One of the things that successive Governments in Anguilla have failed to embark on, over the years, has been the need to set up a proper machinery for the dissemination of public information. Not only has there been a lack of an in-house system, but there has been a failure by our leaders to effectively use the available media to channel timely and enlightening information to the people of the island.

It has been largely up to the Government’s own Department of Information and Broadcasting, the private radio stations and the media houses to do what they could to maintain a stream of information to the public. Even so, in most cases, it has not been what the people wanted to hear or read about as the only real sources were officials in the Government but who were not providing the information.

This lack of public information awareness has seriously affected the plans and programmes of the government over the years. It has created opportunities for misunderstanding and distrust and has led to charges of lack of transparency, openness and consultation. These are negatives which are highly injurious to the popularity and successful leadership of a government. This certainly is not in keeping with the tenets of a democratic society and the qualities of a developing small island state like Anguilla.

The present Government has learnt from its mistakes and has sought to remedy the situation by appointing a Special Assistant for Public Relations in the person of former Mathematics Teacher at the Comprehensive School, Curtis Richardson.

Mr. Richardson did not relinquish his teaching post to take up the appointment. He resigned to enter the political arena as a candidate of the Anguilla National Strategic Alternative in the general election in February this year. The fact that he joined the Government, and might have criticised its handling of public information in the past, should provide him with an opportunity to function as an efficient and effective conveyor of information to the people of the island. His job is not simply to whitewash the Government but, in doing his public relations work, to seek the views of the people on various matters affecting them and to provide the answers they require.

Of late, and prior to Mr. Richardon’s appointment, there have been noticeable efforts by the Government to involve the public in some areas of national life and discussion. The most recent case has been the proposed hotel, villa and golf course development at the eastern end of the island. The Government officials admitted that the enormous scale of the project and its impact on the island, including a possible need to import labour, had driven them to hold the town hall meetings with members of the public.

One takes the point that a government must be allowed to function and, along with its advisors and technocrats, to make sensible decisions for the common good of the island. There is however the need to allow the public to be part of the decision-making process where necessary. Apart from actually meeting with the people, the simple courtesies of letting them know, via the media houses, what the Government is doing will go a long way in avoiding misinformation and the harmful effects of the rumour mill.

The dissemination of information and the right of the public to know must be a constant task of media houses and those persons supplying them with that information. The establishment of the Government’s Public Relations Division is a welcome addition to that process and Mr. Richardson and his colleagues in Government must ensure that it works well. Since his appointment a Government information website has been created taking into account the information technology times in which we live and the online services now available. The ordinary man on the street is still largely in need of information in the conventional forms of dissemination and this fact must not be ignored.

To sum up, the public has the right to know and nothing should be held back from the people that would meet their information needs. Their knowledge or involvement in matters which concern them has a vital role to play in national development, enlightenment and stability.

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