Fellow Anguillians, I greet you on this dawn of a New Year and wish you and your families a blessed, healthy and prosperous 2017. It is difficult to celebrate when we have lost loved ones and 2016 has been especially unkind in that regard. I offer heartfelt condolences to all who mourn. Personally, I lost my uncle Charles and Aunt Jiddy, who were icons in my family. Also, we lost several of our heroines such as Mildred Vanterpool, Dora Bryan, Isley Lake, and Beulah Webster, who bravely supported her husband, David Webster during the Revolution. And our heroes Ras B, Iwandai I, Thomas ‘Ben-Ben’ Smith, Alfred ‘Chappy’ Ruan, The Hon. Albert ‘Belto’ Hughes, and most of all, the Father of the Nation, The Hon. James Ronald Webster. This year celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution will feel empty without his physical presence.
It is even more difficult to be joyful, or even hopeful, when many have lost their jobs or had their businesses shuttered, most as direct consequences of the decisions and policies of our Government. I sympathize with the many former employees of the local banks and now NCBA who lost their jobs. No time is good to be unemployed but it is worse at this time of year when the demands are greatest and plans for the future are made. I also agonize for those current and former hotel employees who are working reduced hours or who have been terminated. Our government must accept direct responsibility for the current state of economic and social decline in Anguilla.
The Chief Minister talks about Hope and sacrifice while he and his group travel first class, and run up the bill at high-end restaurants and luxury hotels. He offers little Hope in the 2017 Budget, which will squeeze the last life’s blood out of the people of Anguilla with new and increased taxes, and regulations and laws which threaten to take away Anguillians’ land and property, pushing local Anguillians away from the beach and coastline, to make prime property available for foreigners, at reduced cost and reduced fees. It is no coincidence that Mr. Banks removed the Department of Lands and Survey from the Ministry of Home Affairs and added it to his portfolio.
The Banking resolution, enacted on April 22, 2016, a date which one Anguillian stated ‘will live in infamy’ (a reference to Second World War Pearl Harbor), continues to be the death nail in the coffin of all Anguillians. This in the callous words of the Chief Minister has resulted in many casualties along the way. This “work in progress” has saddled Anguillians with a heavy tax burden and debt for 25 years, while crippling Anguilla and its reputation; destroyed the two indigenous banks, leaving almost 4000 shareholders as victims rather than beneficiaries of their hard work and enterprising spirit; deprived over 1000 off-shore depositors of access to their savings; forced dozens of Anguillians out of work; and closed a building which once stood as a towering landmark of progress, now it is just a grey, signless, lifeless reminder of Anguilla’s decline. Mr. Banks asks us to bear in mind the greater good- but we have no idea what that is since he has not released the Banking Report to explain why we are on this path; he has not explained the Banking Resolution so we do not know why we owe Social Security $214million or some bank depositors $52million; why the national debt is up 97%, almost doubled in one year. What is the end-game? What is the greater good, Mr. Banks? Is it protecting those who caused the banking crisis? Is it propping up a government devoid of ideas, while reversing every advance Anguilla has made in modern times? Or is it supporting a regime hell-bent on reducing Anguillians to second-class citizens in our own country?
Our Government has imposed laws and carried out actions which have crippled the economy, redefined the social structure, disenfranchised citizens, jeopardized the financial sector, and created uncertainty which has, and will negatively impact Anguilla for generations to come. These unseen plans, with unknown liability, have resulted in burdens considerably higher than anticipated;- prophetic words spoken by Her Excellency, Governor Christina Scott on that fateful day.
Mr. Banks labels anyone who questions him, his policies or his tactics as purveyors of doom and gloom, as people searching for the ‘bogey man’, intending to silence ‘We the people’. Instead of Hope, he has given us Hopelessness and Despair. The 2017 Budget does not have any provisions which will significantly, or even symbolically, improve healthcare, enhance education, modernize roads, or fulfill government’s obligation to pay civil servants what is owed. Even looking through the most optimistic prism, there is no silver lining behind the dark cloud, no positive ray of sunshine to brighten the journey ahead… if we maintain this course.
Mr. Banks urges us to Never Give Up Hope. What is his definition of Hope? Hope, to me, is the young men of the Pond Ground, who on their own initiative, and at their own expense, cleared trees and debris from the pond side and the road into their village so they could make it safer and more attractive; or forming a cycling club to keep the boys and girls positively engaged. That is Hope. Doing for themselves what government cannot or will not do for them.
We make hope possible when we patronize local businesses because these businesses employ our people, support our communities and donate to our charities. We must support our local doctors, lawyers, businessmen and women, architects, consultants and construction companies because what is spent here will stay here. Hope comes alive when we invest in educating ourselves and our children utilizing the various avenues available, including online institutions, The Anguilla Community College and University extension programs. Then when investor confidence is restored, and once again Anguilla is fertile soil for Call Centres, Marinas, Conference Centres, a Medical Tourism Facility, and ready for expansion of renewable energy and the Fishing industry, we will have a work-force that is ‘fit for purpose’. That is Hope. Transformative Hope that will positively impact our nation.
Our Government has proven to be a negative influence on our economy, a burden to the people, and a challenge to our Democracy. It is unthinkable that any patriotic Anguillian would sanction what our government is doing to our beloved country. Even if you are a member of the AUF, supported the AUF or voted for the AUF, you must be concerned about the direction in which Anguilla is headed. In ‘Broken Chords’, Mr. Lennox Vanterpool writes “What will it take to have a revolution of thought in Anguilla? … a real infusion of refreshing, progressive, action-causing thought, devoid of consequential fear.” “When will we say, enough? When will we really declare that too much of this is enough? How unconcerned can we be?” While Teacher Lennox was writing about the Education System, this can also be applied to our politics.
As a proud people, with a sense of heritage, we need to rekindle the spirit of love and unity which motivated our forefathers. When will this bitter wine of apathy be transformed into that sweet nectar of rebellious action that inebriated our forebears, enabling them to risk life and limb for this our beloved country. Mr. Webster is gone, but his spirit lives on, still carrying the torch to save Anguilla and steer us to a path of economic and social prosperity. There is a brighter tomorrow but we must hold our government accountable, and be ready to stand in the gap.
May God bless us and grant us all a peaceful, prosperous and healthy New Year. Thank you.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
