The University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica, with the support of a National Advisory Committee, is forging ahead with a study of the impact made on Anguilla by revolutionary leader, James Ronald Webster.

Timothy Hodge and Dr. Vanus James

The study is entitled: “Ronald Webster: The Man and His Legacy - The impact of his life and work on the quality of life in Anguilla.”
The work is being led by Dr. Vanus James, Senior Research Fellow at the School of Graduate Studies, Mona School of Business. The study is based on the history and impact of Social Security on living standards in Anguilla against the backdrop of the Anguilla Revolution.” The study arose from the First National Development Conference held in Anguilla in 2003 and sponsored by Social Security. Dr. James was one of the main presenters.
“Anguillians have done something pretty bold to have created what is called ‘The Anguilla Revolution’- a whole series of events leading to today. What is here now is a kind of special experiment in the history of the people of the Caribbean. We would like to take a good look at what has happened,” Dr. James said in commenting on the study.

He explained that the study was being done by focusing on good governance, a major part of what could be thought of as the standard of living of a people – “better governance better quality of life.” He went on: “We want to see what has been achieved on that front and who is responsible for it…What have the people of Anguilla done as citizens as well as leaders and a community to improve the standard of governance in the island. Everything from the first act of the revolution to today is part of that. It is alright to talk about leaders, but what about the people? Without the people’s interest in progress, change, freedom and so on, there can be no revolution as the Haitians have discovered.”

Dr. James continued: “Given that we place the people at the centre, we can then ask what have the leaders done, starting from Mr. Webster and his colleagues at that time (1967) to the current Chief Minister and his colleagues and other leading parliamentarians…What have they contributed to the kind of system we have today that is so fluid and easy to see as progress when compared with what is going on in the rest of the Caribbean? The level of fluidity that I see in the politics here is not seen elsewhere in the Caribbean and good governance suffers in proportion.”

Dr. James, who spent several days in Anguilla, left the island this week to undertake some design work for the study at the Mona campus. He expects to be back later this month or early March and will be accompanied by other persons from the university. He expects at that time to begin a series of major interviews with “the leading lights” of the island in industry as well as in government and among the citizenry.

Director of Social Security, Timothy Hodge, expressed delight that Dr. James had shown such interest in Anguilla by undertaking the study. He recalled that the university official first came to Anguilla to speak at the opening session of the first National Development Conference and returned three years later to deliver a lecture and was now back on the island for the study.

“He is now using this study to look towards the next Anguilla Day lecture on June 5 and the next National Development Conference in November, when we are looking forward to having a real serious conversation with Anguilla,” Mr. Hodge added.

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