Editorial: December 12, 2014 :
For the onlooker, the obvious question as the calypsonian recounts that the people ‘fed up’ so they ‘red up’ slogan of the just concluded political campaign, is why were the people fed up? The result of them being fed up catapulted Premier Romeo into being the head political ‘honcho’ in Montserrat.
That position is one, we hope, is well understood. One that must lead away from campaign into fulfilling campaign and manifesto mandates.
So why were people fed-up? The dream that earned the cooperative description of ambitious from the funders, was really nothing more than a fantasy, where lots of conditions and mandates were agreed with no real desire or knowledge as to how the conditions would be met. The dream imagined and set out was not the same as the one in the minds of the architects. There was a dream and even a desire, which did not include the people were eventually told, believe in the dream, let us live the dream, let us continue the dream. That other dream must have been satisfied.
The endangerment is that this new government may have seen merit in the dream and believes all they have to do is to change methods. Alas, if that is true, how about reviewing the dream and see the reality of it. There has to be a review, not just of the methods, but an understanding the motives and what drove the methods.
They must understand that if mistakes were made, there will be a cost to correcting those mistakes. To rely merely on a DFID audit report and not have the simple understanding above will mean an open door to continue the same, just improving the methods without change.
A full study of the Strategic Growth Plan and all that follows from it, the Sustainable Development Plan and the engine built to carry them out must be seriously reviewed. Not just by those who wrested power or campaigned into political power, but people who have over the years were able through their leadership kept institutions alive. People who know the difference between just having power, but understand how to use the power to energise and stimulate life into the engine, which may well need rebuilding. There is a cost.
When the Premier comes back to complain about blocked projects, that’s just more of the same, who is really to blame? No one had to go to the UK to have HMG remind them of the 1999 and the 2012 White Paper and all the pronouncements with special regard to Montserrat to know who is fooling who. There must be an understanding of what the ‘partnership’ means. And by the way, who remembers that Montserrat did not respond to the invitation to be part of the discussions or to inform the decisions that eventually made up the White Paper. The Premier was supposed to review the recommended topics of relevance to Montserrat, show them, and discuss them with his Ministers (Cabinet) and the public. That simply did not happen.
BE amazed, review the Case that informed the functions of the Montserrat Development Corporation (MDC). Like many other documents that took months to finalise. But what happened, like in many other situations, laws one after the other were just not obeyed and so the walls crumble.
It is accepted; the rush not understood that there is a new board. But when the CEO who is central to much of the problems of the functions of the Corporation, one whose head we have called for months ago did not go with the board he either controlled or danced with, we ask for the thinking and the understanding.
We urge the Premier to meet with the press so the people can learn exactly how his government plans to do the things, beginning with getting HMG to renew its commitment and demonstrate our own willingness to be firm with the things that are really meaningful, well beyond words to the future. It must ALL make SENSE.
