The news, when it was confirmed, was shocking. Heads hung in silence; Dark shadows crossed the hearts of the listeners; Mouths stood agape in consternation; And expressions of disbelief were uttered while the public waited for someone to say that it was not so.
The Premier could not, in that moment, touch the valiant lady, who, with all she promised to offer on her inaugural call to the BVI, was no match for the strong emotions that racked his body, disfigured his face and brought tears of anguish to his eyes.
His shoulders shook and sagged. His knees buckled but he neither fainted nor fell. That would have been far too dramatic and, perhaps, unbecoming for a man of his position and responsibilities. Instead, he walked away in foggy dismay, not expecting to return to the event.
The report said that Carvin Malone, a BVI icon, a businessman, kingmaker, politician, community activist, Lion and a former Minister for Health and Social Development, was unresponsive at home:
That he was rushed to the Dr D. Orlando Smith Hospital where, in a comatose state, he was put on life support. In a matter of hours, there was an update that said he now sleeps with his fathers having spent a short 64 years on earth.
Carvin was a ‘Party’ man. He, with his dad and others, and H. Lavity Stoutt, built the V. I Party from scratch. He was the Party’s very backbone.
He was an advisor and confidant to Chief Ministers and Premiers. It was his Party. And the public perceived, at times, that he with his various family investments took full advantage of his seat at the table of state.
Admiralty was not the first, but it ranks high with his Caribbean Basin Enterprises, Malone Complex and the family’s dredging operations in West End. All benefited from government intervention.
But politics is a high wire act and while the public sent him to the House of Assembly from 2019-2023, he slipped off the wire when Premier Fahie failed to recognize his seniority in the Party and declined, without discussion, to appoint him as Deputy Premier.
His crime was his daring to have independent views on matters of governance when acquiescence and assimilation were required.
And he was thrown from the high wire completely when Premier Wheatley, then the leader of the Unity Government, a man he invited into his Party, stripped him of his ministerial position. His pain and turmoil knew no bounds but he was nothing if not stoic.
He sat, momentarily, on the Opposition benches while he licked his wounds and nursed himself back to political health.
But while he briefly left the Government benches, he made no such claim about his Party. For had he done so, it would have been an injustice to the truth.
When the time was right, for timing is everything in politics, he was enticed to return to his Party with the promise of regaining control. But it was a ruse.
He was badly mangled by the time the congress and its internal voting apparatus were done with him, yet he was forced to accept the same advice that Polonius give to his son Laertes (Hamlet):
“To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
He fell in line but the public finished him off. His political career was truncated when in 2023, his path to the House of Assembly was blocked. And his political road ended in a cul-de-sac.
But Carvin was always a statesman and he continued his fight for the people. His voice in matters of self-determination for the Territory was consistently loud and his discussions on constitutional matters were forceful, admirable.
As past president and a member of the Lion’s Club, he fulfilled his duty to the community from a philanthropic standpoint. Annually, his Lions lit the Christmas tree in the Sir Olva Georges Square which, for BVI, signaled the start of the season.
He was a man with a heart, a conviction and a ready smile that could set the room on fire and soften even the stoniest of hearts.
It seemed, when he spoke, that he needed to rid his mouth of a hot potato but it was that his tongue shortchanged him by inefficiently relaying the ideas firing rapidly off his brain.
Sir Richard Branson, fittingly, remembered Carvin on Sunday, as he welcomed his guests on his cruise ship, Valiant Lady; First in a moment of silence, and, subsequently, extolling his virtues of helpfulness when he led BVI through the covid pandemic as Health Minister. That praise resonated with the invitees.
Carvin loved the BVI and he worked just as hard to build her up as he did for his own family businesses. His journey to the great beyond leaves a void amongst the committed voices in the nation building debate. But the stalwart contributors to his One VI Agenda will, in his memory, soldier on.
The BVI has lost the voice of a dedicated and formidable son of the soil and she is bruised.
And Fridays recognize Carvin the statesman, the family man, the friend;
The Virgin Islander.
Who now joins the list of BVI giants on whose shoulders we stand.
May his family be comforted by his contributions to this place we call home.
Happy Friday!