Anguilla Day 2010 has swiftly passed with its pomp and ceremony and this year it was pleasing to see our Revolutionary Leader, and revered Father of the Nation, James Ronald Webster, in a front-row seat at the Official Parade, his first appearance there in many years.

The fervour of the ceremony (not necessarily its protracted length), the large attendance, the honouring of an inflated number of persons for their contributions, and the involvement by the Government of the Elected Opposition Members, lent an aura of national pride and unity that is so badly needed in our budding island nation.

The only unfortunate deviation from the spirit of the revolution, and the celebration, which must be mentioned, was the Chief Minister’s statements in which he sought perhaps unwittingly, or deliberately, to distance the late Premier Robert Bradshaw, whom he long admired, from being the cause of the Anguilla Revolution through neglect and dictatorship. While it is acknowledged that the Anguilla pot had been simmering since the 1825 annexation of the island with St. Kitts, and down through the years, it in fact boiled over under Bradshaw’s watch in 1967 when he could have done something to avoid it and preserve the integrity of the State, had he listened to the appeals of the Anguillians. Critics, with much justification, thought the Chief Minister’s views were insensitive and far-fetched, and chided him for expressing them at such an occasion, and in the presence of the celebrated and beloved revolutionary leader, freedom fighters, honourees and all others.

But we must move beyond that, and concentrate on building on the ideals set by the Revolution which has made us what we are today, a developing and resilient people, free from the yoke of an unpopular political and constitutional union. The Ronald Webster bandwagon, on which we are still happily riding, remains one of much national importance and influence, but it is now left to us, the new drivers, and those who have clamoured on board, to steer it into the right direction. That must be along a path towards continued self-determination and reconstruction of our social and economic ways of life so that, in time, Anguilla may at last enter its own niche of accomplishment and comfort.

As Chief Minister, for the third time, though sporadically, a privilege afforded him by the Anguilla Revolution, the Hon. Hubert Hughes has the task and opportunity to lead us, as he once remarked, to the “Promised Land.” We wish him and his Government every success and trust that the high level of unity displayed at the Anguilla Day celebration, will heal the wounds suffered during, and after, the recent election campaign, and help to make us the truly united people which we were at the outset of our legendary Revolution.

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