Thomas Paine, writing in his seminal pamphlet, “Common Sense” about government, had this to say. “Most writers confuse society with government. They are not only different but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness. The former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections; the latter negatively by restraining our devices. The one encourages intercourse; the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last is a punisher.”
Paine goes on to say, “society in any state is a blessing, but government in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries we might expect in a country without a government, our calamity is heightened. By reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.” In other words, the ones that we voted for with their grand promises, are the same ones who turn their backs on us.
In a democracy, it is the people and not the politicians that have the power to affect change. In Anguilla, it seems appointed civil servants have even more of that power. The British Westminster system of government winners take all; an elective dictatorship if you will, that can do whatever it pleases, sans checks and balances. Politicians are allotted a five-year term to seek the favor of the public servants’ massive voting block by beating down the opposition, and ignoring the people, who must wait till the next ballot to affect change again.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States of America remarked, “the future of a country is directly linked to the current opportunities available to its young people. Children are the most valuable resource and the best hope for its future.” In Anguilla, we keep seeing the same nonsense. Inflated budgets, people taxed to death, living conditions unchanged, young people fleeing offshore, because they cannot survive, yet the red carpet greets foreign investors ripe for bleeding of taxes and fees as our people wander like nomads in search of a better way of life.
Over the last several years, we have lost over three thousand of our best and brightest, one fifth of us. Our esteemed leaders would do well to ask why is this happening? Could it be that life in Anguilla is unsustainable, that young entrepreneurs face too many hurdles to start businesses, or is it that we are cast aside after casting our votes? Look at the civil service, how it operates, who oversees it for some answers.
It is said that leadership determines how subordinates behave and perform by setting the organizational culture, communicational style and approach to work. A leader’s actions influence employee motivation, collaboration, an adherence to rules as well as their willingness to think and work outside the box, handle conflicts and engage with peers.
It is the job of the government, any government to do for the people what they can’t do for themselves, and by extension to provide essential public services to the people with dignity and respect. This work ranges from providing direct services like air traffic control and managing the public health system which guarantees that the ER is always staffed, to ensure public education, public safety, handling administrative duties, Customs and Immigration. In other words, Public Service is the life’s blood without which the body would die.
Public servants are supposed to be hired and promoted on performance and tenure, rather than a “who you fer,” or political affiliation, to ensure stability and impartiality and uphold the common good. Simply put, the civil service is supposed to serve the people and not the other way around. Such services have no room for vindictiveness or bias. Hopefully, that is not the intended practice, however, we hear stories time after time of rogue civil servants who behave as if they’re doing you a favor, being uncooperative and rude. Getting anything done in Anguilla is often described as harder than a root canal. When it comes to settling issues, it is left up to you to make the case, being asked for receipts dating back years, and then being ignored, without responses; after repeated queries, if ever.
While some civil servants try their best, others act as if they have the power to do whatever they want, as if the civil service is out of control. They treat us like second class citizens and we ask, who are these arrogant and condescending civil servants and how did they accumulate so much power? Why do they make it so difficult for us to do business in our own country? Is it that they work for other appointed civil servants, instead of our elected ministers? Do their leaders care about the way in which they serve the people?
Barbadian Prime Minister the Honorable Mia Motley, was spot on when she spoke at Cop 26 and said, “Leaders must Lead.” Where are our leaders and how can they continue to accept a constitution that’s as ancient as the pyramid at Giza, and general orders that delegate so much authority to the civil service?
It is the job of the Deputy Governor to oversee, among other things, the Public Service, to ensure the effective delivery of the government’s program and to uphold the values of good governance. That said, what then is the problem? With whom and where does the buck stop? It appears that the system needs a complete overhaul, as reflected in a recent consulting report (bean counters) on the public service sector.
A good leader is one that surrounds him or herself with competent people who will get the job done in a fair and equitable manner. A great leader knows all that goes on within his or her government. A great leader is one that represents all the people, not just the ones that voted for him or her. A great leader is one that does not acquiesce to the demands of the Crown at the expense of his or her constituents. At the end of the day, we are all Anguillians, and as such, should be treated with the dignity and respect that everyone deserves.
While our leaders bear the responsibility to represent everyone, we know without the shadow of a doubt, that’s not always the case. We’ve become polarized, and the fact that civil servants don’t work for them, much less the rest of us, leaves our people lost between the promises, the polls and what has been passed off as public service. So, when policies and how they choose to serve, are left up to those, our homegrown oppressors, to do as they please, the people are left as beggars, victims of politics of the belly in our own house.
My fellow Anguillians, we cannot continue this trajectory. Somewhere along the way, a “change’s gonna come,” to quote the Sam Cooke standard. Until we can look ourselves in the mirror and be honest with ourselves, we’ll continue the same path for which there is no destination. In Lewis Carrol’s “Alice in Wonderland,” the Cheshire Cat says to Alice, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.” Where are we going?
Earlier this year, we refused to follow the APM, the same guys who promised us “change that couldn’t wait.” They did the very same things that they said they wouldn’t do. I suspect that the current government has been misled to continue many of them in the interest of “continuity” between administrations, or is that “continuity” under a blind Crown that leaves the public service without leadership or a commitment to serve any interests but their own.
Anguilla does not appear to love or care for its own, because if it did, it would not make it next to impossible for our people to do business in their homeland. The business they need to pay their way, while chasing away the people our ministers were elected to prioritize over concrete. Whatever happened to people first? Till next time, may God bless Anguilla.
