Listening To The People

There seems to be a crescendo of voices among the populace in Anguilla which is worth listening to by those in positions of governance and in other leadership roles on the island. The people are saying that they want to hear from their political leaders on a number of matters which are worrying them and affecting their every day lives. They point to the recent increase of fees for telecommunications services; the high price of food items as businesses pass on some of their operational costs to the consumers; taxes; unemployment particularly for the large number of school leavers who will shortly be looking for jobs in the public and private sectors; further job opportunities for bread winners in general and the list of complaints go on and on.

Anguilla is an island where the people are becoming increasingly vocal and loud in their demands some of which may be considered unreasonable and impatient, but they deserve to be heard and given some explanations or other information they are demanding. This may calm them down for a while and at least provide some reassurance that somebody is listening, sympathetic, and will hopefully do something to remedy the situation.

No one denies the fact that Anguilla, like other places elsewhere, is experiencing economic hardship and that consequently adjustments will have to be made in public and private budgeting and expenditure until some improvement hopefully comes about. When however the people begin to get restless, it is to their leaders they will look for answers and a way out. This can be an awesome experience if the leaders are themselves bewildered about how best to address the complaints hurled at them, but they must try.

Our leaders, both in Government and Opposition, without unnecessary infighting and recrimination, must work together in the public interest to see how best they can respond to the people. There is also a need for other influential groups and individuals in the community to offer any useful assistance to that end. As is usually expected, Government must take the lead. Sometimes it is just a matter of information the people need. Town hall and road side meetings, radio and television broadcasts and appearances on panel discussions and talk shows may make a big difference between an informed and enlightened people and a disgruntled and uninformed people fed by rumour and conjecture.