The other day I was driving from my home musing to myself about the number of phone calls I had received from so many people crying out for assistance of one kind of another. It really seemed that on that particular morning things had come to a boiling point for a number of people. As I drove along an old Chicago tune came into my head, which I continued to hum along with for the remainder of the day. The recurring melody was to the line: “Does anybody know what time it is?” In the midst of the humming, I began to think about the situation in Anguilla and in a swell of emotion, that seemed to rise from the pit of my stomach, I asked myself almost tearfully: “Does anybody in this Government really know what time it is?”
I do not know the context of the lyrics to that popular hit by the rock band Chicago, but the question seemed to be very relevant to the situation in Anguilla today. While people are losing their jobs; their businesses; their homes; their transportation; their health and their lives, the Ministers of Government are going merrily along as if everything is fine. It appears that we have been stumbling from error to error; crisis to crisis; rumour to rumour; lie to lie; conspiracy to conspiracy; fight to fight; outrage to outrage; and so on — since this AUM Government came to power. In fact, the almost four years of this Government’s tenure thus far can be arranged into a series of episodes — each episode taking up a few months of our lives but never making a positive difference.
Forgive me while I list some of these episodes to refresh your minds beginning, of course, with the drama after the election when the Chief Minister declared that the Treasury was empty; corruption was rampant; and the Governor and the British Government were upset about his victory at the polls. Many of these episodes overlapped but can be crudely “mapped” as follows:
• The Budget Episode. This took up almost six months of the beginning of the term when the Chief Minister and his colleagues spent critical time in a useless fight with the British claiming that they were involved in a conspiracy with the past Government to destroy Anguilla’s finances. And that no new tax measures would be implemented except over his “dead body”.
• The Social Security Episode Part One. The new Government installed a new Board that was planning to move its funds out of the indigenous into the two international banks.
• The hostile takeover of ANGLEC Episode. The Government tried to turn the electricity utility into a politically managed organization by seeking to dismiss all nine Board Members at once and replacing them with party supporters.
• The Social Security Episode Part Two. The Chief Minister signed a document that pledged present and future Social Security funds as a guarantee for a US$200 million loan from a questionable company in the United States.
• The MoA/MoU Episode. The Government decided that it would call in all developers and have their MoAs turned into MoUs. This resulted in a woeful waste of time and goodwill with the result that Government got a worse deal, and in fact gave away already negotiated assets belonging to the people of Anguilla.
• The Cap Juluca/Adam Aron Episode. The Chief Minister laid the groundwork for the ongoing Cap Juluca fiasco including protest marches to the Governor’s Office.
• The Eddie Baird Episode. Key members of the AUM party began to make frontal attacks on Minister Baird in various media. This festered until it eventually culminated in his dismissal earlier this year.
• The Prisoner’s Uprising Episode. The Chief Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary convinced many persons that the Governor had threatened to dissolve the Government. As a result the entire community was in an uproar and the prisoners responded by riots that the CM allegedly condoned and applauded.
• The Independence Episode. The Chief Minister began to plant the seeds for Independence by suggesting that this would enable Anguilla to borrow and meet its budgetary needs.
• The Interim Stabilization Levy Episode. This is an ongoing issue. After a long period of indecision the Government implemented the “Levy” amidst claims that the British made them do it.
• The Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR) Episode. The Chief Minister held up the negotiations on the FFR for almost a year contending that it was designed to retard development in Anguilla.
• The Battle with Governor Harrison Episodes. These carried on for three and a half years during which period the CM was constantly quarrelling rather than negotiating.
• The Developer’s Episodes. These were many and frequent. They included negative statements in the public media about local and expatriate developers who played a critical role in the economy.
• The St. Maarten Wharf Episode. The questions surrounding the construction of the wharf in St Maarten and the disclaimers made by senior Government Officials regarding costs, returns and operations.
• The Teachers Episode. The flagrant disregard by Government Ministers for the concerns of the teachers and the vicious attacks on the profession in the House of Assembly.
• The Permanent Secretaries Episode. Government protested the reshuffling of Permanent Secretaries, and the CM’s requested the intervention of OECS and Caricom Ministers into his dispute with the Governor.
• The Dolphinarium Episode. The Chief Minister’s failure to manage matters before EXCO and its impact on projects on Anguilla. This resulted in the eventual firing of Minister Baird.
• The Tourist Board Episodes. The ongoing saga of hirings; firings; resignations; Double Agents; law suits; political interference; and so on. Right now the Chief Minister is making unilateral decisions about marketing and promotion outside of good governance practices.
All of the foregoing, though not exhaustive, give us a pretty good idea of what has been happening in Anguilla for almost four years. I am sure that if time permitted we could come up with several more episodes, of a similar nature, that have plagued our progress over the years. In the fourth year of a five-year term one must question whether anyone in the Government knows what time it is – because we are hearing the same excuses, the same conspiracy theories, and the same blame game. It is certainly not the time to be talking about the past Government. It is time to be talking about what you will do to make a difference, or to boast about what you have achieved.
It does appear that this Government believes that it can continue to maintain the support of the electorate now and in the future by using the same dishonest tactics that got it elected in the first place. In fact, those tactics have earned them the characterization of Liars, Blamers and Defamers. I don’t know what caused me to ask the question: “does anyone know what time it is?” with the rhythm of that Chicago tune in my head. But, on further reflection, I must ask the follow up question, also in that very tune: “Does anyone really care?”
