How did Anguilla get like this? How have we come to this pass? Don’t ask me! Ask yourself! All I know is that people voted for it! Now they have to suck up the results until the next time. Well, when your make your bed you got to sleep in it. But it depends on the bed. And the one they have chosen is a bed of nails and must be changed. There can be no comfort lying on a bed of nails.
We got here basically because of two things, namely, the worldwide economic downturn and lousy local political input. In the first instance we can’t do anything about it since we depend on foreign money for development. The second cause was self-inflicted. That has to be corrected — and we can do it.
We got caught in both instances. In the first case it was not anticipated or controlled by us — it was a bubble that burst. In the second scenario we went into it with our eyes wide open and made a choice. Now it seems that we made a bad choice. And if not checked it will hold various permutations of tougher choices in the future.
But there was an economic lesson for all of us to learn. Never before in the history of this island has there been such rapid and intensive economic activity. We, of course, did not fully understand it and took it for granted. Now we know that growth has bumps and lumps. Before the Flag Project this economy, for a long time, was in a period of slow growth. Then along came Flag as the booster for the engine of growth that started a new wave of activity in Anguilla. Unfortunately, the engine ran out of fuel.
During the period of its operational height it impacted all commercial and labor activity. Things happened and labor had its “heyday”. Banks were laughing. Almost anybody who wanted a loan could get one. Unskilled workers were asking for not less than ten dollars an hour, and could chose who they were going to work for. The sky was the limit and therein was the mistake. We did not understand that booms burst the principles of economic sustainability. We were not prepared for the aftermath of the new situation.
You could understand why, more than ever before, because to a great extent there was some equalizing. Anyone who wanted a job had one. If you were working you were making money and, like everybody else, you could spend on a car; spend on a house; take a cruise; go to the casinos on St. Martin or other exciting places over there. As long as you had a job you had “the bull by the horns”. Things were okay until the bubble burst and Flag went “belly-up”. That was the hard part.
After going full speed we had to make a “u-turn” in the middle of the road and go back. NOW we swiftly stopped drinking Black Label and found out that bush tea tastes good. Having to go back to square one was tough – so we panicked and went back to Hughes the elder. That was a bad mistake and a poor decision.
When Flag was here we treated its principals like investors with money to spend like it was going “outa style”. Now that they are gone we have begun to revise our outlook. These economic times have forced us to consider that foreign investors must be handled like one of us. Because if they don’t invest there will be no new jobs. Only when there is ongoing investment can the government make money to take on important projects. It was only when Flag failed that many recognized the importance of their presence. But Flag was not here to be blamed for anything. The Government of that day bore the brunt of the dissatisfactions of the jobless. That discontent, to some measure, drove them into the hands of propagandists — who never tell the truth.
If Flag’s withdrawal left hardships in the labor camps then it also created verbiage for the election that followed. The regime that came in saw the beginning of the end of rationality and common sense. Their motto was: “BLAME OTHERS AND NEVER TELL THE TRUTH”. That is why we are where we are today!
It did not have to happen this way. We could not control the conditions surrounding the departure of Flag — and then came the election. That is where the whole thing went wrong because a government came to power that did not seek to cushion the impact of “burst bubble”. Instead, it sought to find people to blame rather than search for ways and means to improve the situation. They embarked on propagating the Independence issue; asked for assistance to balance the budget; quarreled continuously with the Governor; and exhibited a level of intolerance that is incompatible with good leadership. That is the road that led us here and now we must get back on track. But how?
First, we must listen to the words of Polonius: “to thine own-self be true”. And second, we must use common sense. To do otherwise would be to accept the errors and omissions committed by this regime over the past years – knowing fully well that, based on performance, they should be doing something else and allow us to get someone else who can do a better job at running the country.
The job of a government is not simply to hold strain or just try to point out the mistakes of the last one. A new administration must be forward looking and innovative, and must carry out its promises as closely as possible. People elected them based on what they said during the campaign, and did not expect too much departure from it. This administration in the last campaign chastised the AUF Party saying that it would increase taxation. But what did they do? They introduced new taxation; raised existing taxes higher than ever anticipated; and said “the Governor and the devil made me do it”. They should pay for this at the polls! They even promised to grow and turn around the economy but to date no MOU for even a “Kiliban” has been started.
Given these failures, what could ever be the rationale for voting for them again? This government functions like a chicken with its head cut off. It has failed to measure up to the things for which it criticized the AUF, and to the platform on which it came to power. But this we can correct by voting them out. It was meant to be a learning experience for us to understand a little about the buoyancy of money markets; the fluctuation in economies; the vagaries of small “one-basket economies”; and on thoughtful modern voting.
It is hoped that we have learned from this “pass” — because before long “this too shall come to pass”.
