I don’t know about you, but when I heard the Honourable Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes, say in an interview with Radio Anguilla’s Keithstone Greaves that he doesn’t need to conduct a referendum to take Anguilla into independence, I became immediately alarmed. According to the Chief Minister, he was so advised by renowned constitutional lawyer the late Dame Dr Bernice Lake QC. We may never know whether or not Dame Bernice gave the Chief Minister such advice, but I find it hard to swallow that one so versed in constitutional matters – and a champion for the rights of ordinary people – would advise the Chief Minister in those terms. In his defence, the Chief Minister went on to qualify his statement by saying that even though a referendum is not needed, he will conduct one in which we will be given the choice of full internal self-government or independence. Are we to take the Chief Minister at his word?
On an issue of such significance as independence, why would the Chief Minister even entertain the thought of not canvassing the views of the people? Despite any legal arguments, merited or unmerited, about the need for a referendum, isn’t it simply the right and decent thing to do? I am hard-pressed to think of any democratic country which has chosen the path to independence without input from the people, and rightly so, for to do otherwise would only result in chaos.
I must say, given his statement, I find little comfort in the assurance of the Chief Minister that a referendum will be conducted nonetheless. If we consider the fact that, without a referendum being conducted, the latest constitutional commission appointed by this Government was given terms of reference for the drafting of an independence Constitution, we must ask ourselves whether we can take our Chief Minister at his word. This is the same Chief Minister who indicated that he was not signing the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (now the Framework for Fiscal Sustainability and Development) because Anguilla is at war with the British, yet he signed it 48 hours later. We know that this is just one example of many when our Chief Minister says one thing and does another.
Our Chief Minister is a master craftsman in the art of blame. He takes responsibility for so little that goes on in Anguilla that sometimes one has to wonder why he was elected. If we are to believe his rantings, then it is safe to say that this country is run by the British, the technocrats and the Anguilla United Front since they seem to be responsible for everything that goes on (i.e. goes wrong) here. With the greatest respect for our Chief Minister, I believe he ought to be reminded that his Government is in charge and it is therefore his Government that must be accountable to the people.
Lest I deviate too much from my current concern, what I am trying to convey is that given our observations of the leadership style of our Chief Minister, and given his thinking that a referendum is not needed, we ought not to blindly accept his assurance that one will be conducted in determining whether Anguilla should take the independence pathway. It is incumbent on us to speak up and speak out. We ought to hasten to do so. We do not want to wake up one day and find ourselves living in an independent Anguilla wondering how we got here. We want to be fully awake and engaged in the process that determines our constitutional status and system of governance. The only way to guarantee this is for us, as a nation, to convey a strong message to our Chief Minister that anything short of a referendum is unacceptable. This is one issue on which we cannot afford to be divided. Whether we are for independence or against independence is irrelevant. What is important is that there must be a transparent democratic process through which our choice can be made. If we allow this to be taken away from us, we would have lost one of the foundation pillars on which democracy rests.
I did hear the Chief Minister correctly, and I am sure you did too. Having heard him, it is our civic duty to demand that our rights in determining the destiny of this country are not denied.
