Statutory boards in the British Virgin Islands are struggling to recruit qualified chairpersons and board members because new conflict-of-interest rules are deterring the territory's best professionals from applying, according to Honestly Speaking talk show host Claude Skelton Cline.
Skelton Cline said government officials have informed him that candidates face demanding application processes, interviews and requirements to declare their interests, which many perceive as conflict-of-interest obstacles. "The best of the people of the Virgin Islands are simply not applying to be on any board," he told listeners.
The concern centres on the loss of expertise. Skelton Cline argued that statutory bodies depend on volunteers willing to lend professional knowledge to strengthen these institutions. "We're not getting the best persons to serve, to lend their expertise in a volunteer basis so as to be the scaffolding that helps us support, reinforce, and strengthen these statutory bodies," he said.
Skelton Cline blamed the situation on reforms introduced following the Commission of Inquiry, saying some requirements imposed under United Kingdom oversight do not fit the BVI's reality. He argued that the territory has adopted systems designed for other contexts rather than tailoring policies to local needs.
"The UK's cures are not our cures. Our story and London's story are two different stories," Skelton Cline stated. He called for serious reforms and, where necessary, the repeal of certain rules governing procurement and other public-sector procedures, saying the territory must address the underlying problems created by post-COI reforms rather than managing only their consequences.
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