Mather blasts Skelton Cline over failed projects
Territorial At-Large Representative Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather Opposition Member Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather reminded lawmakers about failed projects linked to Claude Skelton Cline that were exposed during t...
Territorial At-Large Representative Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather Opposition Member Stacy ‘Buddha’ Mather reminded lawmakers about failed projects linked to Claude Skelton Cline that were exposed during the Commission of Inquiry (COI), stressing the importance of accountability in government spending. “Let’s go there,” Mather said as he turned his attention to the projects tied to Skelton Cline during yesterday’s House of Assembly debate. “When a personality on the radio gets up and says that as a Belonger I shouldn't have the right to vote in a referendum, when you lived in Detroit, what were you doing?” Mather highlighted the Virgin Islands Neighbourhood Partnership Project, arguing that he would have ensured that residents benefited from the project. “I built mine in this country, working with young people.
Had I gotten that money for that Neighbourhood Partnership Project, my people would have gotten what they needed,” he told lawmakers. The COI report, released in April 2022, set out a series of projects involving Skelton Cline that collapsed despite substantial sums being spent. These included the Virgin Islands Neighbourhood Partnership Project, launched in 2008 to assist at-risk youth, which was aborted in 2010 after almost $690,000 was spent.
The Auditor General found serious governance failings in the initiative. Between 2019 and 2021, Skelton Cline also held consultancy contracts that covered the renewable energy programme (Power52 solar project), a proposed medical marijuana industry, a fintech symposium, and the Shores Development at Brandywine Bay.
The COI concluded that these projects showed little or no progress, and that Skelton Cline did not perform the contracts or provide value in line with their terms. The inquiry further found that his role appeared to be more like that of a political adviser to the Premier, but without oversight or measurable deliverables. “Mr Skelton Cline did not perform the contract, nor did he seek to do so.
He gave no (or no adequate) value in those terms,” the report stated. Mather said such cases underscored the need for transparency. He argued that the people of the Virgin Islands must have confidence that public money is spent responsibly and with clear results. “Our people asking us, why the roads like that?
Why is it that pensions are the way they are? Why, why, why?,” Mather said. “You know what we're throwing back at them? And then we say, come follow us on a road to self-determination. Let that road to self-determination begin with education.
Primary source: BVI News