As I greet my fellow Anguillians, as well as all those persons who have chosen to be spending their Yuletide Season with us from countries near and far, I pray the peace and love from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, abide with all of us throughout the coming year.
Of all the many speeches I am obliged to write for my many and varied functions in my capacity as the political leader of Anguilla, the one that humbles me most is the one I write for this celebration of the birth of our greatest leader, our Christ.
When as a student I was in my last stages of preparing to take my Senior Cambridge Examination, I dropped Biology after I fall out with the master and I was advised by the Principal, who insisted that I will have to take another subject and since I only had two terms left to study that subject, I decided to do Scripture in which I had to learn about the life of Christ – His birth, life and death, as well as the Acts of the Apostles. But when I glance back into the Old Testament and make the link it is then I realized how relevant the relationship between the Church and State is. In my view the Mohammidan world that tie between State and Church is much more pronounced as we have seen more recently in Egypt when a newly elected Government dominated by the Moslem Brotherhood, was elected to power the religious was so impacted that the military intervened to remove the Government from power.
As Anguilla enters this Christmas Season, we cannot escape the many utterances coming from the tongues of those persons who we saw playing an important part in moulding our Christian upbringing. Some of these candidates for political leadership even try to qualify themselves on the basis of their continuing attachments and work done in the church, and here is where my study of the Life of Christ and the Acts of the Apostles is seriously challenged.
In the Old Testament much is said concerning the chosen type of political leadership – whether it be Kings or Judges or some other form. In the New Testament we look forward to the birth of a child king and from the time of the prophesy surrounding His being conceived in the womb of a Virgin named Mary, who was engaged to be married, the earthly kinds like Herod became politically boisterous and said to have wanted the Christ killed at his birth. We therefore who studied the story leading up to His trial, condemnation and ultimate execution, can now relate His story to what is occurring from the political personalities leading up to the 2015 general elections in Anguilla.
As far as my position in politics is projected by my opponents the main charges against me, my many sins conflict. On one hand I am accused of being racist and on the other hand I man condemned for not representing the people of Anguilla because I show too much favour to the cause of our immigrants who seek employment in Anguilla. Because it will take too much of my time in a Christmas message to defend these two conflicting and unfounded accusations, I would prefer to use that space in referring to one sermon preached by Christ and aptly called the Sermon on the Mount, and I will appeal to those who hear this Christmas Message to judge my conduct on those two sins by this message of the greatest preacher we have ever heard. And I pray that those who read what I say I will do now can relate it to what Christ said about His greatest commandment of love, and also of his reference to the Parable of the Good Samaritan. After all, Christmas is about Christ, and Christ did say that we should love one another and He did ask us to be Good Samaritans.
An Immigration Officer had me told off as I was accused of being too lenient to our immigrant workers, but on one occasion a Jamaican whose work permit was delayed in being renewed was asked to leave Anguilla almost immediately, but when that same Immigration Officer who previously expressed dislike of immigrants, when the Jamaican began to cry his eyes out in the corridor as he faced the prospect of leaving Anguilla, the Immigration Officer phoned me at 7 pm appealing to me to save this man from being expelled from Anguilla. It was certainly the Christian conscience of that Immigration Officer which caused a change of heart.
So, my fellow Anguillians please join with me as we consider the message in the Sermon on the Mount – The Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all things of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in Heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the Prophets who were before you.
So, as I deliver what is my final Christmas message as Anguilla’s Chief Minister and Leader of Government business in the House of Assembly, I urge my fellow Anguillians to love and to be good Samaritans not only for this Christmas, but for all time. The place of the birth of Jesus clearly reveals that his mother Mary was far from home. This was a Royal Birth, a Prince – the King of a great people – the Jews, born not in a palace, but in a cow pen.
As we celebrate this Christmas, let us not forget the many blessings we in Anguilla enjoyed despite the dismal social and economic dilemma my AUM Government encountered over the last four plus years. We not only inherited a failed economy, but a hostile Governor who incited an unsympathetic Opposition and a heartless Civil Service who could not accept the peoples decision to choose and change their Government and despite a flawed electoral process which worked against the principles of being free and fair.
For me, it was agonizing to be tasked with meeting the bill to pay Public Servants as I was embarrassed into borrowing EC$10M from the Social Security Fund just 14 days after my new AUM Government took office. That reality of being obliged to borrow so soon after coming to government though, should have been expected from the fact that in the final days of the outgoing AUF Government there was a serious argument between the Ministers and HMG over the British Government refusal to facilitate the borrowing of $49M to meet Recurrent Expenditure causing the AUF leaders to call for Independence from Britain.
It is therefore rather irresponsible and somewhat unchrist-like for people who are running for political office to be misleading our people that the AUM Government deliberately introduced or imposed the Interim Stabilization Tax levy or even that it is the only tax that exists in Anguilla. The AUF leaders know full well that HMG referred to increased Revenue measures to take place after the 2010 general elections, and they also know that without the approval of the Secretary of State the Anguilla Government cannot remove a Tax.
I can report to you that during the year, my AUM Government has returned to some Civil Servants in dire need, their deferred salaries, and that we were hoping to make a complete Christmas pay off of all deferred salaries, but so far, unfortunately the means by which those payments were to be paid did not materialize.
Let us not forget, nonetheless, that the issue of deferred salaries was one of the legacies my AUM Government inherited from the AUF Government on the 16th February 2010. Despite that, we will honour and respect the pledge we gave to pay as funds become available. We do get some consolation that due to the economic measures my AUM Government have taken in getting our unemployed mainly among the construction and hotel workers gainfully employed mainly by ensuring Anguillians jobs are not occupied by Indians, Chinese and Mexicans, many families can shop this Christmas.
In the last month I have signed off three MOU’s – one for the expansion of existing hotel project in the West, one for a very large construction project for the Junks Hole Bay and Savannah Bay, and a third big project for Corito. Unfortunately some greedy, heartless people continue to discourage these developments promising the investors that the Opposition they support will give the investors much bigger and better tax concessions.
Another one of the problems my AUM has inherited, relates to the two local banks and we continue to negotiate with the U K Government, a joint solution to that problem.
On the 29th November, I took a very able team of advisors to the GMC meeting in London, where we had many useful dialogues with UKG officials but we are still awaiting the final Report promised by the ECCB in St Kitts before we can conclude those discussions with the UK Government on a final and workable resolution.
Let me conclude by informing my fellow Anguillians that your AUM Government is seriously committed to developing a stable, secure and prosperous Anguilla, not only for now, but for many generations to come, and we feel comfortable in wishing you all a most joyful and happy Christmas and a New Year filled with hope. And as I plan to demit office after the upcoming general elections, I take this opportunity to express thanks and appreciation to all those decent Christian-minded people all over this island who constantly prayed for me and the members of my Government during this turbulent five years. I will especially want to take this opportunity to shower great appreciation and sincerest praise and admiration to all those gracious folks in Blowing Point and South Hill for the love and admiration they have showered me with all these turbulent years. To all of you, I pray a delightful Christmas and New Year filled with hope.
May God bless you and may God bless Anguilla.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
