Cline: Wheatley Address Offers Nothing New
Bishop John I. Cline has criticised Premier Dr. Natalio D. Wheatley’s State of the Territory Address, calling it campaign-style rhetoric with little substance. In a Facebook post, Cline said the speech recycled the National Sustainable Development Plan 2037 and failed to show tangible results after billions spent and multiple crises.
Cline says the State of the Territory Address delivered by Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley on June 9 offered “nothing new” and amounted to campaign-style rhetoric rather than a serious account of progress. In a response posted to his Facebook page on Monday, June 15, Cline said he listened with “unbiased ears as much as possible” and repeatedly looked for bright spots in the address titled “Keep Moving Forward.” Instead, he said, he heard “a performance report that was a lack of substance,” adding: “What I heard was promises without proof.
What I heard was rhetoric but no results to back it up.” The Premier delivered the address at Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park. According to Cline, the speech felt disconnected from “the lives lived and the lived reality of the people of the Virgin Islands,” and the repeated exhortation to “keep moving forward” suggested the Territory is “either stuck, lost, or both.” Cline noted that politicians in the past had valid reasons for slow progress, citing Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the 2017 floods, COVID-19 and the Commission of Inquiry.
But he stressed that four years have passed since those events and questioned the outcome: “We’ve almost spent about three billion dollars, and we are still stuck; we are not moving forward.” A central criticism was that the Premier drew heavily on the National Sustainable Development Plan 2037 — developed with United Nations support — which Cline called an “old plan.” He accused the administration of recycling the same development language and rebranding old promises rather than presenting new initiatives or evidence of measurable progress. “So the question is, at what point do we move forward?
At what point do we move from political rhetoric to tangible results?” Cline asked, urging clearer demonstration of results and accountability from government projects and spending. The comments reflect a demand among some residents for more concrete outcomes from recovery and development programmes after extensive public expenditure and years of rebuilding.
Cline’s response adds to public debate about governance, transparency and how best to translate planning documents into visible improvements in everyday life across the British Virgin Islands. The Premier’s office has not issued a direct public reply to Cline’s Facebook post as of publication; the State of the Territory Address remains the government’s latest public statement on progress and priorities for the Territory.
Primary source: VINO