Malfunction

System malfunction?  Overseas Report has a very interesting article by Benito Wheatley on the British Virgin Islands political culture.  Everything he says is applicable to Anguilla.  I urge you to read it for yourself.  His point is that the people of the BVI are discontented with the political system of that Overseas Territory.  He ascribes this discontent to the political culture of the Territory. 

In the BVI, as in Anguilla, recent governments can claim to have improved the territory’s progress and development.  Yet, some areas of society are worse off than previously.  Something is undermining government’s effectiveness.  He believes that the blame lies in certain political practices that have been adopted.  It is not that the politicians are particularly corrupt, it is that the system they have inherited and have continued to cultivate seems almost designed to cause suspicion and disquiet. 

The first corrupt practice he refers to is post-election patronage.  The culture of Anguilla, as in the BVI, and no doubt of every British Overseas Territory in the West Indies, is that the first thing a new government does is to dissolve the various Boards, Commissions and Committees established by the previous administration, and appoint their own political supporters in their place, no matter how inappropriate and incompetent they are.  They say it is expected of them, and they are only considering the expectations of their followers.  There is nothing further from the truth.  This is a system of British Foreign Office encouraged victimisation that has existed in our Leeward Islands since the earliest colonial times.  Political victimisation is designed to muzzle a segment of the population and to inhibit free speech in order to give the administration free reign.  It makes life easier for the Foreign Office as well as for the local administration.  It is an evil system that the British themselves have now done away with.  No politician in that country can appoint a single person to a Board or a Committee without that person being vetted by an independent body established for the purpose of ensuring that ability and merit outweighs political patronage.

He calls the second problem with our governments the “headstrong” approach to governance.  We in Anguilla well know what he means.  This is the system whereby Ministers are encouraged to believe that only they know best.  There is no need for real consultation with the people on certain matters.  They have been appointed “to rescue the people from themselves”.  Ministers, by their election to the House and appointment by the Governor, believe they have been empowered to take decisions, even when they are contrary to the opinion and advice of technical experts.  There is no need to give specific examples from Anguilla.  Every one of the public works projects, awards of licences, and granting of permits over the last ten years have proceeded under this system.  It is facilitated through the agency of compliant permanent secretaries.  The inevitable result of this style is that public confidence in the integrity of government leaches away.  The public becomes more and more disenchanted with the system of governance.  Their only pathetically inadequate remedy is the quinquennial return to the polls.  It is inadequate because the flaw lies in the system that each administration functions under, not with the individuals who happen to have been elected.

Tied to this problem of the headstrong approach to governance is the lack of transparency.  Contracts are awarded under a veil of secrecy.  Villagers wake up in the morning to find that a public road has been bulldozed through their midst in the night.  The Chief Surveyor approves the alteration of boundary marks when the affected neighbours have not been notified of the proposed change.  The public works tendering process is neither constitutionally mandated nor otherwise protected from political interference.  On the contrary, public works contracts are viewed as a political opportunity to keep contractors happy and in the right camp.  Worse, many contracts are awarded to political favourites without any consideration of the public interest in having the work done at a reasonable cost and to an adequate standard.  The standard argument in support of this approach is that if government had to consult the public on every issue nothing would get done.  Our governments fail to accept that a proper functioning democracy depends on a consistent and dependable consultative process.  People who are affected by public works decisions must be given a chance to make their input, even if it slows the pace of government.

His final criticism is the corrupting influence of the constituency system.  We in Anguilla all know about that.  The politician with the means to buy off the majority of his voters is almost guaranteed to win his seat in the House.  When most elections are won by majorities of less than one hundred, it helps if you have more relatives in your village or district than the other candidate.  We expect our politicians to favour the constituency from which they were elected.  We demand the right to approach the Minister and ask for his help with a personal problem, even if it means corrupting the system designed for the protection of the public.  Planning permission objections are overruled, work permits are granted, and residence permits are awarded, depending on who is the individual applying.  This is so routine that Ministers tout it as proof of their concern for the interests of the little man, a source of popularity.  It is not recognised for the corruption that it is.

The blame for this must be put where it belongs.  The political system, the Westminster Model, does not function efficiently in Anguilla.  We need to put more checks and balances in place.  Structural change is needed in the way we do government in Anguilla.  A course of re-education for all our senior officials in the principles and practices of transparency and accountability is urgently needed.  A legally enforceable and mandatory tendering process for all contracts above a certain level is essential.  Transparency in the award of contracts would be a first step.  The granting of permits and licences on the basis of merit only, is universally demanded.  The vetting of political appointees requires no great change in the law, only a commitment to transparency and accountability.  Island-wide elections must be provided for in the new Constitution.  These reforms are needed by all the Territory governments of the West Indies.

Aids

Normally, sentimental stuff emailed to me makes me sick to the gut, and I delete it straight away without looking at it. I was glad someone sent this to me. I enjoyed it. I hope you will too.

Biology

In conversation with a group of students at the local Anguillian High School recently, the subject of evolution came up.  One student asked me if I believed in the “theory of evolution”.  I answered that the evolution of new species is no longer classed as a theory: it is a recognised fact.  Darwin’s theory of natural selection as the engine that drives evolution may be described as a theory, but not the fact of evolution itself.  This response was met by a sea of disbelieving faces.  Disconcerted, I asked the youngsters how many of them believed that evolution was a false theory.  Every one of them nodded his or her head in agreement with the assertion.  Not a single student declared confidence in the science of evolution.  These were senior students, mind you, about to graduate from High School.  They were not small and untutored children from a junior school.  To say that I was shocked would not be sufficient.  I was stunned.  Could it be, I asked myself, that our education system in Anguilla is teaching the discredited theory of creationism as if it were science?

I was educated in a religious school in Trinidad in the 1950s and 1960s.  My biology teacher was a priest and minister of religion.  He taught us then that the evolution of species was an accepted fact.  We learned that the story of the creation, the Old Testament story of the Garden of Eden and God’s creation of all the known animals at the time of the beginning of the world, was meant to be taken as metaphor, not fact.  We were taught as good Catholics that God had made man in his image.  God had done this by breathing an immortal soul into him at some stage in the distant past when our physical bodies had evolved into homo sapiens.  I have long ago rejected as fantasy the whole structure of the Judeo-Christian myths.  I had not realized that anyone today still believed in the discredited Jewish creation story as science.

After the encounter, I enquired around.  I checked the CXC website for the biology syllabus.  I could not find it available on-line.  It would appear you have to buy it.  I checked two recent schools’ reports on the CXC exam results.  Neither mentioned either of the words ‘evolution’ or ‘creationism’.  I could not find out what the title of the recommended CXC biology text book was.  I would love to check it to see what version of science it teaches.  Maybe I can find out who the biology teacher is, and have a look at the recommended text-book.

I asked one educated mother who is a friend of mine whether she knew that the school was filling her daughter’s mind with superstitious nonsense instead of science.  She smiled.  She said, “No point fighting it, Don.  It is the duty of every parent to give their children a proper grounding.  All kinds of nonsense are taught in schools all around the world.  We have to learn as we grow up what to reject and what to keep.”  She probably gave me very sensible advice.  But, I was not satisfied.  What about the children of uneducated and unsophisticated parents?  Are they not hoping that their children are being properly taught in school so that they can compete in the outside world of ideas?  They know they cannot do it themselves.  I came away with the realization that in Anguilla it must be generally accepted that the creation version of the origin of species may be taught in our school system as science.

I know what I would do if I had a child who was being taught in school that the earth is flat, that the earth is the centre of the universe, that the sun goes around the world each day, and that God created the earth on 23 October 4004 BC.  These were all religious beliefs that were taught as science at one time by Christians in school.  I would be very angry indeed.

Columbus

Columbus was warned by the religious leaders of his day that if he sailed westwards to the horizon, he would fall off the edge of the world.  The Church taught that the Bible said that the earth was flat.  Columbus ignored them and in 1492 sailed west to increase our knowledge. 

Copernicus

Copernicus demonstrated in 1540 that the sun did not orbit the earth as taught by the church.  He died before they could burn him at the stake, as he deserved for going against the Bible.

Galileo

Galileo was condemned and imprisoned for life in 1616 for showing that the earth was not the centre of the universe, as taught at the time by the Christian Church. 

In the religiously conservative State of Tennessee in 1925, biology teacher John Scopes began teaching evolution to his students.  This was contrary to a law passed by the state legislature.  It was illegal to teach evolution in some States of the US.  William Jennings Bryan, a conservative Christian fundamentalist, led the charge to ban the teaching of evolution in US schools.  He joined the team prosecuting Scopes for the offence of teaching evolution.  Clarence Darrow, a prominent freedom of speech advocate, joined the defence team.  Scopes was found guilty, and fined $100.00.  But the conviction was dismissed by the Supreme Court with the damming comment, “Nothing is to be gained by prolonging the life of this bizarre case”.  Since that time the creationist theory of the origin of human life has not been taught in public schools anywhere in the civilized world.  Except, it seems, in Anguilla.

Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan

The Book of Genesis is a religious tract written for credulous shepherds who lived three thousand years ago.  It preserves the narcotic-induced ravings of the followers of a sociopathic god.  The whole schema was discredited two thousand years ago by Jesus of Nazareth, who brought the New Testament to replace the earlier barbaric teachings of the Old Testament.  Human knowledge has gone a long way since both these works were put together.  Their teachings may be broadcast in church to terrify little children into submission, but they have no place in a science class in any school today.

What is the point of all this?  It is this: Anguilla has over the past hundred years produced hundreds of scholars of the highest distinction, including in the sciences.  We have produced neurosurgeons, engineers and technicians of every type.  They must have been taught real science, not myth, to have got where they did.  At some point between my sitting of O-level exams in 1964 and the CXC syllabus of today, the students of Anguilla appear to have begun to be indoctrinated in pseudo-religious beliefs that I thought had long ago been discredited.  It is with regret that I conclude that, due to the ignorance taught by our science teachers, Anguillian students are now blocked from advancement in careers founded on science. 

My fear is that we will no longer be able to produce a competent chemist, geologist, archaeologist, geneticist, or other hard scientist.  This sad state of affairs will persist so long as we continue to teach our students ‘creation science’ and ‘intelligent design’, two warped and inaccurate versions of biology, the science of life.

Educated religious teachers no longer instruct children in idiotic pre-science beliefs.  These have been so thoroughly discredited that I had mistakenly thought that only a nincompoop would teach them today. 

Markets

How come this does not happen in my market?  This has got to be one of the most charming videos that I have seen in a long time. The question is, how come this does not happen in my market?

You have to smile.  If not, you are a barbarian.  Need I say more?

Blockade

Larry Franklin is highly to be commended.  Yesterday, the island was agog with excitement.  The press were at Blowing Point from early in the morning.  Live broadcasts revealed that the early-morning ferries taking passengers to Marigot had been turned back at the port and refused to land.  No one knew what the cause was, or how long it would last.  Mention was made of Anguilla having arrested a French fisherman for illegal fishing.  Was this an official retaliation by the French authorities?  When would it come to an end?  Was war between Anguilla and French St Martin imminent?  Did we have to wait for Britain to declare it on our behalf, or could we do it for ourselves?  We waited all day for news with baited breaths.

Then, at 10:21 pm the same day, Larry Franklin, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, which has responsibility for the ports, posted a press release on the Anguilla News website.  This revealed that there had been an unofficial blockade arranged by the French fishermen of Marigot.  These had been under the mistaken impression that they were free to fish in Anguilla’s waters without the necessary licence.  One had been arrested and charged, prompting the retaliation.  Anguilla’s government ministers and their staff had immediately ventured to St Martin to meet with their French counterparts.  The misunderstanding had been resolved before midday, and the ports re-opened.  Persons have begun posting copies of the press release on other websites and forums, no doubt to ensure it had the widest possible readership.

What is remarkable, is the prompt, clear, factual, and non-political wording of the press release from Mr Franklin.  It is a model for all civil servants and politicians to follow in the future.  You may read it by clicking on the link above.

Debates

ALHCS Debates.  The student and staff members of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School Literary and Debating Society have organized a series of debates among the political candidates in the upcoming general elections in Anguilla.  The exercise is not only meant as a contribution to the discourse leading up to the elections, it is also a praise-worthy effort to raise much-needed funds for the members of the Society to pay their airfares and hotel expenses in attending the next Leeward Islands Debating Competition for High Schools.  The timetable for the debates among the political candidates has been published for some time.  The Anguillian Newspaper published a story on the topic in its issue of 29 December 2009.

The first debate was held yesterday.  It was intended for the three candidates from the West End constituency to show what stuff they are made of.  The participants were to be Wilmoth Hodge for the APP, Walcott Richardson for the AUM, and Kenswick Richardson for the now discredited AUF.  Only Wilmoth Hodge turned up.  The cowardly candidates of the other two parties failed to show up, leaving Wilmoth alone to field all the questions.  He answered valiantly the multitude of issues put to him by the young members of the Debating Society.  By all accounts, he acquitted himself well. 

When our young people fail to meet our expectations, we are quick to jump all over them, none more so than me.  When they do something worthwhile and creditable, they deserve all our encouragement and congratulations.  Shame on you both, Walcott and Kenswick Richardson.

Other competing and contrasting views can be read here, and here.

Illiterates

The gossip around The Valley was about the demand of Viceroy to bring in 70-odd Nevisians to complete the staffing of their Anguilla hotel.  Why Nevisians? you may ask.  Because Four Seasons Hotel in neighbouring Nevis trained hundreds of locals to run a hotel to the highest standard.  Four Seasons has been closed for a year.  It closed down thanks to Hurricane Omar.  As a result, there are hundreds of trained, unemployed hotel staff in Nevis.  Just 100 miles away from Anguilla.  What more obvious solution to the understaffed Viceroy Hotel than to bring the unemployed Nevisians to Anguilla?

The anticipated advantage for Viceroy was that they would be employing vulnerable, malleable immigrants.  At the slightest sign of stroppiness, or independence of mind, these foreign workers could be cowed into submission by threatening them with deportation.  That should keep them quiet!

The problem is that in Anguilla there are hundreds of young people who are out of a job.  They are demanding to know what their government is doing to look out for them.  Elections are around the corner.  Government was anxious to oblige.  The machinery of government was deployed in their defence.  Is that so wrong?

All that we asked was for our Anguillian youth to present themselves to any prospective employer in a reasonable light.  The problem is that the youth of Anguilla are unprepared for the job market.  The average Anguillian out-of-school young lady is tattooed from wrist to armpit.  She wears to the job-interview earrings that reach from her ears to her shoulders.  No one has taught either her or her brother how to handle a job interview.  Viewing the combination of her tattoos and earrings is guaranteed to frighten the s++t out of the average middle-aged, north-American guest at her hotel.  This makes her virtually unemployable.  Meanwhile, her brothers have lost the last trace of their parents’ Anguillian culture.  The present-day youth of Anguilla have been educated by BET jail-talk.  They speak a dialect, learned from US TV, that is closer to Folsum Jail prisoner-jargon than anything their Anguillian ancestors ever spoke.  They are generally unmannerly, semi-literate, and unprepared for the job market.  With their pants-waists dropping below their hips to reveal their dirty underpants, no employer, no matter how desperate, would ever imagine employing them.  They are, all of them, just not ready for the job market.  The average Anguillian High-School graduate is barely fit to be employed in the garden of a second-rate hotel, far less the front office of a Viceroy.

The joke of it all is on Viceroy.  As part of the deal for getting all the tax exemptions they were given by our generous, outgoing government, Viceroy had promised to have the necessary staff trained in time for the opening of the hotel.  They utterly failed themselves.  They dropped the training promise.  Such little training of Anguilllian staff as they provided, was perfunctory and last-minute.  The accountants who now run the hotel had decided that the promised training of Anguillian staff would be too expensive.  It would be cheaper to bring in Asians at one tenth the going West Indian rate.  Our government encouraged them to believe this was feasible.

They did not factor in the general elections that come every five years, and the ensuing upsurge in ‘patriotism’.  Sorry, it turns out that at this present time no imports are allowed.  An election has to be won first.

Good luck, Viceroy.