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…….by Yves Ephraim
I think it is time for honest self-reflection on how we have done as an independent nation.
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At this time of year we tend to look at what we were “freed” from but seldom talk about what are our significant achievements, as it relates to those irrefutable and important factors that gauge true national success from a citizen’s point of view.
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We look at countries as Singapore (248sq miles) and swoon over their rags to riches story but what about our story?
It is very important to first define what being independent means from the perspective of a native people whose forbears were slaves and who were denied ownership of land from the start.
Merriam-Webster provides a definition for the word independence, which is: “Not subject to control by others”.
Not subject to control by others, suggests that Antigua and Barbuda would not be beholden to any foreign power.
This further means that our own government is obliged to uphold our national will, even if it makes no sense and goes contrary to the rest of the world.
For example, if we want to keep Fort James for the people to use freely, why should we agree to give up our “freedom of movement” on these communal lands in exchange for being relegated to a small part of the beach, all in the interest of the development agenda of a global conglomerate and tourist dollars?
For some of us, having an untouched, natural environment for our wellbeing, community engagement and mental health is far more important than tourist dollars.
Fort James is our closest thing to a park.
We have no real parks where ordinary Antiguans and Barbudans can relax and enjoy.
Now even this small thing is under threat of being taken away from us. I would say, leave ALL of Fort James to the people to freely use as a park.
It is my opinion that our governments have been following a development path for us that has been engineered and sanctioned by our past colonial masters.
To me, this prescribed roadmap that we have adopted, is designed to bankrupt developing nations like ours, so that we remain subservient through debt.
They have fooled us with arbitrary measures like GDP and continuously compare us (through IMF and World Bank reports) in such a way that encourages us to spend or borrow more money.
Most of the past colonial masters, dangle development loans to us with stipulations that we must hire their citizens to get the work done and that we must purchase the materials directly from their citizens.
The effect of this policy is to deny Antiguan and Barbudans the benefit of the funds circulating in our economy while saddling our country with that debt.
Added to that, the foreign investment normally comes with expectations of duty free concessions and tax free repatriation of the profits. How is that sustainable for us? Our governments seem to fall for this over and over again.
The Bible tells us that “the borrower is servant to the lender”, Prov 22:7b. I have observed that our indebtedness to some countries is so great, that our government would not even consider being remotely critical of a certain nation to which we are heavily indebted.
So much for independence when you cannot talk your mind!
Our government continues to follow this exogenously engineered development roadmap, ever sinking in a hole of dependency.
Could we honestly say that as a people we are more in control 44 years later?
Still on the matter of being in control, are we satisfied that we ostensibly became independent with the lowering of the Union Jack and the raising of the Antigua and Barbuda flag but still swear allegiance to the King, his heirs and successors in the UK?
As an Antiguan and Barbudan do you feel like your government prefers you more than foreign direct investment?
I was a teenager when we achieved political independence, and at that time, I thought that people like me were now free to chart our own development trajectory.
I thought that, immediately after independence that our leadership would immediately dismantle the legal framework that was originally constructed to keep us as second class citizens. I am very disappointed that no real effort was made to fix this.
In fact the very UK government who gave us the laws we have was adamant that we could not house their citizen who is a convicted felon in the prison that they themselves constructed under their local rule.
The irony is that our own government felt comfortable in agreeing to put this felon in airconditioned comfort while Antiguan and Barbudans languish in dungeons of squalor, by comparison.
Today, I do not feel like I am favoured by my own government. During my journey, I have felt that my own government preferred to court the citizens of past colonial powers over me.
My government has liberally showered acres of lands and concessions on those citizens of past colonial powers, while poor people like me must be satisfied with failed attempt after failed attempt running behind government officials for a plot of land to buy.
Antiguan and Barbudans have paid for the syndicate lands but how many of us can say we even own a plot? I would welcome the day when the citizens of this nation be given an account of how all those syndicate lands have been disposed.
I suspect that the recent need to forcefully acquire more private citizens’ lands for so called housing development may be a signal that our government has completely squandered most of our syndicate lands.
If you are a Barbudan, would you say that Independence turned out better for you? As a Barbudan, what does your future look like? Do you see a future where you will continue to be barred from what was once your communal lands?
Are you now feeling like an outsider in your own land? Do you not feel betrayed by your government which has decided to side with outsiders than you? If your own government is not willing to honour your will, who can the Barbudan’s trust?
Who will protect our independence?
I wonder what those who were ejected from Booby Alley think about Independence? They were suddenly ejected from their community under the pretext that they were to be given better living conditions.
What they gave up was the chance to ever be a community again. Point is forever gone.
The spirit that made the point community great with calypso and sports is gone forever! That “Point Area” identify will soon have no significance in the next 20 years. The process of gentrification has begun.
Forty four years later, having lived in Antigua and Barbuda all of my life, I feel like I live in a country that is simply following the playbook of the former colonial masters, albeit run by people that look like me.
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We are independent as in we have our own flag and national anthem..We don’t have to be spoon fed by the UK….They don’t make decisions for us but we still can’t just do what we want……The late sovereigns head is still on our currency and we have GG representing the King…..We continue their ceremonial teachings as we shall do again today at Sir Viv stadium…A bunch of men and women marching and saluting in just like of our former masters taught us….People being honored for hard work and dedication is great and well deserved but in the fashion of our colonial masters and with their permission…A record of who receives what is in the British log we can’t just do as we please………Yeah we are independent to a certain extent……
The confidence to venture out on it’s own as a nation without British sovereignty 44 years ago was somewhat intimidating I’d imagine. To think that a people who were wrongfully enslaved and controlled by the British could suddenly thrive without their structure and support 44 years ago, in my opinion, was not possible. However, 44 years after, almost half a century, we should be in the position to break away from the British masters and stand on our own two feet. I’d say we are at that place but mentally we still believe we can’t make it with their protection and systems. Also, all the invisible yokes, like the author mentioned, keeps us in submission and somewhat under their control indirectly.
We should love our country, pray for wisdom for our leader and hope for better BUT ultimately we can only put our full confidence in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ, the Lord God Almighty. I pledge allegiance to Him and so should all nations.