The Editor
The Anguillian
Dear Editor,
“……DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH, METHINKS”
I received a number of calls about the response by Mr. Sutcliffe Hodge in The Anguillian, for February 3rd, 2012, to my article in the previous week’s issue. My article was entitled: “I am Chief Minister, if you don’t like it get out’a here!” Mr. Hodge’s response was “Setting the Record Straight”.
I wish to comment briefly on Mr. Hodge’s effort to set the record straight.
1. I welcome Mr. Hodge’s straightforward comments expressing serious concerns about the Government’s payment of the EC$40,000.00 to Chief Minister, the Hon. Hubert Hughes.
2. Mr. Hodge explains at great length that the huge bill on Mr. Hughes’ private phone in 28 months arose because Cable and Wireless rarely disconnects politicians, in particular.
3. What does my involvement in a failed fowl farm have to do with the record he is correcting?
4. What record is he setting straight when he tries to implicate me in a similar situation to that of Chief Minister Hughes? Mr. Hodge well knows that “nothing ‘tall go so”. I have never sought nor received special treatment from Cable and Wireless. That is a fact.
5. It is a huge stretch, and quite misleading, for Mr. Hodge to infer that he dealt with a similar case to the Chief Minister’s involving a business in which I was the principal. Nothing could be further from the truth. He knows that there is no such case.
6. If I were one of his former Cable and Wireless bosses, I would be saying, “Thank you, old chap, for defending our decisions on redundancy payments to the Anguillian staff that we terminated”. He is the apologist, in his article for himself and Cable and Wireless, for the shabby treatment of its loyal Anguillian staff that were made redundant.
7. Mr. Hodge does not refute the basic facts about Cable and Wireless’ treatment of the Anguillian staff it let go, on which the comments in my article are based. Unlike him, I do believe the Company could, and should, have done better to its staff, as it has done in many areas over the years, as one of the most responsible corporate citizens. I recall its large grant of at least EC$750,000 for reconstruction after Hurricane Luis in September 1995.
I feel that Mr. Hodge is trying too hard, in his article, to explain away and justify the failure of Cable and Wireless, when he was in charge, to treat the employees laid off with greater concern and, on an “ex gratia” basis, award them something more than a pittance at the end of their employment.
I cannot help but state, like Queen Gertrude said to Prince Hamlet in Act III, Scene II of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, that Mr. Hodge “…. doth protest too much, methinks”.
Sincerely,
Marcel Fahie
