As Anguilla gets involved in significant regional and global initiatives, one automatically senses a need for attention to be paid on how we govern ourselves and appear alongside other leaders and people in the world community.
We now find ourselves scoring high marks with membership in various regional and international organisations; signatories to treaties and conventions whether by ourselves or by the British Government acting on our behalf; and the list goes on. Just last week it was announced by the Governor’s Office, and the Ministry of Home Affairs, that the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women is to be extended to Anguilla. Further, on Tuesday this week, the Governor announced that another request was made to the British Government to extend to Anguilla the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime as well as the Convention for the Suppression of Financing for Terrorism. On Tuesday, as well, Anguilla became the first OECS territory to have a national launch of the Global Climate Change Alliance Project, funded by the European Union to the tune of 10.6 million Euros.
As we reflect on the course of our progress over the years, from a so-called backwater in the Caribbean, and an island of abject poverty and gross neglect, we must be thankful for where we are today on the upper rounds of the ladder. With 47 years of post-revolutionary history behind us, gone are the days when we suffered neglect, lack of good leadership and embarrassment by a government in St Kitts “who were utter strangers to us, ignorant of the community and careless of our wants” – ineffectual to lead us as a people.
Conversely, the questions we must ask ourselves today are whether we now have good leadership in Anguilla; whether we are embarrassed by those leading us; whether they have the ability and commitment to do so; whether we are experiencing neglect in varied forms of governance; and whether the needs or wants of our people are really being addressed.
One of the matters we must have forever before us is that the world today has changed, and is changing significantly, and proper representative leadership has become not only a necessity but a premium demand. Though we prided ourselves in the early days of our Revolution to have had persons unschooled or inexperienced in the art of politics as our leaders, the days of the grassroot politicians, with all the trappings of ineptness, selfishness, greed and dictatorial tendencies, are over.
We must have as our leaders, elected representatives whose conduct is not a disgrace in the House of Assembly and on the airwaves; leaders qualified to represent Anguilla in the great halls and capitals of the world to discuss such complex matters as finance, economics and technology; leaders who command respect at home and abroad; leaders who are sensitive to the needs of their people and who, in the process, deny self and put country first. We cannot have situations where Anguilla is accorded high positions of recognition and participation on the world stage, but fail to have the quality of leaders to complement and lend respect to those achievements.
This brings us to the obvious point that, with a general election less than a year away, there is a need for serious soul-searching by our people in terms as for whom to vote. Certainly, not everyone vying for leadership is a suitable candidate worthy of the confidence of the electorate. They either must be “sifted as wheat” or dismissed and despised at the outset as charlatans, opportunists or simply no-goods.
The choice of leaders in this day and age is almost a sacred one. There is an urgent and personal need for all of us to make the right choices from now as the political fray heats up and election promises are loosely thrown around. When the bell rings on election-day the result must be a choice of persons who can deliver sound and responsible leadership for Anguilla. If not, we will be doomed.
