Can a leopard change its spots?
It’s confession time.
Now that he is leader of the Virgin Islands Party, Third District Representative Julian Fraser would like us to forgive him his sins, for he has trespassed against us! He has done those things he should not have done (traffic lights at the roundabout, the no-tender Biwater contract, the wall, the Sea Cows Bay harbour, persuading voters to come over from the United States VI to vote for him, the lashings of no-tender petty contracts, and so on). He has left undone those things he should have done (sorting out the ferries, sorting out the traffic lights at Wickhams Cay II, getting roads resurfaced properly, getting the sewage system sorted out years ago, and so on).
Opposition work
If one can forget his past foibles, he is doing quite a good job in opposition, and there he should stay!
The opposition has to come up with a platform before the election, with positive suggestions for moving the economy and infrastructure forward.
Plans should not be too grandiose, as we know it is often difficult to bring ideas into practice once in power. For example, the National Democratic Party promised to equip every house in the territory with low energy bulbs within a year of coming into office. I’m still waiting for mine, as, I suspect, is every household, and we sure could do with them now to help alleviate our yet again reoccurring power supply problems. I guess that promise was cheaper than white envelopes and ferry tickets! We have been promised for years, by both sides, a register of members’ interests, but where is it? Similarly, where are the tougher gun laws promised?
Laws for ‘the masses’
In this territory, laws are made for the masses, not for those in power and/or with connections. Civil servants are supposed to retire at 60, and so they should, to allow new young blood with progressive ideas into the system. Far too many old (and useless) civil servants have been allowed to continue working. Not that I am in favour of it here, but the suggestion to increase the retirement age to 65 would mean that they would be paying another five years into their pension pots, which would help government finances.
In Europe, retirement age is being stretched to 67 for men and 65 for women, mainly because the taxes on the working population are being overcome by the increasing number of pensioners due to better health care.
How often are petty contract rules broken, and no-bid contracts handed out? You can see how parochial our politicians are by complaining and thinking that we can progress by giving out petty contracts to small contractors in their own district. It might be good for votes and lining the pockets of a few, but it won’t advance the territory much.
New airport
Meanwhile, things are pretty quiet on the new airport front. Do we know what the opposition thinks of the proposals? Are any talks going on with airlines who might fly here? We just don’t have the infrastructure (accommodations, transport, roads, facilities), like they do in St. Thomas and St. Martin, to cope with the numbers that would be required to make it economical for airlines. Nobody is rushing to build hotels here, and it would be folly for government to get involved other than with legislation.
If we were a Kuwait or a Qatar, with a tiny population and oodles of money from oil and gas, things would not be a problem. But we are not. Both our pillars of economy could desert us very quickly in the event of war, financial crises, oil shortages and so on. Any government here should be building up the reserves in the event of a slowdown in world affairs. We can’t look to those who have got rich off the fat of the land to save us!
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