Last week, another personality of the revolutionary period, Mr. Nauson “Campbell” Fleming, departed this life in the United States where he has been living for many years. Mr. Fleming was very much involved in this community during the first decade after the Revolution and was at one time the elected Representative for the Sandy Hill District. In addition, to his contribution as a legislator he was also involved in the community and the health sector in particular. In recent times his philanthropy and love for Anguilla were expressed strongly when he contributed his family home in Sandy Hill to be used as the H.O.P.E. (Community) Centre. During the opening ceremony for the Centre his son, Dr. Herbon Fleming, explained that his father truly believed in the message in the acronym HOPE, namely, “Helping Our People Excel”.
We are very grateful to the late Mr. Nauson Fleming and his family, for his life, his generosity and his service to the people of Anguilla. We commiserate with the family as they mourn his loss at this time. Our candidate for the Sandy Hill District, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, the initiator of the HOPE Centre project, is on her way to Tennessee to attend the formal celebration of his life and to pay her respects and show her appreciation for the life of this gentle leader. May his soul rest in peace!
Speaking of respect, appreciation, and sadness — many persons in Anguilla over the past days have also expressed sadness over the cowardly behaviour of a number of our politicians on the political platform and over the broadcast media. Having been absent and in attendance at a very happy wedding celebration in St. Maarten, I did not get the opportunity to listen to these presentations firsthand. Fortunately, because of technology, I was able peruse the recordings at my leisure so as to make my own assessments. I will restrict my comments to being a voice for the voiceless on public platforms. In other words, not what was said about me or other politicians — but rather what was said about persons who cannot respond for themselves on public platforms.
I have been in the vulnerable position of being a public servant in Anguilla for only four years of my life. It was at the time when I served as a young teacher at The Valley Secondary School from 1964 to 1968. Fortunately for me, even though it was in the heart of the instability surrounding the Revolution we faced no verbal attacks in public from the political directorate. As a matter of fact one public servant tells the story that at a time when things were tough for public servants, because salaries were customarily late, he approached the Revolutionary Leader explaining his plight. Whereupon, after inquiring what his salary was, he (the Leader) paid the public servant in full out of his own pocket.
I am not suggesting that politicians should be bankers or lenders but, rather, that they should be appreciative and sensitive to the critical role that public servants have to play. During the AUF term of office we certainly had differences with members of the public service but never once did those issues reach the public platform. We either discussed them personally; with the Head of Department; the Permanent Secretary; the Deputy Governor; the Governor, or whoever was most appropriate given the chain of authority.
Furthermore, at no time did we give the impression that we were in any way subordinate or superior to any public servant — we always recognized the difference of their role in the decision- making process, therefore understanding the distinction between technical officer/technocrat and policymaker/politician. Clearly, the latter decides on the policy or program and the former informs on how it can/should be implemented legitimately and effectively.
It is not unusual for a new and inexperienced Legislator/Minister to be overly exuberant about getting his/her policies and programs implemented. It must therefore be the responsibility of more experienced and senior Ministers to point him/her in the right direction. Unfortunately, in the case of this Government, the Chief Minister himself is guilty of the kind of abusive behaviour that his inexperienced Ministers exhibit when unable to progress any matter in which they have an interest.
The situation is further frustrated by the fact that this Government has spent over four years indulging in the blame game and waging imaginary wars — and now its Ministers are in a rush/hurry to get things done in their portfolios and districts without due regard for proper procedure. Perhaps they want to adopt the approach of the Chairman of the Social Security Board who admits that he is not concerned about getting the National Health Insurance project right — but rather he wants to get it started. It seems clear that what we are hearing on the platform, from one of the new Ministers of this Government, is a case of “a bad workman quarrelling with his tools”.
It was interesting, however, that on the platform, and on the AUM propaganda show on Monday night, two new Ministers were at variance with the reason for their inability to progress their projects. One Minister was openly blaming the public servants and the other was cautiously explaining the process for the delays in implementation. The latter was himself, in the past, abusive to public servants/teachers but perhaps, because of his rude-awakening to the dangerous effects of such an approach to his chances for reelection, is now attempting to be circumspect, and even seems to be pandering to these groups. The former, however, seems bent on using the cowardly tactic of abusing persons, who are not in a position to defend themselves on the public platform, in a most callous manner. In fact, he seems to be “flexing his muscles” to impress his audience – and “shadow boxing” at an opponent who is not even in the ring.
Another interesting fact that is obvious, from the statements made by the abusive Minister, is that four and a half years later he does not seem to understand how Government works. Indeed, he does not appear to have grasped the purpose of the very legislation that he helped to pass in the House of Assembly to effect the implementation of the Framework for Fiscal Sustainability and Development (FFSD). Yet he insists that there is a conspiracy, fuelled by partisan politics in his own Ministry, to derail the implementation of his projects. Obviously, his conduct seems to be of the Chief Minister’s tutelage, that he appears to idolize. But the real question is that, if you are at your “wits end” as to how to progress your programs in Government — because Senior Officials in Government are willfully impeding you — how do you intend to handle those same officials if elected for a further five years?
There were also similar cowardly and abusive attacks on persons working in the Elections Office. And I wondered whether it was a deliberate tactic to create fear and distrust in the electoral process. Any disagreements with the electoral office have a clear path to resolution established in the law — there is no need for the cowardly abuse of those officials on political platforms. Is everyone in the public service out to get members of this Government? This seems to be an advanced stage of “group paranoia.”
But there is another perspective on the analysis of this issue that I believe was accurately captured by my friend “EJHarrigan” in one of his regular posts on facebook. I was sufficiently intrigued by his analysis that I am moved to include it in its entirety below: –
Amazing…….??It is amazing to hear the current Ministers of Government on the campaign trail; not taking responsibility for the function of government, period. They are campaigning as though they are a very highly paid team of subordinates. And there is serious competition going on in the same workspace they occupy.
The Ministers make it sound as though they are under supervision of their Permanent Secretaries.??“It is Amazing” how freely the names of civil servants are called! These persons may just be in their beds resting or taking a hard sleep while their names are being slandered on the trail, raising the question if the function of Minister in Government is a subordinate position to Permanent Secretary. They campaign as though they want to unseat the present government, to construct a better brigade.?
Usually, the incumbents are excited about defending their term in office; defending their record and campaign with confidence; and making no excuses. So what we have here is the Government campaigning against itself; campaigning to oust itself; and campaigning to replace itself. It is Amazing!!!!? This is enough to confuse us all. Under what principles does this Government function?
They silenced their very own Minister of Social Services; they fired him without a replacement; and they blamed him for the lack of performance across the board, handicapping all other three Ministers. First it was the “Governor” (Harrison) the “big evil” preventing Government from doing anything. He was blamed for everything that was wrong with the art of performance. Now they have found a new “big evil”, the “Permanent Secretaries”. They are now blamed for the art of non-performance in government. We simply cannot accept a Government doing nothing in a full five-year term of un-productivity. UNACCEPTABLE!”
What can I say? Amazing Indeed!
