Let me take this opportunity to congratulate this year’s Anguilla Day Honorees for the recognition they received for their service to our island. I am also moved to offer special thanks and appreciation to the uniformed bodies and organizations who had to endure almost four hours on their feet to participate in what I believe was an unnecessarily lengthy ceremony. Even from my more comfortable position seated under a tent on a humid day it was an ordeal indeed.

Mr. Victor Banks

The organizers must be commended for a very balanced program --- but I am sure they have learned some useful lessons for the future. One of those obvious lessons being that you cannot depend on presenters to stick to time limits.

The protocol arrangements and the chauffeured arrivals of members of the Government, the father of the nation, the Governor and other officials was perhaps a most “entertaining” display of “pomp and circumstance” which may be viewed by different people in different ways, but which I believe brought dignity and distinction to the occasion. It is an aspect of our egalitarianism as a society that we tend to downplay the significance and importance of according due respect and privilege to “holders” of authority within our governmental system.

The entire ceremonial part of the occasion, including the exhibitions by the uniformed and armed contingents, was for me a stellar performance and I was particularly touched by the arrival of the father of the nation, the Honourable James Ronald Webster (and Mrs. Webster), and the manner in which he was received by all.

The poem written by famous Teacher Art, and so brilliantly delivered by the youngsters from the Alwyn Allison Primary School, drew overwhelming applause and carried an important message of hope both in its content and through the visual images of the young presenters.

Reflections by Revolutionary Heroine Carmen Woods begs the question whether we will ever get the story about the Revolution right --- I am certain that the way forward must be to simply remember that it was the spirit of unity which was at the foundation of our success rather than the accuracy of the several accounts. The “Father of the Nation” as well as the Leader of the Opposition and the Elected Member for East End in their comments spoke to that very important aspect of the Revolution. And of course, Iwandai’s excellent delivery of the poem by Heroine Daisy “Juan” Richardson also set the mood for the occasion.

I would have been extremely happy to be able to say that the Honourable Chief Minister, Mr. Hubert Hughes, in his address did a good job of distinguishing himself as a unifying Leader of the people of Anguilla on such a lofty occasion --- but I am afraid I cannot overlook the suffering he put our young people through with an address of over an hour and fifteen minutes at an event for which the maximum time should not have exceeded an hour and a half. I believe that in his typical style he uncaringly used a captive audience to embark on a tirade that brought no positive value to the occasion. In fact I strongly believe that he squandered a glorious opportunity to redeem himself for the historic lack of regard he has shown for Anguilla Day in his official capacity and, in particular, the very dubious nature of his support for the Revolution over the last forty-three years.

Rather than use the moment in the statesmanlike style of the Leader of the Opposition, the Honourable Evans McNiel Rogers --- he proceeded to make apology for the central figure of controversy that sparked the Revolution, Mr. Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw. In the words of the Leader of the Opposition, in his presentation, “We should never squander the opportunity that Anguilla Day provides to appeal to the patriotic instincts of our people to set aside our differences and work together to improve our lot”.

Simply put, Anguilla Day is about Anguilla and Anguillians --- not about Mr. Bradshaw and whatever redeeming qualities he may or may not have. In fact, this long apology in the presence of the father of the nation was to my mind a “slap in the face” of the awardees present and those before them --- because it undermines the very reason for the Anguilla Revolution by essentially saying that it was not Bradshaw’s fault.

Indeed, I feel moved to apologize to Mr. Webster, and the other heroes and heroines present, to have to suffer through such indignity while held hostage waiting to show support for the recipients of this year’s awards. Were it not out of respect for those honorees, I too would have chosen to leave, like many others did, and enjoy the merriment of the Anguilla Day Boat race with my friends who I must heartily thank for so patiently awaiting my release.

But what this entire experience reinforces is that the Chief Minister does not understand the purpose of Anguilla Day. He is simply content to use it as an occasion to put forward his political agenda rather than celebrate our history, applaud the success of our struggle and inspire hope for the future. This was evident from his opening remarks about being an angry man rather than associating himself with the expressions of celebration by all the presenters who preceded him.

On his political agenda he used the opportunity to respond to a number of criticisms that must have been bothering him and while a response to any of them may require a full presentation I will just briefly show the lack of consistency that pervaded his long and overbearing address:

• He spoke about the British Government not keeping the past government in line --- but in the same breath he berates the Minister for Overseas Territories for putting forward a position on his requests.

• He praises the staff at the Ministry of Finance for its hard work, yet he embarrasses them by saying that he did not know about a debt service commitment for $20 million --- but in fact at the Forum he led at the Rodney McArthur Rey Auditorium this debt service figure appears on page 7 of the main document his own staff presented.

• He boasted about the CDB Policy Based Loan for which he is seeking approval --- but neglects to say that it was negotiated by the past government.

• He said that if new Boards do not operate to his satisfaction he will ask the Chairman to fire them --- but he does not indicate how he will deal with the Chairman.

• He makes a case for a new airport in Brimigen, capable of handling international commercial flights, based on the example of Bermuda --- but he does not point out that Bermuda is a twenty-one square mile island in the Atlantic Ocean nine hundred miles away from the United States mainland with no other access hubs within that vicinity.

These were just a few of the many specific issues that the Chief Minister chose to raise on a day that should be used to foster a spirit of unity and instill a sense of patriotism in all our people. If that was his intention he not only missed the target but even wasted an “arrow”.

But perhaps the most upsetting part of that ranting address was the shameful apology which the Chief Minister made for his former colleague in the St Kitts Labour Party, the late Mr. Bradshaw, regarding his contrivance to build the famous Anguilla Wharf in Sandy Point.

The Anguilla Wharf has been the most quoted anecdotal evidence of the disdain with which the Central Government held the people of Anguilla. True or false it may even be considered unpatriotic --- Yea! un-Anguillian! to seek to disprove it. It has been a symbol for rallying our people against the inequities meted out to Anguillians in so many different ways over the period of our association with St. Kitts. The stalwarts of the Revolution who have passed would be “restless in their graves” to hear such blasphemy.

But since the Chief Minister was so dutiful in making an apology for Bradshaw during the most important national holiday on our calendar --- I will make no excuse for again apologizing to the Honourable James Ronald Webster, the rest of the revolutionary leaders present and past as well as all of the people of Anguilla, for the disrespect which they received on this the forty-third Anniversary of the Anguilla Revolution. We are confident that the very fitting theme “embracing the future with wisdom, courage and hope” overshadows any apology that the sympathizers of Bradshaw would seek to employ to dampen the spirit of unity that this celebration imparts.

By the way, the Anguilla Day Boat Race was one of the most exciting, after some refreshment as we followed the race at sea, one of my buddies in response to the Anguilla Day Apology remarked: “Hubert mussa tink we Bubba Johnnies for true!”

Victor F. Banks
Sachasses Estate
June 1st, 2010

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