Dear Mr Editor:
ANGUILLA GOIN’ TO THE DOGS
In 2010, I voted for change. To get the AUF out. But, by God, things wuss than fuss! In my view Hubert Hughes is allegedly the worst thing to have happened to this country since Hurricane Luis in 1995. His leadership is a disaster. I heard Curtis calling him, on one of the talk shows on Monday night, a lunatic but, true or false, Hubert has not been leading. All he’s doing is travelling.
Yes. He’s travelling all across the globe. Since he has been in office this time round, he has travelled from the North Pole to the South Pole. I mean from Greenland in the north, to the Falkland Islands in the south. I would not be surprised if his next trip is to the moon. And I trust he would stay there if he ever goes there. Incidentally, Hubert is anxious to get his name in our history books and he has succeeded in doing so by being the first Chief Minister of Anguilla to reach the North Pole and the South Pole (from Greenland in the north, to the Falkland Islands in the south). I hope that our historian, Colville Petty, makes note of that and of the fact that Hubert was allegedly Anguilla’s worst Chief Minister who cannot point to one good thing that he has done for this island. Yet he is talking about going independent. Going independent with Hubert as Prime Minister is like taking a trip on the Titanic.
And now, could somebody tell me what de hell Hubert went to the Falklands for when Anguilla has so many problems which need solutions? I hope that the Leader of Opposition asks him in the House how much money was wasted on that trip because the people need to know.
Talking about problems, one is the water situation. There is no water on the island and that was one of the causes of the Anguilla Revolution. The lack of running water. Things in Anguilla are going from bad to worse. There is no water in the pipes but Hubert could find time to be in the Falklands probably looking at the penguins. To think about it, we have a big time Water Corporation, and a big time Water Board with high-paying jobs and no water in the pipes. And then again, why do we need a high-salaried Water Board for the supervision of some 75 or so water connections? That’s a joke – a waste of scarce financial resources. But then that is no joke.
Imagine, 46 years after the Revolution and we still don’t have running water. The most we are getting out of the pipes is air. I heard some people saying that they no longer go to the High Way Tire Shop, at George Hill, to put air in their tires because they could stay home and get air from the water pipe.
Another cause of the Revolution was lack of electricity. We have electricity but it is too expensive. Very few people can afford to pay for it. The Hubert Hughes-led AUM Government had promised that it would bring the rates down but the cost of electricity is going up and up. Evan Gumbs, the Minister responsible for electricity, also promised personally to do something about the rates but he too has done nothing to bring them down. And believe me, the poor can’t take no more. It is my view that, like Hubert, Evan is a failure – a disappointment. I get the impression that Evan would do a better job if he was made Minister of Blackberry cell phones.
Nothing is happening in Anguilla. It’s going to the dogs. Literally. And that reminds me of the many dangerous dogs on the islands, and no one is doing anything about them in terms of stopping their breeding and importation. Some years ago a little child was killed by one of those dogs and nothing has been done to eliminate them. Actually, I don’t expect much to be done seeing that someone in Government is allegedly involved in the dangerous dogs business. But are we going to wait till someone else gets killed to do something about it?
During the 2010 election campaign, Hubert told us he had a plan for Anguilla which he would tell us about after the election. But it is only now that people are really understanding what Hubert was saying. What I would say in his defence is that he did not lie. He was being very truthful. What he was saying was that he had a plan to plan a plan but that it would take some planning to plan it – and that’s why his planned plan has not yet been released as planned.
That’s all I have to say for now except that, next election round, I ain’t voting for no AUM or AUF. Unless there’s a third creditable party, I am not going to the polls.
Yours truly
A very bitter Anguillian
(Name withheld at writer’s request)
