The Anguillian. 2-23-13
Reading the full page article, published in last week’s The Anguillian, written by Jerome Roberts, in which he seems to take credit for the small achievements of the present administration, one wonders if he either is starting his campaign for reelection early or is concerned about the image he has created during his time in office. I suspect it is the latter reason, particularly since the AUM, the political party he adopted, has had some serious setbacks recently.
Going back to 2010 when he was seeking election to the Council in District 2, he ran not as a member of either the AUM or the AUF, but rather as an independent. When the election was over, taking advantage of the opportunity he saw, he immediately allied himself with Hubert Hughes and the AUM. If the AUF had had sufficient seats in the Council after the election, he probably would have joined the AUF.
As a result of his opportunistic choice, the Chief Minister awarded Roberts with the title of “Advisor to Chief Minster in Ministry of Finance”, whatever that entails. Watching Mr. Hughes performance in office, however, one would question whether he would take the advice of anybody, let alone Jerome Roberts.
In any event, Mr. Roberts has been a faithful acolyte to his benefactor, supporting Hughes, for example, in his attempts to develop a breakaway from the UK. More recently, following the lead of his leader in his verbal attacks on our teachers, Roberts made a speech in which he was critical of those ex-Pat teachers, some ten in number, who provide specialized classes at the schools, saying they should be discharged and removed from the island. Not knowing that these teachers provide valuable training to children in need, he readily jumped in beside his benefactor, as he does on a regular basis.
Roberts complained in his article that the UK did not financially support the Community College and even suggested that it prevented a loan to the College by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). Ironically, on Tuesday, February 19th, four days before his article was published, the Governor announced that 500,000 EC had been appropriated by the UK for the College and that the CDB was prepared to lend additional funds to it. Mr. Roberts, eager to make a big political point in his article, was unaware of what was happening even though he is supposedly the “Advisor” in the Financial Ministry.
Before concluding his lengthy article, he brought out that old bromide, cautioning readers to beware of those who play politics: “Do not allow politics to deter you from the truth.” It is wrong for the opposition to make any political points, but perfectly OK for those within the AUM to do so, as Roberts so clearly did with his reference to the Community College. The truth is that he, the AUM and Hubert Hughes have been playing politics continuously since assuming power in 2010, blaming the prior administration, the Governor, and the UK repeatedly for all their own failures.
Perceptive Citizen.
