If Nelson Mandela’s quote that “Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders” can be taken seriously, then Glenneva Hodge, an Independent Island-wide candidate in the upcoming elections in Anguilla, may be on the right path, given her leadership role in the community from a very young age.
A very positive person, since her school days, she was a onetime Caricom Ambassador for Anguilla among a series of other youth engagements on the island and in the Caribbean region.
The Anguillian newspaper asked her whether her leadership role on the island had anything to do with her entry into the political arena – or was a kind of launching pad towards that end.
“I think I have always been, in one form, or the other, very community-minded,” she replied. “I have been involved in community clubs from a very young age and it became natural for me to progress into leadership roles. So the idea of politics and leadership is not new for me – whether it was student government here in Anguilla or at my college. I was always part of student government when I returned to Anguilla from the H. Lavity Stout College in the BVI. Since then I have been giving back to the community. I tutored at the Alwyn Allison Richardson Primary School and there were a number of girls who expressed interest in doing something more. So it became natural for me to start a Girl Guiding Company in West End. I founded the 8th Girl Guiding Company there and then I started to increase my level of activism and inclusion in policies. I then went on to be the Treasurer of the Anguilla National Youth Council and became a National Caricom Youth Ambassador involved in the Anguilla Youth Parliament. Overtime, that really helped to develop my love for policy and government function. I guess it was a marrying of all of those things that led me to where I am at now.”
“What do you wish to see for Anguilla?” Ms. Hodge was asked.
“That is a very easy, yet complicated question”, she responded. “I want to see Anguillians able to achieve their highest level of self-recognition in terms of the fact that the opportunities are there for them to advance themselves; and that Anguilla can move forward. For Anguilla to move forward means that our people have to move forward. It is allowing our people to achieve their wildest dreams; and we must be able to put the mechanisms, platforms, infrastructure and policies in place so that they can do so. Anguilla has exported no small number of persons, and they have done well despite the lack of infrastructure that currently exists for them. I wonder if we truly had the mechanism and infrastructure in place for them to succeed, how much further we could have been.”
That said, Ms. Hodge was asked how much a voice she considered herself to be for women’s rights.
“I grew up a Girl Guide and was surrounded by some very strong women in my entire life, and I felt a responsibility to empower other girls” she recalled. “The Girl Guide organisation instilled in me the importance of empowering young women. My only trip to the UK was because of a Girl Guiding camp where I was able to build life-long friendships – and that was more than 20 years ago. It is from there that my foundation for women’s empowerment started. Once I became a Youth Ambassador, I teamed up with the Gender Affairs Unit when it was having a campaign for the Domestic Violence Bill. That, then, catapulted me to another level of activism on behalf of women’s rights.
“My interest just started to snowball from there and I got into advocating for women’s right on ‘Break the Silence Campaign’, and then I became involved in SAFE (Stop the Abuse for Everyone). That is the Board of Directors for the hopefully soon to come online, Domestic Violence Hotline. I was elated to have been elected President of the then Anguilla National Council of Women, now rebranded Anguilla National Organisation of Women. That has again opened numerous horizons for me in terms of being able to connect with women locally – and on the regional stage as an Executive Member of the Caribbean Women’s Association.”
Ms Hodge has strong familial roots in West End and Stoney Ground, as well as in The Valley, where she had her early education. It was therefore likely for her to choose a district to run for election. Instead, she opted to be an Island-wide candidate.
She was asked to comment on this matter. “I was hard-pressed to choose any one district to run in so the Island-wide race was much more suitable to me,” she stated. “It endeared me more so I jumped right in. I knew what I wanted to do and I had been preparing for it. So on July 1st, 2019, I launched my candidacy. At that time, neither of the prominent political parties had announced any of their island-wide candidates. At that time I would have been approached by either the parties themselves, agents or representatives but, as it worked out, I remained an Independent Candidate. It was something that I was not afraid to do when I started my journey. I was not afraid to go out there on my own. It was not the easiest journey but, at the end of this, I can be proud to say I have done it on my own. I have no financial backing from any party – and I have not received any outside financial backing. I am standing on my own two feet, and paddling my own canoe.”
Given the party political system in Anguilla, and the fact that a Government normally emerges from that composition, Ms. Hodge was asked where she would swing her allegiance if requested to do so by one of the parties.
“It is a question that I have been confronted by from the beginning,” she acknowledged. “The one thing that I can assure persons who will vote for me, is that they know me and the things that I value. You know the issues and policies that I have campaigned on. Rest assured, should it be an option, I would align myself with the persons or entity whose policies, ideas and values are most in line with my own. I would align myself with those who value my contributions and ensure that the platform on which I campaigned is respected by their administration.”
The thoughtful island-wide candidate added:
“That being said, I do not fear sitting in opposition. I truly believe that Anguilla deserves a strong opposition and so if a particular party wins outright – six seats, the majority, there will absolutely be no reason for me to join that entity. There is always room for a strong opposition because there is a tenant of accountability, and the role of the opposition is to really hold the executive accountable to the people of Anguilla. And so, I see that as a role I can fill in the opposition.”
Whether Ms Hodge is elected, aligns herself with a party or a set of other persons with her ideals for leadership, or finds herself in opposition, she will no doubt fill the role and dream of the leader she aspires to be.
