When it first started we did not think it would come to this. But man! Look what happened! It has become a free for all. The dress code is “wash your foot and come”. This is “disorganized chaos”! It is the Wild West re-lived and everybody doing their own thing. Has anybody seen Jessie James or Daniel Boone lately?
Proper political practice has been shunned and relegated to a place of not wanted. There is a deliberate push to ignore rules and regulations and a total rejection of the use of knowledge in politics. We have now become a failed state and a Banana Republic. There is complete disregard for substance or subject matter. The situation is now a “please yourself” world — do your own thing. That is the attitude that has developed under the Hughes regime. This is the worst ever political trap into which Anguillians have fallen. Surely every Jumbee is crying now. They cannot figure out what is going on.
Foremost is the glaring degeneration of the conduct and composition of the House. It is readily noticeably that the CM is incapable and out of his depth. He shows this as he buzzes around different places seemingly without a clue of what is going on. This level of operation causes other people to see Anguilla and Anguillians as degenerate and backward. At the same time, as if to add insult to injury, the Speaker acts like a constitutional illiterate. She appears unwilling to learn or practice basic parliamentary procedures and abuses her role as the Speaker in the conduct of the House.
Outside the House they appear to be egged on by the self-appointed emissary to the Kingdom. The near blasphemy and rhetoric have already assured them of the consequences incurred by the sin of not voting for them. And now, because of British intransigence, they drag the analogy of Moses coming down from Mt Sinai into it. That was the last straw. It has destroyed credibility and makes its reference to the issue pathetic. Furthermore, it kills all good faith and suspends respect. It makes the “holier than thou” Pharisee look like a dishonest political interfering party hack.
But if the analogy was intended as a political ploy it was at its best a deceptive comparison. It is porous. It cannot hold water. In no way can the British be said to be acting like Pharaoh. Pharaoh did everything earthly possible to subject the children of Israel and keep them in bondage. It is a cruel lie to compare that behaviour with our present situation. For a long time now every ranked FCO official that has come here, over the years, has declared to all the policy of HMG. Each and everyone has said the expressed will of the people is all that is necessary for Anguillians to change their political connection with the U. K. The collective desire is usually expressed by way of a referendum. Most recently, British kith and kin in the Falklands exercised that option and less than one quarter of one percent wanted to change status. Fortunately, for us our CM witnessed the occasion first hand. So what are we making noise about.
They say: “Those who have ears to hear let them hear!” Who is he in Anguilla that has not heard that proposition, let him speak the truth or unfairly continue to protest. The truth about Moses trip to the Mountain is that when he returned he brought back the Ten Commandments, which is the first set of rules of governance given to man. It is unlike today’s Anguilla House of Assembly Rules because no amount of irreverence; ill will; or bad mind can diminish it. All emissaries should bear this in mind if they intend to make worthwhile presentations. Even today the rule, “Thou shall not bear false witness” is invaluable to statements that come from politicians. Although Moses concern was with the freedom of the people, there was a further concern that free people go with rules etched in stone that taught them how to live with one another.
This is who is needed now — not a Hughes but a Moses who would bring rules and regulations to steer us towards a better quality of governance and move us away from chaos. Our emissaries should go back to find the pre-revolutionary enthusiasm and yearning for raising the bar and begin the discourse that will turn us around; get our act together; and cause us to feel that we are moving forward. The discontent and cause for the “breakaway” was the feeling that Anguilla would be politically better managed by its own. This regime has left the reality of that thought suspended. Perhaps the best is yet to come under a Government a with different mind-set. Good results are obtained when rules are followed. Because when rules are used it is easier to predict the outcome. Nothing good is being served Anguilla when a Speaker can, allegedly, arbitrarily change the rules. It is pitiful. But that is the growing trend, which the new AUF Government will quash.
That trend needs to be reversed because, if carried on, legislative activity would become a farce and the House can practically become a puppet show. For our political advancement this is not where we should be. So far we have turned it into a dysfunctional habitat. We have changed who goes there and how they should perform when they get there. Gone are the halcyon days of Sir Emile Gumbs who believed he was a servant of the people and did his best in their interest. Teacher Albena and Mrs. Idalia Gumbs attached great respect to the House and sought to maintain a level of decorum compatible to that of a Member of the House. The Honourable Leroy Rogers fought incessantly for good conduct; the maintenance of the Rules of the House and particularly for the observance of a quorum in its proceedings. Therefore he commanded respect for this important institution from every Member whether they were inside or outside the Chamber, and from the elected representatives and all others alike. Nearly always what is done tells the better story. We still have Hughes the Elder story. He has been the most controversial and negative political figure in Anguilla’s recent history.
So the evolution of the Revolution ended up with the political confusion of Hughes the Elder, and the philosophical illusion of Hughes the Younger that being there is no place for education in this political system. Furthermore, it is considered Elitist.
Along with these ideas are those of the emissary to the “kingdom of independence ” whose contorted views takes us into the realm of theology and forces him to unabashedly invoke the power of the almighty. Not everyone would consider going there.
Fellow Anguillians, the breakdown of political standards in the last fours years reveals the difference in capability of the Members then and of those now. Think about this some more, and imagine what the country would be like. Is there not something missing? Should we allow them to ”mash up the place? ”Well then do not drink their Kool-Aid! And don’t vote for this again! And if the cry of Moses and the Israelites was for freedom from Pharaoh, then our cry is for freedom from this regime; from want; for jobs; and for a time when kids don’t have to cry because they didn’t get enough to eat. We need the freedom for all to grow financially. Essentially, it was not just for us to say bathroom instead of lablolly tree. It was for all of us to escape the possibility of this disorganized chaos!
