For the longest while now, the events or happenings in Anguilla would tend to suggest that we in Anguilla like the status quo – we like it so. If that is not the case, why then do we as a people tolerate the incessant bad behavior and policies of government after government? Is it that we don’t know any better, don’t care, or simply don’t give a damn?
As we rifle through the archives, we are faced with the stark reality that we’ve been down this road once before. In fact we’ve been down this road several times before and we continue to follow it despite the fact that we know exactly where it leads. So what is it that we are doing wrong, and what are the solutions? Kennedy Vanterpool, in his “We Are All Foreigners”, tell us that in order to find a solution to any problem in life, we have to “go back to the beginning.” So, in other words, rather than deal with the symptoms, go back and find out what the problem is.
In Anguilla, we know what the problems are. There are only so many ways that one can say what is wrong with us and after a while it becomes redundant. For a people who have always been independent, we’ve allowed ourselves to be manipulated by incompetent leaders and the like.
We seem to have gone away from the things that brought us out of the dark ages. We have gone away from the worship of God. The only time we seem to remember him is “when push comes to shove.” Right now we are behaving like the Israelites in the desert. While we may not be worshipping a ‘golden calf’ we are doing much more despicable things.
Despite the fact that the world, as we once knew it, is slowly crumbling around us, we continue to stick our heads in the sand like the ostrich. Like the advocates of Brexit, we have no alternatives in place. It is obvious that Great Britain right now has a myriad of problems: pressure from the EU to get out, the issue of Scotland and so on, and the problems of a perceived lowly overseas territory like us would not be a priority.
So basically we have to clean up our act and get it together for, if we don’t, we are digging ourselves deeper in the hole and, as the saying goes, when you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Whether or not we’re able to see and recognize the error of our ways remains to be seen. We have become a people who have turned away from God and have taken a route similar to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. We partake in the evils of prostitution and gambling and many other vices. How is this allowed to happen in a God fearing place such as Anguilla? How is it that all of these illicit establishments are allowed to operate? What is the problem? How did we find ourselves in this precarious position?
Maybe it can be answered in a few words: the almighty dollar, the greenback, the Yankee Dollar. We recall the famous calypso in which the virtues of the Yankee Dollar were extolled. Set against the backdrop of an idyllic Caribbean, the Andrews Sisters belted out to a calypso beat: “Rum and coca cola, Go down Point Koomahnah, both mother and daughter, working for the Yankee Dollar.” We became obsessed with money much to the detriment of our young.
We wanted to be progressive and we got progress in large doses, so much so that Mr. Osborne Fleming, our then Chief Minister ,who had bemoaned the fact that things were bad, was now singing a different song, so much so that he had to slap a moratorium on future development. In fact, he could pick and choose which developments he wanted to go forward and, if my memory serves me correctly, the 2005 election campaign hinged solely on the promise to get the Junks Hole project approved. We would soon find out that, in Anguilla, a politician’s word is not worth the effort it takes to give it.
Later we would come to find out that Osborne usually spoke out of both sides of his mouth and you never knew which side spoke the truth. We found out that when the chips were on the table, it became a choice between the Flag and Junks Hole projects. The proprietors of Flag rolled the dice and so East End lost yet again. A deep pocketed developer was able to call his own shots. That was the beginning of a pattern that to this day continues.
American Airlines allegedly induced us into building a longer airport to accommodate their planes, and after all was said and done they pulled up stakes and left – no questions asked and no penalties levied. We watched as LIAT was allowed to leave while our CM Mr. Hughes flippantly said that we will now have to look to St. Martin for help. Winair, the airline that we grew up with, was allowed to leave without so much as a peep to get them to stay.
We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. We’ve had successive governments who really could not say that they had our best interests at heart. They had no master plan and that in itself was a cardinal sin. We looked at the bottom line and the contributions it would make to our pension plans and we basically forgot about everyone else. What is the problem? Is it that we are a people who are still suffering the effects of political immaturity, political insensitivity, and political naivety and, as Damien Hughes suggested (in Anguilla’s commemorative magazine Anguilla 40), an electorate that is still in dire need of political education?”
Is it that we don’t know what is required of our government? We’ve been at this for far too long now to continue to accept the incompetence with which we are being governed. If we were a business, we would have gone belly up a long time ago, and that we are allowed to continue in as incompetent a manner that we have is simply amazing.
Just recently the Auditor General released a report for the year 2011 that should have us all up in arms, for it did not look on us in a favorable light. It said: the GOA has not maintained adequate records to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the figures reported. In addition, the accounts do not include a statement outlining the details of remissions, write offs and settlements as required by the Act. Words like not complied and not maintained were used to describe the GOA’s actions. But, of course, we like it so.
We have a government that doesn’t listen to or engage the people. Whatever happened to the promise of a gentler, kinder, administration? Was that just lip service? What happened to the promise to engage the people? We are no longer a democracy. We are now a colony of a Central Bank in St. Kitts, of all places, thanks to Victor and his cronies. This is what a mandate gets us. Just who are we? What happened to those people who were self-sufficient?
We became a nation of consumers. We started depending on imports, that which was foreign to us. In a sense we became ashamed of ourselves, ashamed of the things that got us to this point — the salt ponds, the cotton, and the pigeon peas, all the crops that we used to see at one time or another. The land that was once teeming with produce now sits barren with cockspur and cassia trees growing where tall pigeon pea trees once waved in the breeze with branches teeming with peas. It’s obvious that we have to look to the past and retrieve those things that worked for us and maybe, with a little tweaking, can bring them into the 21st century without missing a beat.
My fellow countrymen, we cannot continue to do this nonsense. Doing something over and over and expecting different results is called insanity. Are we insane? One party gets in power and fails to deliver. We spend the next five years bickering and having buyer’s remorse. We replace that party and it’s a repeat of the same crap. We cannot continue to do this. Somewhere along the line someone has to stand up and say enough. We want the lot of you gone. Let us do the things we need to do to restore Anguilla’s rightful place on the world stage, and that includes ridding ourselves of the excess baggage that we’ve reluctantly acquired along the way. Start with showing up at the House of Assembly and let Victor and company know that we are watching them every step of the way.
Anguilla has got problems – mega problems. A lot of them are self-inflicted, and have been compounded over the years, and have been allowed to fester like a rotten sore, one that needs to be surgically removed. We know what the root of the problem is. But as long as we’re willing to stand around and do nothing, one can only conclude – of course, we like it so. If only we have the will and the balls to operate. Until we are able to do that, all we can do is pray that those in power do not give away the farm. So till next time, may God bless us all and may He continue to bless Anguilla.
