(BVINews) – Opposition Leader Marlon Penn is contending that the Virgin Islands Party (VIP) government has an established a record of hiring political consultants to push its party’s agenda, even before entering office.
In a recent interview with JTV’s The Big Story, Penn said the Andrew Fahie-led government previously hired two political consultants – both under the guise of offering strategic advice for the territory – with the first having been contracted an entire month before the VIP government ever took office in February 2019.
According to Penn, the first contract was between a known Grenadian political consultant who worked on the VIP’s most recent election campaign. The contract ran from January to November of 2019 and was valued at $98,000.
The second consultant, who was contracted for $78,000, was a Trinidadian political operative who was hired from June 1, 2019, to May 31, 2020, and was allegedly writing speeches for the Premier, Penn stated.
Penn said there was also Grace Consultants – headed by Claude Skelton Cline – who has reportedly earned more than $300,000 from the public purse.
The Opposition Leader highlighted that the terms of reference, deliverables, and many other details of these contracts – which were requested several times over in the House of Assembly (HOA) – have never been revealed to the public.
