Fellow Anguillans! My People!
Over four years ago, you bestowed on our party the honor and privilege of leading our island. It is an awesome responsibility, one that as Leader of the Anguilla United Front Party I do not take lightly.
The 2015 elections was a hard fought contest, and at the end of it, you the People of Anguilla entrusted us with a mandate to lead our country in the direction we articulated in our campaign and outlined in our Manifesto.
We of the AUF were humbled by this tremendous vote of confidence. You placed your trust in our administration, and we pledged that we would work every day to make a difference in your lives, to right the ship and to ensure a brighter future for our children.
We believe that despite very challenging times of the past four and a half years, we have indeed made a positive difference in Anguilla and in the lives of Anguillians. We will over the months to come continue to make that positive difference. Anguilla is now on the launch path to even greater things and would lead to an even better standard of living and improved life situations overall. Yes Fellow Anguillians despite all the negativity, the reality is Anguilla is a better place since 2015. Because while others talk — we of the AUF Government deliver!
Fellow Anguillians a new political season is upon us. While the elections are not due until the second quarter of 2020, the nation has begun to see the emergence of possible candidates for the 2020 elections. I am so happy and pleased to see and hear about the number of young persons who are now offering themselves for elected office. I hope we all could agree, that this is a direct result of the stance taken by the AUF government, to change the constitution to include at large voting. You will recall, that the introduction of seats at-large or island wide seats is something that was strongly opposed by many members of the opposition groupings. Our party felt strongly that given the real possibility that these electoral changes would not be in time for the upcoming election that we would need to ensure that we made that happen and we are very happy that we did. Now the field is open up for a new set of candidates including persons who may have been disqualified because of nationality restrictions.
I want to encourage the young candidates, to use this campaign to change the culture of politics we now have in Anguilla. Which seems to be characterized by hate and anger. Change to one of love and mutual respect. The practice of verbal abuse and slander must be denounced and it should be replaced by the practice of uplifting each other and the advancement of all our people.
The AUF Party, your Government for the past four and a half years, will again be contesting the Elections in 2020. Based on our record of achievements and the positive impact we have had on Anguilla and Anguillians generally, we believe that we definitely deserve yet another chance to be your Government and to continue with our work of nation building. We are confident that you have already concluded that: “one good term deserves another”.
Fellow Anguillians, the AUF is continuing its transitioning to new and younger candidates, which it started in 2005. For 2020 elections the AUF slate will be a team of men and women, with a well-balanced mix of youth, experience and innovation.
I know we all would agree that the job of governing a country must always be successful with a team in which there is solid experience. The leadership of a nation should not be fully entrusted to inexperienced team. In 2005 when rookie Evans Mcniel Rogers joined team AUF he learnt from the experience of Osbourne Fleming, Kenneth Harrigan, Alberto Hughes and Myself. In 2015, my colleagues Cora, Evalie, Curtis, Cardigan, gained from the experience of Mcniel and myself. I myself, when I entered government benefited from the experience of the father of the Nation, The Hon James Ronald Webster. In this 2020 Elections, the AUF new candidates: Jose’, Oris, Mark and Lockhart will all gain from the experience of the Cora, Curtis, and so on.
I have gone into much detail on this point because it is important to note that experience is a key factor that must exist in any Government.
Team AUF, apart from being experienced and diverse, is also a stable and united team. Those of us who are now in government have worked in an atmosphere of unity. Of course there were times when we had our differences, but those difference never got in the way of us running a stable government. It is stability that enabled Anguilla to rebound through the confidence investors had in a stable government and in Anguilla and Anguillans as a whole.
Like experience, unity and stability are therefore key factors that the leadership of a country must have. We must remember the impact that disunity in Government between 2010-2015 had on Anguilla and the way the outside world viewed us.
Fellow Anguillians, I mentioned that we have new candidates joining our team. They are young, energetic and full of ideas and are ready to implement, with the support of the experience members of the party. These new members applied to run with the AUF and were selected after an interview process where they had to present themselves to a committee in keeping with the manner set out in the by-laws of our Party. It is a deliberate process that is designed to ensure that candidates are selected who are committed and eager to serve Anguilla as a part of our team.
So fellow Anguillians, Team AUF is one of youth, experience and innovative leadership. WE are united, stable, diverse and, optimistic about Anguilla’s future. Over the months team AUF will be approaching you asking for your support. In doing so we will let you know about our time in Government 2015 until now. You will hear about our challenges and achievements. We will also speak with you about our plans for the future. We will not only list what we hope to achieve, but we will speak with you about what is to be achieved, why it is important, how it is to be achieve and when. In deciding what we wish to achieve we would be looking to you for ideas and suggestions. If we truly put our differences aside, together we can agree on what is best for Anguilla.
Fellow Anguillians, I mentioned earlier about the culture of our politics and the need for it to be changed. While a lot depends on the new candidates to make this change, by not adopting what now exists, Team AUF intends to run a clean campaign, void of character assassinations and full of truth and facts. We will be focusing on the issues and things that matter for nation building. We as a team will do our part to rid Anguilla of the anger and hate that now have found its way in our society. However, Team AUF will not sit by and allow any lies or half-truths to sully our reputation. We will not stand by and allow persons to attack us or vilify our families. We reserve the right to respond to any one who seeks to destroy our character with such lies and half-truths. I call on our supporters and indeed all Anguillians to respect each other and refrain from the verbal attacks, that now have become commonplace on our airwaves. To those who will continue with such behaviour I say: “ when your motives are not based on love for your fellowman, you shall fail!”. Yes! “Our motives should be based on love for our fellow man”. And may I add to that: “Not on hatred and division!”
Fellow Anguillians, permit me to turn for a few minutes to the local fake news. This has become an aspect of today’s Anguilla that concerns me! Fake news seems to inundate the social media and other news outlets in our island. This seems to be driven by personal hate for my colleagues and I. This has taught me that it is not about our leadership or government policies that some oppose, but it is strictly personal! That is the problem! Join me in praying for the haters and let them know we forgive them all and we love them!
My people! No doubt many times over the past four and a half years you may have become confused by what you have heard on the many talk shows; through the vicious whispering campaigns; or on social media by those whose sole motive is to plant fear in your minds with the hope of creating instability in our country and ultimately the downfall of your duly elected Government. Thanks again to you my people! You have refused to allow yourself to be misguided by the lies and half-truths.
For this election Campaign the AUF welcomes a healthy debate on all issues, but such debate must be adorned with the truth and aimed at informing us accurately of all situations that affect our lives. It is surely not enough to criticize without offering any alternatives to that which is criticized. This is what we have all heard constantly over the past four and a half years, criticism after criticism on every issue, but with no alternatives offered. I want to thank you again for continuing to ignore the many postings on the blogs, facebook, whatsapp and other social media by cowards who refuse to put their names to their writing. As a people we truly recognize fact from fabrications of the truth.
Fellow Anguillians, a number of persons have already introduced themselves as candidates for the 2020 elections. The AUM has had two launches at which they have formally introduced to date 8 candidates. Other independents have also introduced themselves to you. As political leader of the AUF, I take this opportunity to invite you to the official launch of our party’s team on Saturday November 16 2019, from 6.30 pm in front of English Rose.
At this launch the full AUF team will be introduced and each member will speak with you. We have a full programme of all local artistes for your entertainment. I am inviting everyone to take up this opportunity to be a part of this historic launch of our candidates for the first election under the new constitutional and electoral changes. We look forward to seeing you there.
I thank you and may God Bless Anguilla
