17 April, 2007

Freedom of Information

Too Much Information Can Be Dangerous to Your Health.

There was an early teacher on one of one of the more remote and smaller islands of South Pacific Fiji. His school children were assembled in the village one early morning, sitting cross legged on mats in the shade of the coconut trees. They were to the side and thus not in line of a falling nut.

'It is time,' said the teacher, 'for me to tell you about your home in Fiji and the world beyond your reefs and seas.' He drew a rough picture of the earth's land masses and oceans and then pointed at a large open expanse near the bottom. He placed a fingernail in the centre. 'You see this tiny spot, no larger than the eye of a fly. That is the size of your land compared with the rest of the world'.

When the children returned to their families with this extraordinary tale, the elders were incensed at such an insult. They went to the house of the teacher, clubbed him to death, roasted and consumed him: thus providing an early example of what happens when the truth is told to those who cannot recognise and do not wish to hear it!”

--Quoted by retired Counsellor Julian Cairns-Wicks, St. Helena, in his final opinion column in the St. Helena Independent.

7 comments:

  1. Too long the Immigration Department has suffered from the lack of good management. To date, it is still the same. What a shame in the Immigration Department! All the managers should go home. They are not capable. This is just the beginning of things. Look out, and you will see!

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  2. I too would say that Immigration lacks proper management and the Department is in shambles, functionless. Last year I witnessed daily as I walked in the morning the Immigration vehicle coming from the Gloria Omolulu school in West End carrying an officer’s child. Who pays for this? We, the tax payers. I had a guest by me from Canada and leaving for St Martin and wanted a stamp. I asked the boat agent to take it and he returned to me saying that as usual there is no officer there and they won’t wait for them. It was 7:45 and the officers were not there who had to report to work from 7:00 am. I believe that Immigration needs help maybe by bringing in Immigration officers from the UK to help manage the Department. Everything is out of control. Look at what is happening in the Department and which has been going on not only with this officer. There are other matters that people are talking about officers which are alarming and of concern. Remember, Immigration is an important Department and we are heading to the rocks.

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  3. Who do we blame? I do not know, but coming to Anguilla to live, not reared here but from England of Anguilla parents, I had some experiences which I thought was strange, maybe because I came from a different environment. I went to the Immigration to sort my self out because I was told on entry at the airport that I had to fill a form out because I was born in the UK. I asked why because I never did, my parents are from here. The officer explained. Being a bit gripy then I went to the office to meet with the boss and sort my self out which I got through. Then I told my brother and sister what to expect when they come. When they came I went to get them sorted out. The same scenario! Low and behold, I did the same thing and wanted the boss. I was told I had to see the other person because she was out and I did. She took the documents and told me that I needed to bring other documents. I wonder why the same situation. I left frustrated and also my siblings were frustrated. But believe me there is a lot of frustration with the Immigration. Maybe I had expect too much. But why the changes? We laughed about it after with the rest of my family here because we though coming back would be the easiest thing to do. We looked forward to doing it all the time and when we invited friends down they could not believe it. Going through Heathrow is a nightmare, but that is my impression. But I have been told that Chinese and Spaniards have more privileges than us and are treated like royalty right here in Anguilla. This should be of concern to all of us. As a colony the government should seek help from the UK government to handle the situation. Officers must have integrity. It is not a joke. Officers must be made public examples when they are involved in things that bring down the department. They are to uphold the law and there is a lot going on right within the Department. Immigration is a very important Department just like the police. They must do like the police.

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  4. Immigration must do like the police? God help us.

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  5. Stop! Stop! Stop! Let us make solutions. Close down Immigration for one month. Give civilians the right to be immigration officers and throw out some of those contractors and exploiters from Anguilla and all the illegals. Look at how the immigration vehicle is used. Projects are not watched. Anguilla to me is like a cockroach hole at night, only then you see the people. They maybe sleep all day and work at night. You can not expect officers who have a secure salary from government and are busy doing their OWN immigration work making their money and getting their pleasure from all the girls to have much time left to do any work for immigration. What a mess! What corruption! What a shame! I watch this for years and wonder how this could be allowed to happen. I thought all the time that it was Insa who was the chief, to be told that all women are at the controls, which is unheard of but not that it is bad. Remember we had Idalia and other women and they were strong stalwarts, but i think they need help. It is obvious. Please contribute and help solve the problems. What a calamity!

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  6. Please visit www.anguillatalk.com and reference the article entitled "Carlton Pickering's Masters Degree. The issue arose because of an article published in the Anguillian. There is a great possibility that this gentleman may have acquired this degree in ignorance or willfully. I looked meticulously into this schools history, and they are not credible and removed from several states, most recently Florida. My intent is to make people aware of the issue at hand and hopefully deter any others from attempting to obtain such material. The underlying economic effects, from persons possibly being compensated for these possibly fake degrees is huge. There must exist a ridge process for screen and attaching some form of validity to the experience to which these individuals stake claim. There are a host of other issues, much bigger than this. For instance, the possibility of foreign doctors, that may be mal-practicing on my people. Not saying that it happens, but it is a possibility. If there is a process for ensuring the validity of individuals, my questions are 1. Who overseas the process? 2. What goes on in the Process? 3. How long is the Process 4. and most Has anyone slipped through the cracks?

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  7. My question is what is going to happen to all those corrupt immigration officers would they be allowed to sit down within the department and continue in their old habits while the public laugh and scorn. Or would it be a nother sad revelation. Look out.

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