Editorial

There was much delight at the Operational Review meeting of the Health Authority of Anguilla at Paradise Cove on Wednesday when Chief Executive Officer, Dexter James, announced that the island’s health services were accredited by the Canadian Council for the Accreditation of Health Services.

Anguilla has always had a unique position among its Caribbean neighbours from the early days to the present time. Geographically, it is the most northerly of the Leeward Islands chain and between it and its former sister islands of St. Kitts-Nevis is a cluster of French and Dutch territories.

Just when there were reports that the British Police officers were leaving Anguilla at the end of their contracts, there was the brandishing, bang of the gun and shooting death of an innocent woman by would-be robbers. Not only Elaine Phillips, but prominent citizen and businessman, Abraham Harrigan, could have been a dead man also. What an awful tragedy and experience it was for him to see his girlfriend cut down at the cruel and merciless hands of bandits whom he described as young men! For God sake and for the sake of Anguilla this “Wild West” madness must stop.

The Anguillian walked in on a Government’s retreat this week and even before ascending the steps of the venue, the rowdy voices of some persons could be heard in the yard as would be solutions to a number of the problems facing the island and its people were being hammered out. There seemed to have been some earnest contending for what is fair, right, noble and forward-looking for Anguilla at a location far removed from the offices of ministries and departments.

Last week was not a good public relations time for the Government. It was occasioned by its failure to inform the people about what the leaders thought were “consequential”, “innocuous” and “urgent” amendments which they requested the Secretary of State to make to the Anguilla Constitution.

The Government made a serious blunder when it failed to tell the people of the island that some amendments were being made to the Constitution to facilitate the changing of the name “Police Force” to “Police Service” and to insert the name of a new body the “Police Service Commission”. While the amendments appear to be simple or, as the Government’s press release, printed elsewhere in this paper stated, “consequential”, the concept of making what may be believed to be even the most insignificant change to the Constitution without informing the people before hand, is wrong.

The old patriotic song, There’s No Place Like Home, should have special significance for Anguillians and their off-springs residing in every corner of the world today. The rapid development and economic boom now being experienced, should serve as a magic wand to bring about the sudden mass appearance of many of our nationals from abroad.

In a stirring New Year’s sermon, one of the religious leaders in Anguilla, pointed to a string of various concerns in Anguilla and the rest of the world, and emphasised the need for spiritual renewal and divine providence as an answer to many of the societal maladies today and those creeping on in the future. He was obviously fearful of the future but found much comfort through his strong Christian convictions and prayer that there was reason for hope through the guidance of the Great Jehovah and the commitment of the citizenry to positive living and leadership.

How quickly one year passes and another begins! It’s Christmas time again and the New Year, 2007, with all its unknown challenges, is upon us.

Every year the Government’s Budget to finance the public services in Anguilla is getting bigger and bigger. The 2007 estimates of revenue and expenditure are at an all time high.

One of the social services the Anguilla Government says it will be introducing in the near future is a National Health Insurance System which is certainly a good idea. However, in order for it to properly get off the ground and eventually satisfactorily succeed and serve its purpose, it must have a well-planned and carefully ordered foundation. One way of ensuring this is that all stakeholders and other key persons must be well informed and prepared for it. In the first case, the Government and the Committee tasked with implementing the system must be on the same wave length with clear and sound policies, objectives and safeguards on the table.

One of the latest attempts by Government at ensuring greater social development is a move to introduce a National Health Insurance system for the people of Anguilla to which, understandably, they will have to contribute. This is both necessary and complimentary but really only touches the tip of an ice bug of problems facing the island.

Anguilla is once again in the jazz mood this week with the commencement of the Annual Tranquillity Jazz Festival aimed at “jump-starting” the island’s 2006-2007 tourist season. There has been a considerable amount of advertisement of the four-day event overseas and in Anguilla and it is understood that many visitors have already arrived and are still coming in for the occasion.

We have come to the start of the 2006/2007 Tourism Season and our hotels, guest houses, villas and ancillary services are all geared up to receive, delight and pamper our visitors from wherever they are coming.

By the time the next issue of The Anguillian is published on Friday, November 3, the 2006/2007 tourism season will have begun. By all appearances, the previous season in Anguilla was an excellent one with a number of visitors still coming in although the main resorts, restaurants and ancillary services were closed for the usual break and refurbishing work.

The coming formal introduction of a National Community College for Anguilla is both a bold and necessary initiative by the island’s Government and should have materialised long before now. The demands being placed on our people by the growth of the private and public sectors, for better educated and skilled Anguillians, make it mandatory for our nationals to be well qualified. They must be in a position to fill the increasing number and variety of jobs, many of which stand to be, and are being taken, by non-Anguillians with the requisite qualifications.

This week Anguillians and others at Wallblake Airport stared in fascination as a young woman, with a full life of many productive years ahead of her and a bright career to her credit, told of how she freely donated one of her kidneys to Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming that he might live.

The myriad of complexities that can befall a people in their own homeland can sometimes result from their own making. For instance, the Bible states that the children of the kingdom shall be cast out… and others will come from the east, west, north and south and take their places. While this has a biblical interpretation, it can also have what may be called an earthly meaning and in this context, Anguilla stands at a reckoning point.

Elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian is a letter signed by a group of persons calling for the establishment of a government-sponsored bus system. This is not a new suggestion as it has made its rounds in the community before but without success. The main answer has been that it will not succeed because of the large and increasing number of privately-owned vehicles on the island and yet there must not be an outright dismissal of the proposition. The reason is that as Anguilla continues to develop by leaps and bounds, the government and the public must rethink their position on a number of issues to see whether it is not time for a change of mind.

Death is no respecter of persons. It is cold blooded. It struck me most graphically and painfully on Thursday 7th September when my brother Johnson passed away in my arms. When the last breath a tiny puff, not enough to shake a feather, left him, it signaled his departure. Such is the frailty of life. As he lay lifeless in my arms his body went cold. The icy hands of death had touched him and I wept.