With the advent of ministerial government, Anguilla’s trajectory on to the world stage was launched. However, the refusal of our leaders to work directly with the British Government to receive the necessary tutorials in the art of good governance, in my opinion, was a grave mistake – one that has come back time after time to haunt us. What we wound up with has been a series of coalitions – if you can truly call them that – governments that either had to be dissolved, or for the lack of a better term, survived because the alternative would have been too costly or embarrassing for some.
For too long now we’ve sat back and let our welfare up to a few men, usually the same ones, term after term, assuming that they would look out for our best interests. Well, lo and behold, that has not happened. What these distinguished gentlemen have done, more often than not, has been to look our for their own interests. Under democracy, our system is called a representative one. We elect you and send you to represent us. You were hired to make sure that we don’t perish on the vine, that our children are properly educated and fed, that they are safe from predators in house or out. It is your job to make sure that we optimize our resources in which we leave no one behind – and I mean no one. That our young men should have to enter one of our high-end restaurants wearing masks and brandishing guns and machetes in broad daylight, forces us to take stock and ask the sixty-four thousand dollar question, “Where did we go wrong?”
When we are forced to survive in that manner, all of us, especially our elected representatives, should be shaking in their boots, and waking up at night in a cold sweat, because they have not done the job that they were elected to do. Each of us as citizens of Anguilla should not be hanging back waiting to see who is going to step up and say or do something. It’s up to us to make the change. We can’t sit around for another year and watch and listen to our impotent politicians tell us why they can’t do this and they can’t do that. The time for talking has gone. It is now time for action. Like I’ve said many times before, those deciding to contest any of the seats better be ready, or you better be prepared to get the number of that truck that just throttled you. Gentlemen, you are not going to set the agenda. We will. We don’t have a League of Women Voters like some places, but we will have something comparable. It is time that we start doing things the way that they’re supposed to be done. We will want to know what makes you think that you are qualified for the job. We will want to know how you will go about the job, what is your philosophy, what is your vision for Anguilla and how do you propose to execute and turn that vision into a reality. Gentlemen and ladies, oh yes, your time has come, so be ready for the deluge. I expect to see the ladies out in full force.
The time is now. Se si pueda. Yes we can. We can all put our shoulders and push so that this magnificent rock, that we call Anguilla, can start to roll again. We have looked on as administration after administration have come and gone, leaving behind modest achievements when given the resources and determination could have been on par with some of our more successful overseas brothers. The report card always reads: Did not fully live up to capabilities. Does not quite put out its best efforts.
For forty plus years, we have wandered back and forth from one regime to the next, each one throwing the previous one under the bus. We have failed to reach a general consensus, on what it is we need to accomplish. We are operating under a constitution that is outdated and without the proper checks and balances that will allow us to go forward in a manner that is without bumps in the road. We have an electoral system that needs to be overhauled – one that no one seems to have the cojones to admit that it’s flawed and needs fixing. And, as Colville Petty so eloquently pointed out some years ago, as long as it benefits the ones in power they have no incentive to tamper with it. The old adage of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” comes into play here.
The time has come for Anguilla to take its rightful place on the world’s stage in every conceivable way. It is time for the younger generation to take over the reins of govern-mint. The days of voting for someone because you knew their parents or you like them, are a thing of the past. We have to vote with our minds, not our hearts. The day of someone coming to your house and eating your food and thinking that’s enough to get your vote is a thing of the past. If we don’t use our minds this time, we may not have food to share with the politicians. Look around you. Your next door neighbor might not be your next door neighbor anymore. Their inability to pay the mortgage note might cause them to either sell their property or lose it, which brings me to my next point. Does anyone know what’s happening with the banks? What’s happening with our shares? Do we lose them or are they worth anything right now? Has the CM reported to the people what’s going on?
We have let the tide move us along for far too long now. It’s our country and when we were being left to fend for ourselves we did something about it. We were tired of not having the modern conveniences of life – the things that everyone else took for granted. When I think about where we’ve been and how far we’ve come, only to hit this fork in the road – the road that we did not take still haunts us to this day. Atlin, wherever you are, may God bless you. You were right in your choice of roads. Unfortunately, you were fighting a losing battle, one that we seem to have inherited. Be rest assured, that the fight continues.
We will pick up the baton that you so graciously handed over, and we will continue the race to bring to fruition the concepts for which you so vigorously fought. We are going to change the way things are done. It is time for a new generation of women and men to step up and, in the words of the late President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s inaugural speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” So I ask again, what are we doing for our country?
Whether we wait for the next year plus, what we do in the next election will be a bellwether for Anguilla. If there was ever a time that we need to all come together, for the betterment of our people and our way of life, it is now. Ms. Webster has been forceful in what she wants to see happen. I don’t hear from anyone else what their vision is. What’s the plan? It’s time for the women to take front and center. They are more committed to getting things done and that’s the kind of spirit that we need in government right now.
It was wonderful seeing the young lady from Jamaica Ms Tessanne Chin compete on the world stage a few nights ago. Not only did she compete, but she was also crowned the winner. Against all odds, she went out there and week after week she gave it her all. So let’s take a page out of her book and apply it to our little rock. We have an exemplary product and there is no reason why we can’t win. We’re good and when you know that you’re good, you can walk the walk and talk the talk. So let’s walk the walk and talk the talk and do what we need to do. Let’s use Tessanne’s will and determination to go forward.
Our women have shown time and time again that they get things done. It was time that those skills are transferred to government. Our forty years have come and gone. It’s high time that we stop wandering, and complete what we were promised by our forefathers: a free and prosperous homeland. We’re crying for leadership, let’s get this done. Let’s bring out the brooms and make a clean sweep, by whatever means necessary. Si se puede, yes we can. So until next time, remember, as Dr. King said, “We remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” Let us take this yuletide season to look out for our fellowman, for the Bible tells us that we are our brother’s keeper.
Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year everyone. So may God bless us all and may God bless Anguilla.
