As I read about and watch the Scottish people contemplate their future with regard to whether or not to seek independence from the United Kingdom and become the power house, that some envision for purely political reasons, I can’t help but think about our situation going forward. It is no secret that certain individuals have long advocated for our independence without a thought for purely political reasons. Over the years we’ve been governed by the same boorish backwater political hacks whose only interests were their own selfish ambitions.
While independence seems to have taken a back seat to just about everything else, there are a lot more pressing issues that require the government’s attention. Of course I’m referring to the banking dilemma that we find ourselves embroiled in, gun violence, education, jobs and the list goes on. Like the Scotts, we have to decide which way to go. Do we want to continue on the path of least resistance, or do we want to chart our own course and actually have a plan on how to get there? We seem to follow blindly behind any buffoon simply because that person calls himself our leader. I sincerely believe that those days need to come to an abrupt end. In Shakespeare’s “Taming of The Shrew,” Petruchio, the money grubbing vagabond, and his wife Katharina, argue back and forth about whether or not it is the sun or the moon that shines bright: “Petruchio: Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon! Katharina: The moon! The sun: it is not moonlight now. Petruchio: I say it’s the moon that shines so bright. Katharina: I know it’s the sun that shines so bright…and be it moon or sun or what you please: and if you please to call it a rush candle, henceforth I vow it shall be the same for me.”
Like Katharina, we tend to accept at face value any and everything that has been fed to us, not once stopping to ask the pertinent questions. We accept as gospel just about everything that our esteemed politicians tell us, because they do such a wonderful job. Well as the good people of Scotland are now trying to determine their own fate, so too are we. While we’re not looking at independence in the same light as they are, we will nevertheless give serious consideration if and when the time comes but, given where we are at the present time, even the proponents of this grandiose plan will agree that now is not the time to broach that topic.
Anguilla in its present form is a nonstarter. Let me explain: The systems that need to be in place are nonexistent. The agencies that that are tasked with overseeing the different aspects of government are either nonfunctional, are agencies in name only, or are just plain incompetent. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that everyone is incompetent – to the contrary. We have some of the brightest stars in the galaxy, who work under the most strenuous conditions, but we also know that we are top heavy. We have boards that are staffed with the cronies of our politicians – board members who don’t have a clue why they’re on that board other than to collect a paycheck, and until we have all of the working parts in place, and we truly understand how a democracy functions, then we are going to continue to get more of the same. We have in place a government that is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people, but yet only a select few reap the rewards. Sounds like an oligarchy.
In the past, people kept their mouths shut and allowed this sort of thing to go on unfettered. Why is that? These so called politicians campaigned for your vote and made all sorts of promises, most of which won’t be honored and, yet time after time, we put the same bunch back into office. They get elected on a platform that is basically unrealistic to start with and yet no one calls them out on it. My fellow Anguillians, when are we going to get our cojones back and stand up to these House bullies and throw their behinds out of the building? If they want to lambaste anyone, let them do it out in the street and see how bold they will be then. It is embarrassing to listen and to read all the nonsense that goes on. We are supposed to be educated people and, as such, should be embarrassed to hear the kind of low brow nonsense that spews from the mouths of our leaders. We’ve had more than enough time to get this right. We can no longer use the excuse that we didn’t know any better. If we don’t know it by now, we’ll never get it. We knew enough in 1967 to do what we needed to do. We blew a golden opportunity to set ourselves up for good. The store was opened to us and all we did was walk out with a few items in our hands. We did not use the shopping carts, and the ones footing the bill just stood back in awe and watched. We didn’t ask, and they didn’t offer. Shame on them and shame on us for not doing our homework, but I digress.
We are now faced with some serious choices. If we want to continue in the same mode that we presently find ourselves then, by all means, vote for Hubert Hughes and the rest of his ilk. If you want five more years of a man, who was overheard in the Methodist Church’s yard to have allegedly say “Anguilla is lost and there is nothing I can do about it,” then reelect him and the others. If you want no new development, if you want to keep that eyesore that is the Dolphinarium, that Mr. Hughes first opposed and later approved, giving it his seal of approval to relocate to its present location, and thereby littering the oceanfront properties of Anguillians and investors alike, then Mr. Hughes is your man. Conversely, if you are tired and fed up with the status quo, and you think that the time has come for us to join hands and remember what 1967 was all about, then by all means let us bring out the brooms and make a clean sweep.
It is sad to see what has happened to a once proud people. We are at the mercy of people who either don’t know or don’t care and, given their actions or lack thereof, one would assume it to be the latter. Since 1967, we seem to have accepted whoever comes along with the best spiel, and then we fall in line like the children in the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Unfortunately, we put all of our eggs in one basket. We did not look at the big picture and we missed the forest for the trees. We have made allowances for our forefathers, because it was the honorable thing to do but, as Don Mitchell said, we were sheepherders and fisherman catapulted onto the world of ministerial politics with nary an idea of what lay in store for them. We cannot throw all the blame on them for they were simply of that age old Anguillian ingenuity of having to make the most of a bad situation. We all had a hand in getting to this point. We’re all in this together.
It is amazing to see that the same people responsible for the island’s condition mounting their campaigns for reelection, and I must admit that that takes moxy for these same guys to come before you to beg for another five years, as though they didn’t do enough damage in the first five. The late President John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural speech in 1960, admonished us all when he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” And so, my fellow Anguillians, I ask of you: “What have you done for your country?”
Just this past weekend, the Mayor Show on KOOL FM 103.3, originated its broadcast from the Festival Del Mar, in the picturesque village of Island Harbour where I was born and spent my formative years, and for over eight hours we stayed on the air. Conrad Rogers on the ground provided us, the listeners, with a color commentary second to none. It was amazing to listen as he walked from booth to booth sampling the different culinary delights, speaking to people – visitors and natives alike. It was the general consensus that this festival represented one of Unity and Brotherhood. We had from visitors from as nearby as St. Martin and as far away as Canada and the United States. A grand time was had by all, but it was special for me in that I’m the only one who can truly say that I was born in my grandmother’s house at the foot of the place we lovingly call the bay, and grew up at my aunt’s house at the head of the bay. Both houses were strategically located so that those who lived therein could keep an eye on you the minute you left either house. I made may trips by way of the bay during my time growing up in Anguilla. It was a poignant moment for me hearing Conrad’s description knowing full well what he was talking about. Of course I lived vicariously, however temporarily, through Conrad’s exemplary commentary. Thank you, Conrad. And of course we couldn’t have done this without the technical expertise, and timely commentary, of the one and only Brother Lee.
We have an upcoming election and this time, more than any other, will be a make or break one for Anguilla. We’ll have to screen our candidates in ways that we’ve never done before. Let us weigh the pros and cons and not act hastily. Let us think about this. Let’s not vote for someone because he was nice to you at one time, or you like him and you don’t like the other candidates. Let us vote for people because we listened to what they had to say and we believe that they’re the best candidates to take us forward. They have a plan. Let’s scrutinize each and everyone. Let’s not get personal. Let’s vote based on that candidate’s philosophy of government. Let us remember what 1967 was all about – and let’s not forget the brave and gallant young men who have been relegated to nothing more than a footnote in the annals of Anguilla as “some young boys from Island Harbour.” Well, listen to me you “young boys of Island Harbour.” I know every last one of you and you deserve better. We won’t ever forget that some of you, the same age as I was at the time, got on a small boat and went to another man’s land to teach him a lesson. One has to admit that while the mission was doomed from the start, that it took courage beyond anything that we can possibly imagine to even contemplate such an act. Earlier this year, on the Mayor Show, I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Wilkin Smith and asked him if he had given much thought as to what he would do when the bullets started flying. He said he hadn’t really thought about it but when the shooting started, he realized it was serious business.
This year when they march out the new heroes, let’s hope that they recognize those young men who put country first to change our way of life. We owe them more than a debt of gratitude. We owe them much more than it was a “bunch of young boys from Island Harbour.” That bunch got more recognition from the foreign press than they did from our own government. It is amazing to see that those who did not lift a finger to help – and who opposed us every step of the way – are now the ones in the catbird seat. We obviously don’t know from whence we came, and therefore we don’t have a clue about where we’re going because those tasked with leading us haven’t any skin in the game. You were given the keys to the car, and so far you have not shifted out of first gear. Do something – anything – to get us out of this mess.
Like the Scotts, we have to determine our fate. Do we want to have five more years of the same failed economic policies, five more years of governance by committee, five more years of fighting with the Brits, five more years of being bullied and denigrated on the House floor, and the list goes on? No. Then do something about it with this upcoming election. Being an exemplary steward of Anguilla will be a 24/7 job, and anyone contesting the election will better be ready to bring his or her “A” game, because it’s going to be needed. One last thing, go to the store and buy some brand new brooms for, as the saying goes, a new broom sweeps clean. Folks it’s time that we do something for our country – and if it’s the last thing that we do, let’s sweep this government out and replace it with a government that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people. Let Festival Del Mar serve as a shining beacon of what can happen when people come together. Let’s let Island Harbour serve as the model by which we go forward. Let us join hands and right the rock. Until then, may God bless us all and may God bless Anguilla.
