“This above all: To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night follows day, thou canst be false to any man.” This fatherly advice is given to Leartes by his father Polonius shortly before he leaves for France in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Sound advice it is, the same type of parental advice that was given us growing up in Anguilla a few generations ago. Sadly, I can’t say that the same is true today. All one has to do is listen to the radio or pick up a newspaper to see what is happening in our tiny island. Polonius’ admonitions to his son are his expectations as to how he’s to behave. Though the list is somewhat long and tedious, they are some of the very same rules that we were brought up with. For example: treat people with familiariality, but not exceedingly so. Hold on to old friends and be slow to trust new ones etc.
It was in this frame of mind that I sat on the terrace of the Fat Cat Gourmet with my cousin about two weeks ago, Tuesday July 22nd, in anticipation of the inauguration of Anguilla’s new Governor, Her Excellency Ms. Christina Scott. What I did not anticipate was the parade of speaker after speaker to the podium pontificating about the ills of Anguilla. The invited guests probably did not have a chance to get comfortable in their seats before the lady was blindsided with a litany of just about everything that has happened in Anguilla over the last 40 years. I thought it to be in extremely bad form to overwhelm Her Excellency with our problems before she has even had a chance to savor the moment. I do, however, commend the member from the West who said it was neither the time nor the place “to air our dirty linen in public.” He was unable to leave well enough alone, by promptly inserting his foot into his mouth with his final comment.
This was to have been Ms. Scott’s day in the sun and it should have stayed that way. Instead, we were patronizing and downright condescending. True, Ms. Scott was the first female governor to be sworn in by a female judge in the presence of the female speaker of the House. However, that did not mean that we should behave in the manner that we did.
While we do face an array of challenges, Ms. Scott’s inauguration was neither the time nor the place to conduct Anguilla’s business as the member from West End so eloquently pointed out. In listening to the program, on the radio, I felt somewhat ill at ease hearing some of what was being said. We behaved in a manner that showed a lack of sophistication commensurate with the office. Our government acted like a bunch schoolboys tattling on their friends to their teacher. Don’t misunderstand me now. As Governor, Ms. Scott inherits these problems, and you can bet she has been made aware of them. Tact and subtlety should have been the order of the day but, instead, we were about as tactful and subtle as a sledgehammer on a block of ice.
What we saw and listened to two weeks ago, Tuesday, was hypocrisy at its best. The only person that spoke and did not pile on was Mr. Evans Rogers. Mr. Rogers was the lone canary in the mine. Everyone kept referring to protocol and then proceeded to throw it out the window. As the West Minister admonished his colleagues, that it was neither the time nor place, that’s exactly what they proceeded to do. True, our grandmothers, aunts and mothers raised the majority of us, for whatever reason, and now that we’re fortunate to have a female governor, we’re looking to her to come through in the same way as our grandmothers, aunts and mothers once did. We laid every last ailment at her feet before she’s even had a chance to sit in the governor’s chair. Where does she go from here? Lost in all of the whining was, why we were all gathered at the Atlin Harrigan Building for this momentous occasion, the investiture of Anguilla’s first female governor. Instead, we used it as a gripe session. Shame on us – shame on each one of us that walked to that podium. I could go on and on, and I commend Mr. Nat Hodge for doing a magnificent job in his editorial. He merely pointed out that it was amateur hour at the House. I find it ironic that this is where the honorable members go to grandstand, and it is also where they showed how small in stature they really are. I sincerely hope that, in spite of it all, Ms. Scott will have the time of her life in our beautiful island.
We as a people always seem to set our expectations so high that, when they’re not fulfilled, we go off on tangents like spoiled brats whose privileges were taken away. This can’t be an us versus them mentality, and I sincerely hope that our local government will make every effort to work with Ms. Scott for the good of us all. It is a given that one never gets everything that one wants. We understand that there will be disagreements – after all that’s what democracy is all about. Everyone needs to be on the same page and we just can’t afford to sit back and hope that the next guy does it. Our so-called silent majority are going to have to get involved. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “In the end, we’ll remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” The time has come when you can no longer choose to sit on the sidelines with your hands in your pockets. I know you care about what happens to our place of birth. There has to be genuine concern for what happens to our lovely island, and when you’ve seen what has happened, just recently, it is hard to come to the conclusion that we truly care.
When you sit back and listen, it is obvious that Anguilla’s wellbeing is the last thing on the mind of the powers that be. Let me give you an example of what I mean. A little more than three weeks ago, the Chamber of Commerce held a symposium in which Melinda Goddard, MBA presented a program called Anguilla 44: A Vision for Prosperity, at Paradise Cove. The morning session appeared to be quite constructive. Several speakers made presentations. All interested parties were there except the opposition and, in all fairness to them, I was told that they were off island. After lunch everyone got down to the “meat and potatoes” part of the conference in which the serious problems facing Anguilla were addressed. After a thorough, well presented, power point presentation illuminating the path forward for Anguilla for the next 20 years, the chair asked for comments and/or questions. Ms. Pam Webster got up and basically attributed Anguilla’s plight to a lack of vision and a vacuum in leadership. It was at this time that the Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Haydn Hughes, made a derogatory comment about Ms. Webster. In true Ms. Webster style, she ignored the comment. You’ll recall that Mr. Hughes behaved in a similar fashion during carnival last year when he made disparaging remarks about another Ms. Webster AKA Queen Bee. Several attendees later voiced shock and displeasure at Haydn’s behavior towards Ms. Pam Webster.
What concerned me most, though, was the absence of the CM Mr. Hughes from the afternoon session – the session that painstakingly delineated the problems and hardships of our people and offered suggestions for possible solutions. One would have thought that the one person responsible for getting this island back on track would have at least been present, with his permanent secretaries (Dr. Aidan Harrigan was present), to listen to and offer suggestions. One then is left to conclude that the CM had better things to do than to listen to the problems of his people, and that he could give a hoot about them. If he did, he would have been there with his sleeves rolled up and would have been the last man out of that meeting. He was not there. Read into that anything you want. What does it say about leadership? Where is it?
It is a well known fact that Mr. Hughes has on more than one occasion said that Anguillians will never get anywhere because, as he puts it, “they chupid” (stupid). How about that? One would have to agree with him because we’ve elected him time and time again, so there must be something to what he says. One is left to conclude, then, that after the revelation by the previous Governor Mr. Harrison, that he was advised by the CM not to hire any Anguillian for any of the top posts in the government, that there must be some legitimacy to his claim. How is that for a Chief Minister? My fellow Anguillians, have we had enough yet? We have in a Chief Minister a man who denigrates us at every turn of the way, one who does not think we’re qualified to take any of the top spots in his government, and who thinks that he’s got a lock on his seat. He thinks that we’re stupid and we’re supposed to follow him in true Jim Jones fashion, because he thinks “we’re chupid.” And it’s because of us that he continues to enjoy the fruits of our labor? When will we learn?
Despite what has happened in recent days, we have to, in the words of an old Frank Sinatra song: “Pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and start all over again.” And with the investiture of our new governor, we’ve been given an excellent opportunity to do so. Gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, you have a year and a half. What you do with it is entirely up to you. We are all hopeful that you will not resort to past form and will truly make every attempt to work with our new governor, Ms. Scott.
I expect that it is possible that you will now try to move heaven and earth to try and impress upon your constituents that you have done an exemplary job. My fellow Anguillians, don’t be fooled. Remember, “All that glitters isn’t gold.” It is high time that we have people who are highly qualified and who have our best interests at heart.
Before I go, let me say this: I’ve had the privilege of being back home last week and I’ve seen and heard quite a bit. In that we’re trying to get Anguilla back to her status of “Crown Jewel,” I’m going to make a few observations, like it or not. I travelled to Anguilla from California, via Charlotte and then St. Maarten. There seemed to be confusion at the airport in St. Maarten with regard to the ferry and so I opted to go to Marigot. The cabdriver engaged me and gave me the Readers Digest version of happenings in Anguilla and as a Dutchman he was experiencing as much pain as I was just listening. At Marigot it started to rain and we boarded without umbrellas. Like a skip rock crab, I leapt onto the boat. My bag was tossed onto a pile in the rain. The cabin was dreary. There was no communication from the crew about anything. Pretty soon the boat was moving. No announcement of any kind telling us where we were headed and how long it would take – nothing. Where were the life vests in the event we’d need them – nothing. We could have been going to St. Barths for all I knew. Let the passengers know what’s going on.
There needs to be standards upon which the renewal of one’s ferry license should depend. If you can’t meet the standards, then you shouldn’t be in the business of ferrying passengers across the ocean. Sounds cruel but, so what? And while we’re at it, do something about our facilities at Blowing Point. They are woefully inadequate. We ought to take a bulldozer to that place. Go down to St. Thomas and observe their terminal at Red Hook. We need a facility that is both appealing and efficient. Blowing Point, I’m sad to say, just doesn’t cut it. Tear it down and start over, and don’t be stingy. It’s the first place that we have to impress our all our visitors. We are in the fight of our lives and everyone will have to pull his or her own weight. Ms. Goddard, in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, has laid out a plan which she calls 44 weeks of Christmas which, simply put, means we want to have the same effect during the other months as we do during Christmas. To hear her tell it, everyone will have to do his/her part. We are all ambassadors of Anguilla. Friends and family abroad, let people know about Anguilla. Pretty soon the word of mouth is spread exponentially out there. We have a product and all we have to do is let people know about it. To steal the line from the Costner Movie, Field of Dreams: “If you build it they will come.” Where is our tourism office? Where are the pamphlets, where is the jazz festival? These were things that sold us. St. Maarten has a book that spends 219 pages on them and, as a courtesy, they spent 19 pages on Anguilla, St. Barths, Saba and Statia. They do as much for us as we do for ourselves. That just won’t get it done.
I refer back to Polonius’ admonition to his son Leartes, in which he says: “To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night follows day, thou canst be false to any man.” And if we are true to ourselves, and all that it entails, then no one can stop us.
Last month we made history – not one but three times the same day. A marvelous hat trick, but that history will be for naught if each last one of us, whether indigenous or expat, does not step up to the plate and do his fair share. We can’t see the forest for the trees, and each last one of us will have to accept our responsibility in the immortal words of John Fitzgerald Kennedy: “If not me then who, if not now, when?” And so my fellow Anguillians, “if not us, then who, and if not now, when?” Our time, more than ever, is now. Let’s seize the day.
Let me join all those who are sending their prayers and wishes to the victims and their families of that senseless act of violence that occurred in Blowing Point. It is sad that we continue to see this kind of behavior from our young men who seem to have little regard for human life.
It is regrettable that our new Governor, Ms. Scott, has to assume her tenure under such circumstances. But I’m sure she comes from a resilient stock and will use that Winston Churchill-style determination to get things done, without the cigar of course. Let’s have a happy summer, “4 all ah we.” Until then, may God bless us all, and may God bless Anguilla.
