O conspiracy,
Shamest thou to show thy dangerous brow by night,
When evils are most free? O, then by day
Where will thou find a cavern dark enough
To mask they monstrous visage?
Julius Caesar, Act 2, Scene 1
I feel compelled to address the pernicious social media whispering campaign that seeks to malign the recent political debate sponsored by the Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACOCI). Those nameless, faceless cynics sought, in their feeble minded way, to suggest that the debate was sponsored to benefit a particular political party. This suggestion does great disservice to the Board of ACOCI and its staff who worked timelessly since October 2014 to organise this debate.
Some context and background are instructive. The Board of ACOCI decided in July 2014 that it would be a valuable public service to conduct a series of discussion with persons holding themselves out for public office in the 2015 general elections. It was decided that during October – November 2014 we would utilize our radio slot on Fridays at Radio Anguilla to conduct those discussions. The idea was always to speak to the leaders of the respective political parties and the independent candidates. All the participants in the radio series were advised that the series would culminate in a final formal debate just before the elections. They all agreed.
Great efforts were made to always ensure transparency and to avoid any perception of bias either with the radio series or the final debate. We sought to enlist panelists from our membership. We generally succeeded and, based on the feedback, the radio programme was well received. It is therefore mindboggling as to why this line of cynicism has manifested itself in regard to the ACOCI debate held on April 9th, 2015 at the Orealia Kelly Auditorium.
The ACOCI went about organizing this debate with the same guidelines and concerns as we had established for our radio series. Once the date for the elections was established we set about fixing the date of the debate. Our invitations were accepted by all except the AUM. Let me be clear – they had every right to decide whether or not to participate and for whatever reason. It was at this point that the mindless, faceless attacks began and, I daresay, with no basis in facts.
For example, it was alleged that the questions were leaked to a particular participant in the debate. Nothing could be further from the truth. We solicited questions from various organizations, and our membership in general, over a considerable period of time, even before the date was determined. The drafting and vetting of the questions were not completed until the day of the debate due to the time it took to review all the suggested questions and/or topics. Given the meticulous and long hours put into this exercise, the level of cynicism is a great disservice to our staff and to the organization. I would only suggest that those engaged in this unfair attack use their own yardstick to measure themselves rather than apply it to other persons. The debate itself showed how baseless those allegations were. For one, the questions were regarded generally as challenging and required all the debaters to utilize their wits for a proper response. It is noteworthy the party that was absent was never mentioned in any of the responses. Moreover, while the debaters had every opportunity to attack that party, this did not occur. Instead, they all focused on the issues raised by the questions, and for this they ought to be commended.
It is disturbing that internet-based innuendo is quickly becoming the norm for discussion on this island. In the days of Shakespeare, conspirators inhabited backrooms and spoke in hushed tones, but at least they were visible. Now, the digital age has afforded these intellectual pygmies the perfect cover for their odious schemes. Sadly, Anguilla will not progress as a society until we are able to have our debates in an open, robust manner no matter what the subject. We need to get back to the tradition of Cicero, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. These men utilized debate to get to the truth. However, if truth is not your objective or concern, I guess no one cares about truth.
My prayer and hope is that we, as people, will emerge from these dark days and engage each other openly and honestly in the quest for truth. Believe me, we will be a much better society for it.
Keithley F. T. Lake
President
Anguilla Chamber of Commerce & Industry
