There are a number of Anguillians who were very anxious to see 2013 come to a close. The reasons range from mere superstition about the number “13”, known as “triskaidekaphobia”, to the hope that General Elections will soon be called, known as “election fever”. Of course there may be a number of persons merely looking forward to celebrating a particular milestone in their lives and still others just hoping that the New Year will bring a positive “turn-around” in their individual circumstances. Naturally, for the most part, the concerns will be for their personal situation but, equally, they will have concerns about the overall state of the community as well. 2013 certainly offered up its share of frustrations and challenges that have had an island-wide impact.
But amidst the loss of jobs; the foreclosure on homes; the failures in business; the repossession of vehicles; the increasing cost of living; the takeover of the indigenous banks; the increases in taxation; the fragmentation of the Government; the Government’s confrontational style politics; and the senseless acts of violence that threaten our peaceful and harmonious environment— we must be forever grateful to Him who brought us through yet another year. There those who are now missing loved ones as a result of natural, accidental and violent causes; there are those who have been maimed by guns and are now unable to walk and/or participate in their former pastimes; and there are those who have given up hope and are now suffering from mental illnesses — yet they must all know that His grace and mercy are sufficient for all their needs. The strong faith that sustained our forebears through drought; famine; and disease will also bring us comfort and relief in these times. “To God Be The Glory!”
Since the closing of the old year and the opening of the new is a time for reflection, permit me to look through the rearview mirror at the past twelve months. I can easily say that for yet another year the Government and its supporters have continued with the “blame game” and confrontational style of politics. And I can ask the question: Will they spend the last year of their term of Office behaving in the same manner? If that is the case then it will be yet another waste of time and effort while our people struggle to survive with scarce resources. Let me tickle your memory with a few of the incidents of 2013 that have impacted our progress as follows:-
• In January 2013 the FCO did not give assent to the Budget because, among other things, the Chief Minister did not sign on to the Framework For Fiscal Responsibility Agreement. Rather than negotiate his concerns in a constructive manner, the Chief Minister resorted to his normal confrontational approach by accusing the Governor and the FCO of conspiracy to undermine his Government and bring Anguillians to their knees. Eventually, when it became apparent that there was much ado about nothing the CM signed the agreement after some cosmetic changes. Another example of wasted time and resources.
• The Chief Minister in the midst of the Budget stalemate with the FCO threatened Independence and declared that there would be a referendum in November 2013. The date has passed quietly until the next episode.
• The Chief Minister had an altercation with the President of the Teachers’ Union on the matter of the repayment of salary deductions. It ended up in a one-sided protracted war of words where elected Members of Government abused the teachers openly and cowardly in the House of Assembly. One of those elected Members is now the Minister of Education.
• The Parliamentary Secretary and the Tourist Board continued a battle throughout the year on the matter of Cheryl Andrews Agency and the Britto Agency. Up to this date it is very uncertain what is going on at the Tourist Board. Over the year the Chairmanship has changed hands at least three times. There have been questions about the wharf in St Maarten that remain inadequately answered. The most recent development is that the Chief Minister is intervening directly into the management of the ATB.
• The Member for West End and Minister of Home Affairs, resigned all of his portfolios amid uncertainty regarding a number of legal charges brought against him. The Member for East End replaced him as a Minister after a reshuffling of the portfolios.
• The Chief Minister declared that he had no responsibility for Cap Juluca. In an interview with Keith Stone Greaves, on Radio Anguilla, he said: “Don’t ask me about Cap Juluca! Ask the Governor! He took it over. I have nothing to do with it!”. This is typical behaviour for the CM. When he wants to avoid blame for a situation he passes it on to someone else. Not only did he abandon a project in Anguilla by this statement, but he also abandoned the 400 workers at Cap Juluca as well as their families (even after posturing as the Champion of the Workers). Note well that he is the Minister for Tourism and Economic Development.
• The Chief Minister fired his Minister of Social Services, the Hon. Edison Baird, in the wake of a controversy over the Dolphinarium Project. He was again forced to reshuffle his Cabinet and now only has a total of three Ministers in his Government. The CM holds the majority of the ministerial portfolios — yet he is frequently off-island. The distribution of elected seats in the House is now 4 to 3.
• The Chief Minister supported the decision by the ECCB to takeover control of the island’s two indigenous Banks. He is now unable to give the shareholders, customers and staff any meaningful information regarding the progress being made by these institutions. However, he is using the issue as a political weapon against his opponents.
• With the illness of one of the elected Members of the House on the Government side — the Chief Minister was unable to establish a quorum for the transaction of Government business. The CM is therefore placed in the difficult position of having to depend on the cooperation of the Opposition to get his agenda through the House if any of his members are absent for any reason.
The foregoing is not exhaustive, but it illustrates that the Government is stumbling from error to error in its conduct of the island’s affairs. It must be noted that these incidents took place over a twelve-month window and the pattern over the previous three years, since they came to Office, has been similar. It is obvious that we will not get anywhere as a nation if we continue in this vein. Will the Government be adopting a new approach to Governance even at this late stage? Obviously, I do not have an “inside scoop” on these matters, however, I will make the following predictions for the benefit of my readers as follows:-
1. The Government will call General Elections between October 2014 and March 2015. There will be no by-election.
2. The Government is cognizant of the fact that it has not performed effectively over the past four years. It will therefore begin to amend its approach to developers over the coming months with a view to encouraging them to speed up their expansion and/or refurbishment. You can therefore expect them to rush through a few MoA’s by the end of the first quarter of 2014. Many of these MoA’s will not be worth the paper they are written on.
3. The Chief Minister will try to be very cooperative with the British Government so as to expedite the FFR process on tendering and procurement. This spirit of cooperation began at the Joint Ministerial Council in London earlier this year.
4. The Government will pay the Public Service at least 25% of their salary refund before the end of the year. This will depend on the timing of the elections. The payment will be made approximately two months prior to the proposed date of elections.
5. The Government is anxious to do Phase 2 of the Valley Roads Project. I predict that it will try to begin it by June/July 2014. Chances are that the road will be under-designed. It is also quite possible that the Chalvilles Mango Road will begin first.
6. The Government will begin surfacing a number of unpaved Village Roads. The majority of this work will be done in the Valley South District.
7. The Government will face some serious issues with ANGLEC. A number of the Board Members will resign.
8. The Anguilla Tourist Board, the Ministry of Tourism and the Minister will have a number of disputes in 2014 regarding the marketing, promotion and public relations consultants. This will include issues related to the operations of the Blowing Point Ferry Service and the Docking Facilities at the Princess Juliana Airport. Already the “blame game” has begun.
9. There will be a major breakdown in the relationship between the elected and appointed officials of the Government and the technical staff and managers in several Ministries and Departments.
10. The Chief Minister will have his first major disagreement with the Governor by June 2014.
So as I look back at 2013 I realize that despite the stumbles we have had, we were somehow able to weather the storm. Despite it all — we have been blessed in many ways. Most importantly, we may have learned some important lessons from our experiences and challenges that could make us stronger. My predictions for 2014 are not in anyway rosier, save the fact that the Government will finally be trying to improve its image for the upcoming elections by trying to create some economic activity. Let’s hope that they will be successful for the benefit of the community — but, at the same time, we hope that such an artificial spike in activity will not fool our people. After all, what were they doing for the last four years?
But whatever the outcome of this imminent charade, let us hold fast to the truth of the past year, namely, that were it not for His grace and mercy we would not have made it through the human and natural disasters that came our way. And going forward into 2014 we proceed with the same faith and confidence that sustained us during 2013.
