And then came Covid19, and our ports were closed turning off the spigot, which was tourism, the goose that laid the golden eggs. Fisherfolk were prevented from going out to fish, for some, the only means of earning an income with which to support their families. Hotels were closed, in a word, life as we knew it, had come to a screeching halt. Victor, having spent all the money in the government’s coffers, once again found himself at the mercy of the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, who had long wanted Anguilla to conform to the generally accepted practices of good governance, now saw a golden opportunity to do so.
With an empty treasury and no money coming in, in exchange for certain concessions, Victor appeased the Brits in exchange for certain concessions, one of which was the full implementation of GST, a regressive tax that’s incompatible with Anguilla, a place that has no “value added” industry.
So, along comes a new regime, promising to walk away from GST, will show the long-awaited Banking Report, with a promise of “Change Can’t Wait”. Well, it wouldn’t take long before those who hung their hope on that change were betrayed. They knew Victor would do it because he made the deal and took the only chance they had to avoid GST.
Anguilla now finds itself in the throes of taxation without representation, led by leadership bent on destroying what little we have left. We allowed our governments to give themselves excessive raises, reward their friends, while punishing their enemies, allowed a Central Bank, whose only job was accepting deposits and giving balances, to come in and destroy our banks, and in so doing extract our wealth, and set us on a path to the poorhouse. GST is now destroying our businesses in an economy dependent on cash accounts, overdrafts and credit, most unable to track or pay GST before collections like stormtroopers come in.
It is the job of a government to do for its people what they can’t do for themselves. We have seen time after time where our government has failed to represent our best interests in dealing with the Foreign Commonwealth Office and the Central Bank. We will appease the FCO and have ceded our sovereignty to the Central Bank in St. Kitts, the irony of which should not be lost on Anguillians, which forces us to ask the question, on whose side are these guys?
We are being depopulated; we can’t make a living in the place where we were born, our children are out of control. The atmosphere at the High School is so toxic that the brain drain from education to the private sector will no doubt pose a serious problem for the Department of Education. We must ask ourselves the question, why is this happening? Who is to blame?
Sixty years have gone by, and what do we have to show? We are being taxed to the nines while our leaders drive around with a smile on their faces, in cars and new trucks that seem to appear in the night, the way our trees disappeared.
Is that what change looks like? I have always asserted that we were our own worst enemy because we practice what social scientists call the “diffusion of responsibility” in which everyone stands around waiting to see who will aid the person in dire straits. We need to act. We voted them in office, and we can vote them out.
This group of liars are on video, promising no GST, comparing Victor’s government to that of the parasite Yellowdad choking off their favorite mango tree, and as soon as they got into power, they morphed into that very same tree, this time choking the people of Anguilla with GST. Gentlemen, have you no sense of decency?
Maybe it’s time to invoke the words of Oliver Cromwell, when on April 20, 1653, he stormed the Commons Chamber and forcibly dissolved the Rump Parliament stating: “You have sat for too long for any good you have been doing lately…in the name of God, Go!” Folks, you have disgraced yourselves, so I say to the lot of you, “In the name of God, Go!”
The time has come for us to shelve our petty differences, come together for the sake of future generations. Failure to do that will most assuredly result in the loss of our homeland. The evidence is all around us. All one must do is to take a drive around the island. Stop, look and listen and you will know what I mean. In his book Democracy is not a Spectator Sport, Arthur Blaustein, asserts that the lifeblood of democracy is civic engagement.” When asked what did we do when our homeland was teetering on the brink, what will we say? Will we say that it wasn’t our fight, or will we say that we fought like the dickens to hold her to the wind? We need to support and encourage our shadow government to step up and do their job. They must do something about GST, as never have so many controls and harsh penalties been placed on our businessmen, nor driven so many people to board ferries to buy food.
In that same era when Martin Luther King Jr. called his fellow citizens on the US to action with the “fierce urgency of now,” Malcolm X famously warned that, “only a fool plays by the ground rules that his enemy has laid down.” In Anguilla, we might be looked upon as “Bobo Johnnies” because we find ourselves playing by ground rules handed down to us by those whose agenda does not include us. Nothing will change unless we act with the “fierce urgency of now.”
The question is are we up to the task, are we willing to step up to the plate and face that 100 mile per hour fast ball, to use baseball terminology?
We cannot continue like this. To those in the opposition party, Cora and company, you have a chance to redeem yourselves, but it’s not going to happen if you wait for the gang that couldn’t shoot straight to run out their term. You need to admit to blundering, and are willing to make amends, change course, repeal GST and present a five-year plan to the British government that you are serious about self-determination.
The time is now, not when the present government starts for a second term. Right now, it’s about gratuities and pensions. Just as John F. Kennedy urged his people in the US, we must apply here in Anguilla, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” So, my fellow Anguillians, what are you willing to do for your country? Will you stand up and be counted? Will you make those proud and unselfish patriots proud – or stand by silently?
It’s against that backdrop that we now find ourselves at a crossroads that depending on the route that we take will determine if there will be anything left to salvage. Our forefathers, sick and tired of seeing our mothers and fathers having to leave Anguilla for places unknown in search for a better way of life, staged their version of their Boston Tea Party. Damnit let’s assure them that their efforts were not in vain.
Till next time, may God continue to bless Anguilla.
