Earlier this week, I had the privilege of attending a cocktail reception at Government House held in honour of my dear friend, Mr Colville Petty OBE. The reception was a demonstration of appreciation for Mr Petty’s service as Supervisor of Elections for the past twenty six years. This responsibility will now be taken up by Ms Aurjul Wilson, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. While I circulated among the attendees, many of whom were part of Mr Petty’s team of electoral officials, it dawned on me that another election is right around the corner. In another eighteen months, or less, Anguillians will be back at the polls to elect a Government. The strange thing is, while we are almost three and a half years post the last election, it seems as if the campaigning has not stopped and things have not quite settled down.
I have no doubt that we are going through one of the more tumultuous periods in Anguilla’s political history. After ten years of the Anguilla United Front (AUF) administration, Anguillians voted for change in February 2010 when the Anguilla United Movement (AUM) Government came to power. It was not long thereafter that the public became aware of internal wrangling within the party which resulted in the Honourable Chief Minister seeking to relieve the former Minister Edison Baird of some of his ministerial responsibilities and stripping him of the role of Deputy Chief Minister. Matters were further complicated when, in June 2010, the Honourable Jerome Roberts, then a member of the Anguilla Progressive Party (APP) crossed the floor to join the Government and was appointed Special Advisor to the Chief Minister. We recently learnt that former Minister Baird ceased attending pre-Executive Council meetings in August 2010.
In 2011 and 2012, the discord within the AUM administration, unfortunately, played out in the public arena as it seemed that the Ministers and others preferred to use the media to communicate with each other rather than sitting across the table. There were public addresses, responses to addresses, responses to responses and so on. Not to be left out, or out-done, the AUF also ensured its voice was heard in relation to any issue of contention in the AUM administration. Public meetings were held by both parties on a myriad of issues. The APP, on the other hand, was strangely silent. It appeared as though the party never recovered from the Honourable Jerome Roberts’ crossing the floor (even though he claimed he was maintaining his affiliation with APP), and Ms Palmovan Webster announcing her split with the party. One is now left to speculate whether this party still exists.
The public squabbles between the Honourable Chief Minister and His Excellency the Governor did not help the situation. Rather, they contributed to the sense of instability that has permeated this political period. Further, the investigation of former Minister Walcott Richardson, by His Excellency the Governor, in relation to issues regarding visa waivers fueled public protest and solidified the divide between the Governor and the AUM administration and its supporters. In the midst of all this, the Chief Minister has kept the talk of independence alive and went further by appointing a Constitutional Commission with Terms of Reference relating to the formulation of an Independence Constitution.
In 2013, the Honourable Walcott Richardson resigned his ministerial portfolio following allegations of sexual misconduct. The Honourable Jerome Roberts was appointed as Minister in his place. Just a few weeks ago, Minister Baird was unceremoniously fired by the Chief Minister and his portfolio reassigned to the Honourable Chief Minister and the Honourable Jerome Roberts. Three Ministers therefore now run the affairs of Government. The last few weeks have been plagued by protest actions, more public addresses, responses to addresses and responses to responses and so on. It has been a media frenzy.
For a media reporter, the events of the last few years provide much for broadcasting but, through the eyes of an ordinary Anguillian, it is all simply exhausting. I think I speak for many when I say we are tired of all the back and forth and ‘tit for tat’. Everybody is trying to set the record straight but when all is said and done we are still unclear which version of “the record” is straight. We have had enough. As citizens, all that we want for our country are peace and prosperity. I don’t know about you, but I keep wondering when are we going to give priority to these issues rather than trivial political battles that only serve to undermine the country’s stability and make it an unattractive place for investment. With elections less than two years away, it seems highly unlikely that the “campaign mode” will change at this point. If anything, it will probably be heightened. My vain hope is that rather than the petty name calling, blame game, character assassination, misleading statements and the false promises, some effort will be made to meaningfully debate issues of relevance to the Anguillian people. As a people we must recognize, though, that if we do not demand a higher standard from our politicians we will never get it. The power is ours, and we must use it to demand improvement in the level of political debate in Anguilla so that on election day our votes will be based on real issues rather than congeniality and empty rhetoric.
