Each week as I prepare to write my editorial I think of topical issues affecting Anguilla that I could examine critically, and on which I could express an opinion with a view to getting others to think about the said issues. I must therefore apologise if it seems that week after week I sometimes dwell on similar topics. It may perhaps be an indication that these are the main issues facing Anguilla.
Our Chief Minister has been expressing publicly our financial woes and his feelings of powerlessness. Recently, he indicated that our economy is dead. He has said that our 2014 budget is not looking good. He has alluded that there have been deliberate efforts to stymie economic growth. And in bringing a motion in the House of Assembly recently, for duty free concessions, he suggested that he was not in favour of the motion but that Ministers have no power and public servants were running the country.
The Chief Minister’s statements are cause for concern. Not only because of our difficult financial situation, but mainly because his statements suggest that he has no plan as to how to get us out of this quagmire. To be fair, he has indicated that for the balance of his time in government he would do his best to “ensure that there is a colossal change in the economy of this island, …[and] look at innovative and constructive ways of changing our focus and looking for development from different sources.” However, we are left to wonder why hasn’t this been done already? During his campaign for office, the Chief Minister assured us that he had a plan to turn Anguilla around. To give him the benefit of the doubt, it may be that when his Government assumed office, and got a full grasp of the situation, he realised that his plan could not work. However, he has now been in office for three years and eight months. Certainly, he has had more than enough time to come up with a new plan but there is not the slightest hint or sign of it.
Rather than the bickering, name calling, blaming, accusations (founded or unfounded), character assassination and the like, the time in office could have been better spent on actively seeking and devising strategies to turn around the economy. When one considers the number of MOUs signed and compares that to the number of projects that are actually underway, something does not add up. The question this raises is whether or not our Government did proper due diligence checks to ensure that the entities they were signing MOUs with could actually deliver. Or could it be that, in their desperate attempts to boost the economy, they simply said “yes” to developers who came along, without assessing legitimacy and capacity? There is an old saying, “hurry slowly” and there is a lesson in it for our Government. While we all agree that we need swift action to turn around our economy, this does not mean that our Government should throw caution to the wind. We are depending on you to exercise good judgment, prudence and expediency once you have all the relevant information.
The bottom line is that Anguilla is going into yet another year of economic recession. As recently as Friday I learnt that more workers were laid off by a major resort. This means that more families are being plunged into poverty. It also means that there will be more pressure on social services and, based on the Chief Minister’s statements on the budget, we can expect that the available services will not be able to fully cater to the increased needs. There are many families out there in need of assistance. They are literally feeling the effects of this economic crisis in their bellies. How much longer will our people suffer? When Anguillians took the decision in 1967 to expel the St Kitts policemen from their island, that symbolic act meant that a new day had come for Anguilla and indeed, as a country, tremendous strides were made since then. So how did we get back here? How has all that we have worked so hard for been so quickly eroded? Can we truly say our country has progressed if so many of our people are hungry?
Another election is fast approaching. We cannot be sure what the result will mean for us. Will the Chief Minister’s promised efforts bear fruit before then, or will it be up to a new administration to lead us out of this huge mess? What is clear is that we cannot continue like this for much longer. The basic necessities of life are being stripped away from many Anguillians and remain elusive for others. As a community, we have to help each other survive in these trying times. However, an end to – or at least a reprieve from – this crisis demands the prudent action of our elected Government.
