Dear Editor,
Once again Anguilla has a new government. The people have spoken. Whether you voted for or against the new government, it’s time to put aside all petty differences, and, as the last leader from Island Harbor once implored us people to, “let us come together as one.”
Congratulations to Dr. Lorenzo Webster and his team. Although, I’m afraid, I still disagree with the concept of party politics. The APM will have the chance to prove me wrong. Until that happens, I still maintain it’s a bad idea for an island as small as Anguilla.
Let us thank the previous government headed by Mr. Banks. And while we are giving thanks to all, let us not forget the many contributions of Ms. Palmavon Webster, the Leader of the Opposition, who was unsuccessful in her attempt to retain her seat. And while we want to look to the future, let us not forget how or why we’re at this point.
Premier Webster has his work cut out for him. He must have the freedom to prioritize those issues that are of the utmost importance to Anguilla. Among them, the hundred-million-dollar grant from the U.K. Though Premier Webster had no choice but to accept the MOU signed by the previous government, he was presented with a Hobson’s Choice, which is basically to say that there is no alternative. Take it or leave it.
While that money is a godsend to Anguilla, the conditions under which it is given are like the Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads. We are damned if we do, damned if we don’t. Mr. Webster’s negotiating skills will have to come front and center if we are to survive this crisis not of our own making.
It is no secret that Anguilla has been a place about which no one cared, least of all the Brits. We were left alone to fend for ourselves and by the grace of God, we survived. Forced to live without the amenities that others took for granted, we made do with what we had. When no one came to us, we built boats (schooners) and plied the waters from Trinidad to Macoris with our wares in search of a better life. In a sense, necessity became the mother of invention, and we invented. We sailed the seas with nothing more than a sexton and the stars. We survived drought, famine, pestilence, death and even an offer by the British Government to remove and transport us to Demerara, British Guyana. Against all the odds, we stayed on the rock.
Once again, we face challenges on several fronts, economic as well social. Because of COVID-19, our economy such as it was, crashed and burned. Our social fabric is threadbare. COVID-19 has ripped off the bandage of a festering sore, one that has been festering for some time, and in so doing has exposed an underbelly that a lot of us didn’t know existed.
Our people don’t seem to remember where we came from, it’s as though the Anguilla of today always existed since time immemorial. Civil Rights leader, the late Reverend Joseph Lowry, said, “If you don’t know where you came from, you won’t know when someone is taking you back.” Isabel Wilkerson writing in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book Caste, opined that “People who don’t know that they are captive will not resist their bondage.” For far too long we’ve been held captive by a system, that is not conducive to our wellbeing.
We forget from whence we came, and consequently our young people don’t know from whence they came, simply because we have not taught them. The land for which our forefathers fought, is in danger of being lost. Frederick Douglas said, “If you don’t have Land, you don’t have freedom.” My fellow Anguillians, what is the price of freedom? Large swaths of prime Anguillian real estate are being gobbled up by certain speculative foreigners who contribute zero to our infrastructure.
Going forward as a new nation, our hopes and dreams are with Premier Webster and his government. He must be allowed to lay out his vision for Anguilla, one which will require all hands on deck and hopefully, with an infusion of young people in government, we will see a marked change for the first time in decades.
In his 1960 inaugural address John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, implored his people to, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” My fellow Anguillians, what are you willing to do for your country?
The British begrudgingly have given us a conditional lifeline, and that’s all it is. There is an old Chinese Proverb that says, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him to fish and you give him an occupation that will feed him for a lifetime.” The British has fed us for a day, when will we learn to fish?
The world has changed. If we want to survive in that large pond that is the global community, then we had better learn how to swim with the big boys, for at this junction, they see blood in the water and that’s all they need. Because of COVID-19, we are very vulnerable right now and the sharks are circling. This is not the time to attack this government. Whether or not the previous government dealt the present one a bad hand is irrelevant, water under the bridge.
The time has come for all of us to work together for the good of the motherland. Let us each ask ourselves; how badly do we want to hold on to that which is ours and to what extent are we willing to fight for it?
“We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately,” to use the words of Ben Franklin during those dog days of 1776. May God bless you all and may He continue to bless Anguilla.
Tyrone Hodge
Dear Editor,
I am an eternal optimist. The glass is always half full rather than half empty. My Letter to the Editor of April 9, 2020, entitled “Food for thought” in which I concluded this country status experiment has failed, for some may have been considered out of character for me. But, the forced business closure due to COVID-19 required by Government (a move I endorsed and applauded), while business owners still have to operate under the yoke of 50-year-old archaic Labor Laws, do that to a person! How is it possible or fair that owners and managing directors of private sector businesses remain totally responsible for 100 per cent of the full salaries of all their employees, while sales have mandatorily been reduced to zero by the very Government that enforces those archaic labor laws? Where is the social catch net that any responsible country’s government should have in place in case of disasters?
Having to cut back salaries to stay afloat, while the government hemmed and hawed about a previously agreed-upon 10 per cent cut of their salaries, was the drop that caused my bucket of frustration to run over. Again it seemed that it was acceptable that the private sector had to fend for itself (with top-level Labor Department officials egging on employees to take their employers to court for 100 per cent pay before any payroll support program had started up), while in the public sector any demand for financial cutbacks was met with fierce opposition from practically everyone on the Government’s payroll.
But here we are now more than six months further and St. Maarten just celebrated its 10th anniversary as a country within the Kingdom. These days around 10/10/20 for me is a time to reflect, not only on the last 10 years but also on what I stated in that April 9, 2020, Letter to the Editor. Was my unusual, frustration-induced pessimism misplaced? I am not sure of the answer, but it sure seems I am not alone.
It is with concern and sadness that I read the Teen Times article with the title “You have failed us”. Young people, the future of this nation, stated their views about 10-10-10, concluding that this experiment continues to fail the people of St. Maarten. To quote the article, “The political establishment, have [sic] successfully kept the masses uninformed, uneducated, under-developed and mired in poverty”. That is an indictment towards the governments of the last 10-years of their stewardship of this country (and yes, I was a minister in one of them).
The feelings of the younger generation are supported by evidence. Just read the General Audit Chamber’s report “Retrospective: 10 years of the General Audit Chamber”. This institution (arguably one of the few successes of country St. Maarten), concludes that there has not been much positive change in 10 years. They compare the lack of improvement in the government’s management of the “people’s money” to watching the same movie over and over again. To quote them, there are “the same structural errors, a continued lack of reliable information, and the same passivity”.
So, six months after my Letter to the Editor, I have to, unfortunately, repeat myself: after almost 10 years of trying, circumstances have proven that St. Maarten – on so many levels – seems unable to sustain itself as a “country”.
We lack self-discipline.
We lack cohesion.
We cannot raise enough taxes to afford to run an efficient government organization under normal circumstances.
We have a government apparatus that is too expensive for the quality and quantity of services available to the population.
We have Government-owned companies that pay better than Fortune 500 companies.
We lack enough qualified human resources to properly and efficiently serve our population.
We lack mutual trust between consecutive governments and the private sector/the population.
With 9 governments in 10 years, our elected and appointed officials (including me) have proven that they collectively lack enough maturity, knowledge, and often integrity to properly manage the affairs of the people.
We have too many persons, election after election, that seek public office for the wrong reasons (often looking for a ride on any political bus that will take them to the “promised land of high salaries and hopefully lucrative opportunities for self-enrichment”).
On top of all of that, Hurricane Irma and within 2½ years since, this COVID-19 pandemic, have proven without a shadow of a doubt that because of a myriad of reasons, we are financially, socially, and economically unable to sustain the elusive dream of being an autonomous “country” without some sort of a back-door life line. Given the size of our population and our total dependency on a single (now proven very fickle) economic pillar (tourism), we seem to be destined to be an integral part of a larger community, either constitutionally, or through structured financial contributions to an Emergency Fund in “good” times, so that we can blindly and unconditionally depend on it in “bad” times (read: disasters, both natural as well as man-made).
As far as I am concerned it is time to admit:
The first decade of experimenting with country status, has failed on St. Maarten for all the reasons mentioned here above and then some!
I say it is:
Time for a change of direction;
Time for a new approach;
Time for a new referendum!
Michael J. Ferrier
Dear Editor,
In commemorating the 10-year anniversary of St. Maarten achieving its “country” status within the Dutch Kingdom, we owe it to our readers and followers to at least paint an honest picture of where we are as we approach 10-10-2020.
We understand the need of some including our Prime Minister to paint a rosy picture and speak of a “decade of victory” but that would neglect to see the real state of affairs our country is in 10 years after the fact.
We guess it all depends on how a person defines or interprets the meaning of “victory”. For a country the definition should be quite simple:
Are the citizens/residents of the island better off that they were 10 years ago? Do they have an improved standard of living 10 years later?
To help us analyze the so-called “victory”, we can do so by looking at this through 3 categories as per the below.
The positives
St. Maarten separated from the Netherlands Antilles and became our own “country” within the Kingdom having a direct relationship with the Netherlands (no more Curaçao-based federal government to deal with).
St. Maarten continues to be an attractive destination for tourists despite our lack of cohesiveness or destination marketing plans.
The Netherlands has committed millions of dollars for the development of the island and provided liquidity support during the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit it being a zero-per-cent loan.
The dump stopped burning continuedly for the past 2 years.
With the assistance of the Dutch, many corrupted politicians have been exposed, charged and convicted.
The new hospital project seems to be progressing hopefully resulting in an enhancement of the local health care system and adding to the island’s income as it also attracts medical visitors to the island from neighboring islands/region and reduced the medical referrals abroad which means: more money stays within St. Maarten’s economy.
The negatives
Political instability (9 different governments in 10 years) resulting in a lack of decision-making on crucial issues and no continuity for long-term policy-making.
St. Maarten used to be the one of the leaders and innovators in the Caribbean tourism marketplace. Currently, we are followers of our competitors’ initiatives.
No ethics as multiple politicians accused and convicted continue to serve in Government roles.
Stakeholder participation and input is at an all-time low. Tri-Partite Committees are disbanded, put on dormant or not actively engaged.
Self-inflicted disasters (e.g. 9 governments), Hurricanes Irma/Maria and now the COVID-19 pandemic have brought the economy to a halt and there seems no plan to fix it (nor urgency to do so).
The public educational system has not seen any innovation, lowering the quality of our education as the world prepares their youngsters for a 21st century world.
Antiquated tax and labor system holding back economic progress and further investment from local sources and abroad.
No concern or plan to maintain and/or safeguard our natural environment and heritage.
Relationship with the French-side government is at an all-time low.
Relationship with the Netherlands government is at an all-time low.
Government and publicly-owned companies are bankrupt.
Lack of financial accountability and independent timely reporting of financial results of Government and publicly-owned companies (e.g. Government’s Annual Accounts are 5 years late, making expenditure scrutiny and accountability a futile exercise, reports and recommendations from St. Maarten’s General Audit Chamber are mostly ignored).
Lack of reliable and timely statistics that prevent any qualified individual in a leadership position to make sound financial and/or socially beneficial decisions.
Dysfunctional coalition government(s) result in a lack of a cohesive plan and lack of coordination between the various Ministries (e.g. each Ministry seems to operate as an island within Government).
The unforeseen
Hurricanes Irma/Maria
COVID-19 Pandemic
It is obvious that the unforeseen circumstances hastened the downward spiral in which the country finds itself now. Calling our last 10 years a “victory” is either a clear sign of being in denial or at best a dishonest self-evaluation of the performance of the country.
Moving forward, we encourage the leaders (on both sides of the Atlantic) to put away their egos and rear-view mirror and sit down and negotiate the so-called “Caribbean Reform Entity” (CRE) in a similar fashion that both our sister islands Curaçao and Aruba have done.
Curaçao has reached an agreement with the Netherlands this week and has made a political commitment as they approve a so-called “Body for Reform and Development (BRD) instead of the CRE. Curaçao’s Prime Minister Ruggenaath even stated:
“No takeover of legislative and administrative powers. The intention is that the entity will work for and with Curaçao, it is envisaged that frequent consultations will be held with the government of Curaçao. The Netherlands will co-invest in the island’s economy, including in good education and accessible care,” says Rhuggenaath. “The Netherlands has explicitly committed itself to this,” said Rhuggenaath.
Hence, why should St. Maarten not be able to do the same which is in the best interest of St. Maarten? Let’s make the next decade one that we turn things around for the better (on all fronts) so in 10 years’ time we may jointly conclude: St. Maarten is a better place to live than in 2020.
SXM Talks
Dear Editor,
Someone mentioned to me that one person who was approached to be on the managing board of GEBE refused because he did not want to be part of the dynasty. That I did not react to but in the paper of Thursday October 8, I read "GEBE is the only government-owned company that over the years has not conducted a proper recruitment procedure for selection of the members of the managing board". And then I said to myself , “Who promised what to whom and who are going to profit from this?” I found myself obliged to react because I could not believe that I just read some lame explanation from the chairman of the supervisory board of GEBE which I would be ashamed to think that I could convince the people with that junk.
If I were Bienvenido Richardson, I would never have accepted to be the fall guy to tell the people of Sint Maarten, and for that matter, wherever this paper is read, that GEBE is getting rid of the only board that made a profit for the government-owned company, which continuously bails out the government. And listen to the kicker.
"Because they were not selected according to correct procedures". So, my question is: Is GEBE going to give back (refuse) that profit because it was generated by people who were illegally employed? Was that profit illegally obtained? Since all of this seems to be dubious, can I also assume that it is because whoever wants to get on the managing board of G.E.B.E (the government's cash cow), wants to be able to manipulate business there for themselves and their cahoots?
I believe that these are all reasonable questions. Not only reasonable, but because of transparency of government, legal questions. And there should also be more extensive questions to Minister Doran because his name is constantly mentioned. The people have to know. If government is telling us that because of COVID-19, money is scarce and we are not sure how or from where we are going to get more, why are we permitting, according to how I perceive it, irresponsible people to mess with the good that is happening by GEBE?
If I were perceived to be living above my means that would be considered suspicious. GEBE is steadily making a profit, and the managing board, which is responsible for this, committed a cardinal sin because they were approved by the government, but not selected according to procedures.
Wow! Who is responsible? Who all are turning a blind eye? Who are the ostriches? What I would bet on is that the Dutch are seeing this and I can bet that when the time is right, there will be another investigation. And I hope that when that time comes, and the members of the present board cooperate, they are not looked at in the wrong way.
We already have a big problem generating funds with the road tax, are we going to let the management of GEBE end up in the wrong hands also? I know that a whole lot of people in government read my published letters to you. I also know that they read them before their official correspondence. I also know that there are some who cut them out and save them, so I am urging the Council of Ministers to find out from minister Doran what is really going on with the replacement of the managing board of GEBE. If they are doing anything illegal or anything different, than the other branches of GEBE are doing which are not policy, let us know. I believe that we all have to know. If anyone claims that Russell is writing what he does not know about, they are so right. Neither me nor the majority of the country. Where is the transparency? Do not we have enough proof of wrongdoing by our people in government or government entities? Are we really that callous?
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
In the paper of October 6, 2020, I read two articles concerning the police, one from Statia and one from St. Maarten.
I have to congratulate Chief Robelto Hodge for the candid and professional manner in which he responded to the allegations against Statia’s police officers.
Chief Hodge mentioned that “one of the benefits of working on Statia is that everyone knows everyone.” I had the pleasure of working as acting chief of police on Statia on several occasions and I would have had added what I thought Chief Hodge tactically omitted: “and everybody is aware of the activities of everyone.”
I dare mention this because during my tenure on Statia I always expressed that the crime rate on Statia could become nihil if everybody would use that knowledge and police each other, for the good of Statia. I used to tell them that if you see wrongdoing and do not do anything about it, it is just as if you yourself are promoting wrongdoing.
I believe that we are all aware of the interpretation of Proverbs 13:24.
Chief Hodge outlined precisely what policing is about. The people of Statia should save that article and visit it regularly.
The other article concerning the police is the departure of the National Police. I do not understand why all this explanation. Did we really not expect this? I can really see the lack of the knowledge of the Dutch language and their sayings. What happened to “Ik ken mijn pappenheimers”? Do we really not know who we are dealing with? If you empty the glass of its content and do not replenish it, what do you expect?
Do we really believe that COVID-19 is the sole reason for not being able to adapt to the numbers anticipated? I was sixteen years old and had an indelible experience in school with Dutch teachers. So, I am automatically alerted with whom I’m dealing. I grew up and even though I believe in forgiveness, there is always that alert signal when dealing with certain situations. I was a police officer recruited and trained by the Dutch and was taught to always have a “back-up plan” in case the original plan did not work out. So, I do not believe that there was no “what if” question.in the deliberation concerning the period of time that the National Police would be here.
And why leave in August without replacement knowing that the hurricane season is not predictable Would I be wrong in assuming that the Dutch are using this tactic to cover up abuse of power? And then I ask myself, do they really have the people of St. Maarten at heart? Why should 60,000 people have to pay for the deeds of 50 people?
There is a saying in Dutch “Boontje komt om zijn loontje”. I was sitting among some people when the news broke that Donald Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus. My first reaction was “Oh no”. One of the people there said to me, “How you mean ‘oh no’, that is Donald Trump. He got what he deserved.” This made me think of that Dutch saying.
I looked up the meaning of the word “empathy” in the Dutch dictionary and it explains “De vermogen zich in te leven in de gevoelens van anderen” (the ability to understand and share the feelings of others). This kind of behavior reminds me of Genesis 4 (Cain and Abel), and that Dutch saying again comes to mind.
When I was small I was always taught “Do what I say, don’t do what I do”. Later we hear that children become what they see and not what you tell them. If this is so, then why should the Dutch think that we are the ones who are not following the rules? I know that I will never condone wrongdoing, but is this not confusing?
Russell A. Simmons
