.
“Because you have a number of people in each of those districts and towns who come out and vote but the fact is, that is if you elect people and you do not hold them accountable then you just go and talk under a banana tree and a coconut tree about how bad they doing we all have to share blame…”
He continued, “So the challenge is to ensure that people free their minds from the scare that has been progressing through the territory in terms of speaking up constructively, of course as to some of the concerns that you might have that would affect the territory and the citizens and affect those around you,” he remarked.
A real fear
Programme host Mr Wheatley was also in agreement with the comments.
“Well that is certainly one thing I will have to agree with you on, there is a real fear in the territory in terms of expressing yourself and holding people accountable and putting themselves forward as someone who is willing to publicly hold the stand and hold persons accountable,” Wheatley said.
It was on Sunday October 23, 2016, that Malone, through a press release and further confirming to this news site, announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the post of President of the VIP at the internal elections on November 30, 2016.
According to him, his tenure as President for the VIP has spanned over 17 years and during the period has twice initiated the review of the VIP Constitution and has conducted 4 General Elections and 1 By-election.
Mr Malone made it clear that he is not leaving the membership of the Virgin Islands Party.
The Virgin Islands Party is scheduled to hold internal elections of members to each of the 9 elected posts on the executive committee. The populace also waits in anticipation for round two of the battle for the chairmanship of the VIP between incumbent Hon Julian Fraser RA (R3) and Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1).
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25 Responses to “VIP was not ready for 2015 snap elections- Carvin Malone”
You were a big culprit in the party not being ready? It cannot be that you trying to blame fraser? Who calls the meetings? Answer that so that discussions might begin. Speaks from 2 corners of your mouth.
The VI is a crossroad with many financial challenges. Normally, when the government of the day is not doing so well, the electorate turns to the opposition or alternative government. But has the opposition made a strong case that it is ready for action? What has it done since election other than lick its wound or fight about crumbs? Faith without action is nothing. So too leadership without any concrete action does not mean diddly. Someone from the VIP needs to step forward and lead from the front. Where is PEP? Must have have missed the death announcement. Was the NDP 11-2 majority good for it and the country? Was the mandate misread and squandered? Did it get too cocky? Nonetheless, a Joseph, Moses, Mandela, Noel, HL...etc needs to step forward to lead the nation out of the abyss. That leader may be in ruling NDP, VIP, PEP ........etc and needs to step out and forward to take the wheel.
They were just unable to put together a competitive slate of candidates.
Why was this, a number of reasons
1. In my opinion, RTO waited to late to give up the chairmanship of the VIP. He should share some of the blame.
2. The fight for the Chairmanship after RTO retired. 2 capable candidates but both with their own leadership issues Fraser (likability) and Fahie (trustworthiness). Fraser won. And the issue is still not settled as Fahie will challenge Fraser again.
3. The inability of Fraser to pull a competitive team around him. Part due to Fraser's likability issues and other due to the NDP enticing some of the VIP major supporters over to their camp.
4. A savvy and in this case, a merciless competing party. The NDP not only called the elections early, enticed some major VIP supporters to their camp but attacked VIP and Fraser flaws consistently throughout the campaign. It was relentless.
5. NDP also struck by identifying two seats that were vulnerable, 2nd district - tired representative who was subject to defeat by a young gun even if he had ran in his own district; 9th district - retiring representative who would no longer be around to defeat their "eternal" candidate. They poured resources into Virgin Gorda.
They also ensured that their own vulnerable seats were shored up (5th district, Archie at large). It was a clinical operation by the NDP team.
Hopefully the VIP can settle its leadership challenges early and this start the process of rebuilding itself into a competitive force for the next election.
Maybe you should step up and be president and recommend the changes that you would like to see.
he will wok with no one unless he is leader
you mean Fraser.