Tell Me, and Montserrat, Why We Should Vote For YOU

Political Season in Montserrat is well and truly underway, and don’t I know it. Colourful billboards adorn the roads promoting each of the candidates (well some are not really promoting), mug shots of candidates are besmirched all over island on every lamppost and shop door, even the vegetation has become victim to election fever with plastic wrapping cheerfully festooning trees in and around Brades.

Political rallies are taking over every nook and cranny from circus events to one man shows. Paid for political statements are more prevalent on the radio than Basils adverts, some short and to the point, others long and rambling. And to cap it all off, the lambasting of candidates is taking over as the main sport on island.

But what is really happening with the election? Behind all this promotion is there really a political message fighting to escape and give me a reason to vote.

I’ll be honest, I still don’t know exactly WHEN the election is going to he called, will it be 12th September, will MCAP listen to Victor James and change the date, will Premier Meade pull a fast one and bring the date forwards? I hear he is a great strategist so what has he got up his sleeve to ensure another five years of rule?

All I can say is that right now the candidates are revealing themselves left right and centre. There are those with a single minded mission, those who feel they can rule the island, those who want to fight DfID and the UK, those who want to bring down the current Premier, those who want to save the environment and those who don’t really know why they are standing but thought it was a good idea to do so after all their friends agreed to vote for them during a drunken night at the rum shop.

One thing is apparent though, there is a distinct lack of plausible policy being promoted from all directions.

I sit here now asking myself who I vote for, let me consider the two leading political parties policy from what I understand so far.

The current MCAP Party wants me to vote for them to continue the good work they have so assiduously started. To continue to develop the island and build on a solid foundation to achieve self-sustainability. They are routed to the development of Little Bay and to grow the island economy quickly thereby facilitating growth in other areas of Montserrat. They have a solid working relationship with DfID and understand the concepts of dealing with the United Kingdom. This unwavering development plan is the kind of leadership I really want to see, a team who are not going to be diverted at the first sign of trouble.

OK so MCAP have my vote, but wait….

Is their belligerence and unwillingness to digress from this thinking also their downfall? Is Montserrat ready for such rapid growth and is the population prepared to deal with the influx of opportunistic investors who want to take their slice of the cake? Yes we need the development to help us grow but at what cost?

No maybe MCAP are not for me, I’m scratching my head now, but there is however an alternative...

PDM on the other hand have spent the last few weeks (and months) decrying everything MCAP are doing. They are taking a very different approach and are proposing slower growth founded on sustainability and inward investment (well reading between the lines that is what I think they are proposing). Social benefits will rise, everybody will get a job, houses will be available for all, healthcare will improve, education levels will rise and Montserrat will be self-sustainable again.

Wonderful, now I am a PDM supporter all the way, I will be an educated, healthy person living in an affordable house after retiring from a great job. Hang on a second though…

My first, and only real question is HOW? More than one person has said they would love to see the balance sheet after twelve months of power, if not sooner and I agree. To achieve all of these promises, I fear the Hon Romeo is going to be holding out the begging bowl for a very long time in front of the DfID team. Maybe it would be worthy him considering that if all of these issues could be addressed then MCAP may have tried already and the only reason they have not succeeded as much as they wanted to is due to a lack of funding?

So now I’m back to square one, unless I want a bankrupt island and not really sure who to vote for.

OK, let me think harder, what are all these characters really saying they can do for me? Currently all I am hearing is criticism of the other candidates with very little substance behind the important aspects of running the country. I can see that PDM thinks very little of Premier Meade from the billboards they erected. I hear in Assembly that Premier Meade thinks very little of Hon Osborne and I hear Dr Lewis thinks very little of everybody. But very little of the policies, the real policies.

Election time is a fantastic opportunity for changes and to ensure that we in Montserrat make the right changes. Sometimes those changes may be in the persons we have leading us, sometimes they may be changes of mind-set. But in order to make the right changes we need to be educated.

One piece of advice for all candidates running in the election, don’t tell us why I shouldn’t vote for the others, tell me (and Montserrat) why we should vote for YOU!

Oh yes, and make the bank sheet balance!

Joseph Picklesworth

Confused Voter