Last week and again this week, were the graduation ceremonies at all schools in Anguilla. It is difficult to describe the pomp and ceremony that characterised each event and the ensuing delight the graduating students, their teachers, parents, and other relatives, experienced and, in fact, very noticeably exhibited. It is remarkable how quickly our youngsters grow up, develop, and take on various educational pursuits in preparation for further academic excellence and the world of work. An exciting future is indeed before them to strive for the golden opportunities, and the stars, which their older generations fell short of achieving for the most part. But ours is the responsibility for them to succeed and to blaze a trail for themselves, as the human resource capital of our beloved Anguilla, and for the future success and leadership of the island as a whole.
Our young graduates, who apply themselves to further learning and leadership skills, will eventually be the citizenry on whom we must continue to build a new Anguilla. Many of them are expected to be high achievers in our public and private sectors, and to follow the noble example of other young Anguillians who now occupy positions of influence and leadership in our island. We think, as one example, of Mr. Stanley Reid who served with honour, passion and humility in the Anguilla Public Service for almost thirty years and having held, for the past decade, the post of Deputy Governor, and is now serving the island in his private legal capacity. We think of his successor, Mr. Perin Bradley, who, it would appear, just the other day, was a student and graduate of our local schools before furthering his studies in preparation for his current upward mobility. More widely, we also think about our past and present Permanent Secretaries, Heads of Departments and other senior personnel who served and are serving with merit and distinction. Of course, we have not forgotten our other various professionals in the private sector who have also made Anguilla the proud island it is today.
There is a well-held belief that the public service has, in most cases, influenced the development of the private sector in terms of setting stringent standards of dedicated service, accountability, and leadership through a set of written public service orders and regulations, as well as in terms of job security and considerably high numbers of employees – the highest figures in any one field of service in Anguilla. Looking back, almost fifty years ago, Anguilla had a disorganised and grossly undeveloped public service with no training programmes and no opportunities for further advancement. It is amazing, therefore, how the service has now grown by leaps and bounds with highly-qualified Anguillians occupying various levels of distinguished appointments.
As the public service grows, becomes more complex, and demanding in later years, many of our now young graduates will be suitably qualified to fill a number of new positions which will come on stream by then. The newly-appointed Deputy Governor has reportedly been partly selected for his vision for the public service and, at his swearing-in, several days ago, he made the point that he was “truly honoured to be leading this organisation” and “such a dedicated team.” Mr. Bradley further stated: “I have found that we have some of the best and brightest that Anguilla has to offer right here in the Civil Service. My colleagues come to work every single day trying to make a genuine difference in the lives of Anguillians under some very difficult circumstances. We have been asked to do so much with so little, yet we persevere… I say to my colleagues that I will support you in all your laudable undertakings. Your success is my success and your failings will be mine. We are all in this together.”
Well said, Honourable Deputy Governor! We can only wish him well in this regard, in addition to the other challenges and chores he will face in the years ahead. The members of our Public Service or Civil Service were all like our schools’ graduates today. They all have had the genesis of their education from our preschools up through the primary and secondary schools and, as many of our graduates will eventually do, they later went on to various colleges and universities for professional qualifications. We now boast some of the most qualified employees in the Public Service in the Caribbean region. We join Mr. Bradley in saying we are proud of them. They should also be proud of themselves.
