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by pltm
(PLTM) - The Government has failed to listen to the people and adequately address their concerns, and as such, Mr. Neville ‘Sheep’ Smith says that he wants to represent the people and be the catalyst for the change that is needed in the way the Territory’s business and concerns are handled.
Mr. Smith is running in the upcoming General Election as an At Large candidate with the Virgin Islands Party (VIP).
In an interview with BVI Platinum News, when asked why he decided to join the race, he said it was in recognition of “the struggle in the Virgin Islands.”
“As a family man, a father, even as a businessman, I’ve long been feeling the struggle,” he stated, adding the Government has not been listening to the cries of the people.
He further said, “I feel as if they’re not listening to the people, it’s all about business…It’s not about people. If you put business before the people, it won’t help the people...both have to go hand in hand.”
Among the issues being somewhat ignored, he said, is the rising insurance premiums.
Following the hurricanes of 2017, property owners experienced difficulties with accessing their payouts, while premiums skyrocketed—sometimes to triple the original amount. An insurance tribunal was later set up to handle such issues.
The tribunal was tasked with receiving and investigating complaints from aggrieved policyholders as it relates to their claims, mediate between an insurer and the insured, with the objective of enabling an amicable settlement between the insurer and the insured; and, advise an insured of its options in the event that the insurer and the insured are unable to reach an amicable settlement.
However, despite this, the insurance woes continue.
“A lot of people have been complaining about the insurance companies. What have they done to address the problems?” Mr. Smith lamented.
He further pointed to the difficulties some persons are experiencing in refinancing, saying that banks are giving persons a “whole run around and you still have to pay the mortgage every month. Some people will lose their homes.”
The political aspirant says that he is ready for the task of addressing these issues and finding solutions, declaring, “That is more than a promise.”
While persons asked him to run in previous elections, he said he opted to wait until he was fully prepared for the responsibility.
“I feel like I have matured enough from the past when the people had asked me to run. I didn’t feel like I was ready at that time. I felt like I could have done more from the back,” he told BVI Platinum News.
He continued, “I am not standing because I want to be a politician. I really want to introduce a new way of doing business in Government. Where it’s about people, where we involve people and listen to what the people say, and you don’t make false promises.”
The Operations Manager at Harney’s says that while he does not have all the solutions to the Territory’s problems, he will find the means to solve them, if elected.
“I don’t have all the answers and I don’t think no politician has all the answers. We need to find a way that we could get real experts to help us. That’s what leaders do…they go out and they get experts. I will listen, I will assert myself. I believe in being hands on,” Mr. Smith told this publication.
One of the first issues to be addressed, he said, is the modernization of the archaic manner of conducting government business.
“The system is the problem. The system needs to be looked over and fixed. There are too many old systems. We need to look at how the system is set up. There are too many loopholes,” he said, speaking to the system of administration in the BVI.
An example of this, he posited, is the fact that the Passport Office, Immigration Department and Labour Department are separated. Placing these under one unit, he said, would reduce the time it takes to get business done and the red tape involved.
