Editorial

The front page story presents much evidence of the phenomenal economic growth of Anguilla over the years. When one considers the many financial and development opportunities still looming ahead and within our grasp, the island appears to be set for a rosy and enviable future.

Anguilla was among the lucky islands in the Caribbean to have been spared the ravages of the 2007 hurricane season which officially ended on November 30 and, unfortunately, one has not really heard much thanksgiving here that none of the storms came our way.

The current 40th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution is one of those high points from where we can survey some of our accomplishments and look at a number of challenges facing us as a small developing nation and how we can go about meeting them head-on. The theme of our present Tourism Week, “Managing Change”, is a well-thought out slogan.

Anybody who attended Tuesday’s meeting at the Anguilla Tourist Board at which there were overviews of achievements during 2007, a market review and the dissemination of other pertinent information, could only have concluded that the various presentations provided much food for thought.

The Anguilla Social Security Board is to be complimented for hosting yet another National Development Conference. It is the third so far and has had as its theme: “Anguilla at 40, A Self-Evaluation: Conversations on a Blueprint for Tomorrow.” The theme has basically been hinged on the 40th Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution and while it presented opportunities for an analysis of what has been achieved, it held out some very useful suggestions of what should be the island’s achievable goals in the future, leading to the further empowerment of the Anguillian people.

The late Premier of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, Robert Bradshaw, once said during the 1967 Anguilla Revolution that one reason he could not allow the island to secede was because “it held the key to the economic development of the entire Associated State.” Apart from its world-class beaches and tourism potential, Anguilla was then in fact a poorly-treated and grossly-dominated sister island which had inherited the embarrassing description as “a backwater of the Caribbean.”

If there is an achievement that the people of Anguilla should be proud about, apart from their 1967 stunning Revolution, it is the success story of the island’s Social Security system. In fact both the Revolution and Social Security (the latter of which was introduced some 14 or15 years later), are inseparable. They are a kind of “Siamese twins” having a tremendous impact on the development of Anguilla and the lives and wellbeing of its people.

It is with a deep sense of concern and horror that the editorial column of this newspaper views not just the continued robberies in Anguilla by armed and masked bandits, but the new sophistication, aggravation and ruthlessness, with which they are being carried out.

The creation, staffing and financing of a fully-developed Department of Sports in the Anguilla Public Service can only produce some very positive results for the island and its people. These include youth development, the harnessing of their energies into productive areas, educational and other opportunities, the improvement of the social wellbeing of the island in general, as well as the promotion of good health stemming from involvement in various sporting activities.

At times we cannot but reflect on the old Anguilla and where it was especially over the past forty years and where it is today. Take for example the 1967 situation when the world heard about a rebel island which, quite illegally, tore itself away from a Federation and Associated State of three islands and appeared to be adrift in the Caribbean on an assumed course of self-determination.

The above is part of a statement found in the Bible as readers of the Holy Writ would quickly observe. It appears to be a prophetic declaration tied to the advancement of knowledge among young men down the corridors of time and certainly inclusive of this present period.

This week Tuesday senior officials and other personnel in the Ministry and Department of Education were engaged in the Annual Review of the Education Policy and Plan for Anguilla.

It was just in May this year that Anguilla celebrated the 40th Anniversary of its political and constitutional revolution which, by the help of the Almighty, brought much economic development and a high standard of living to the hitherto impoverished “backwater of the Caribbean.”

The recent shootings and the death of one young man as a result, just a few days before the start of the Summer Festival, have caused much concern in Anguilla and has been an assault on law and order.

Just when many people were about to raise some questions, the Ministry of Social Development announced on Tuesday this week that there was some movement with respect to the implementation date for the National Health Fund.

The events surrounding last week’s demonstration by Indian workers and their Anguillian sympathisers obscured the resignation of the remaining Chairperson, the Deputy and the Directors of the Health Authority Board of Anguilla. These four persons were actively serving while the other three Directors were still off the job, their term of office having not yet been renewed.

The power of the people rallying around their leaders was a significant contribution to the success of the 1967 Anguilla Revolution. As events continue to show, it will be the same power of the people that will help to guide and shape the future of our island and ensure their own rights and those of others among them.

In a few years Blowing Point should become a much-developed area of Anguillla. And, instead of being a moment too soon, it may well be regarded as one almost too late.

This week a delegation from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation and the Caribbean Hotel Association left the region for Washington DC to meet with US State Department officials to discuss what they perceive to be a new threat to visitor arrivals (and foreign exchange) in the regional islands from the United States. That threat is the requirement for some American citizens to have passports when returning from visits to the Caribbean – not to mention Canada and Mexico – and the damage it will cause to Caribbean economies.

Anguilla Day 2007 was the first time that so many persons were honoured either for their contribution to the success of the Revolution or to the social and economic development of the island that came a a result of that revolution. The awardees included a few persons who are nationals of St. Maarten and St. Thomas but who, in the course of their work, have done much for Anguilla and its people.