Editorial

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.

Anybody who reads through the pages of this newspaper finds at times that some of them are replete with photographs of our hotel employees. They are shown either receiving awards for exemplary service or, as in this edition, enjoying themselves at the end of season staff parties. The pictorials are radiant and happy scenes that gladden the heart.

Service to the community and mankind may be a big and plausible element in most cases, but the underlying reason that companies and individuals go into business is to make money. And nothing is wrong about that when it is done in a manner that is honest and takes into account the economic wellbeing of those they serve. One way to do so is to keep prices at a reasonable and affordable level for all customers and to come up with strategies and guidelines which may assist the public in using the services being provided to their best advantage and at the same time control consumption and cost.

If all goes as planned, there should be a new educational opportunity in Anguilla in September for young Anguillians desirous of developing their skills to meet the growing demands of the local job market.

Many things have certainly changed in Anguilla and in the majority of cases the changes are predicated on what is happening in the outside world and how the impact is transmitted here and to the rest of the Caribbean by whatever means or fashion. Take security for example. Never before, like now, has there been such a need to methodically screen persons and their baggage at the ports. The Anguilla Government, quite rightly, has had to comply with international security regulations and airlines’ requirements by going to much expense to put the necessary scanning machines and administrative systems in place.

The Anguilla Summer Festival is here again with all of its attendant trappings of historical culture and merry-making. Large numbers of people, desirous of escaping the difficulties of last minute travel, have already begun arriving on the island ahead of the start of the main festivities.

The importance of the urgent need to protect the children of Anguilla cannot be over emphasised.

For this reason, the workshop held this week and sponsored by the Anguilla Government in collaboration with the Child Protection Programme of the National Children’s Home in the UK, the Department for International Development and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, was an important undertaking. The workshop facilitator, Ena Trotman-Stobey, who has been raising the concern for a child protection plan in Anguilla for a long time during her frequent visits, is to be commended for her dedication and guidance not just for the workshop but for actually getting the Government to work on an Action Plan.

It is rumoured that the UK contingent of the Drugs & Firearms Task Force in Anguilla is to be reduced leaving two of the three highly-trained and experienced, though retired, officers on the island.

In his maiden speech following his swearing in, Governor Andrew George said there were great opportunities ahead for all the people of Anguilla. His statement came on the threshold of the assumption of his appointment as well as that of Anguillian Stanley Reid as the first local Deputy Governor. Mr. George was also right when he said that there was much work to be done and a heavy responsibility to discharge.

In a message to the Anguilla, Nevis and St. Kitts Associations Reunion, US Senator, Hillary Clinton, wrote that the United States thrived “on diversity and individuals from the three islands have made many contributions to New York State and the nation as a whole.”

Taste of the Caribbean, the annual culinary competition and all-Caribbean food and beverage showcase, is one of the events that bring a great deal of publicity to Anguilla and the rest of the regional islands, but if care is not taken, it could fade into insignificance.

If Anguilla is to continue to achieve all-round development in every aspect of life, one of the obvious goals is that its people must occupy positions of leadership, influence and authority whenever the opportunity presents itself. When this occurs the proud island, unrepentant of its 1967 revolution, will be seen as really getting somewhere in its resolve to take its place among the developing nations of the world society in which strong and indigenous human resources play a major role.

Almost all of sudden wind from the outer edge of a tropical depression blew across Anguilla on Tuesday this week causing some trees to fall. As of press time a few acacia trees were still partly blocking a section of at least one village road.

News reports out of Germany indicate that the 25 senior football players, Anguilla’s Rainbow Warriors, and the officials accompanying them, are having a whale of a time, delighting the Germans and gathering experience as they watch and participate in the World Cup matches.

It has taken many years for an Anguillian to be formally appointed to the post of Deputy Governor, and it has come long after the neighbouring Overseas Territories of BVI and Montserrat have had their own Deputy Governors in office, much to the envy of Anguilla.