Anguillians share a unique version
of the crabs in a barrel syndrome. They
raise up their leaders only to drag them down.
We did it to the Father of the Nation, the late Ronald Webster. Now we are doing it to Dr Lorenzo Webster.
I
know that Dr Webster is well able to defend himself from unfair criticism. Years spent in public life in the USA has
well equipped him to take all the heat that the kitchen can throw at him. Still, here are my two cents for what it is worth.
Dr
Ellis Lorenzo Webster is Anguilla’s current Premier. He won his seat in 2020 at his second attempt
in national politics. One of Dr
Webster’s characteristics is his humility.
The man appears to have no vanity about him. He seems completely lacking in any signs of
inadequacy. He shows no chip on his
shoulder. There is nothing vainglorious
or bombastic about him. When he greets
you, his smile is genuine. He puts his
hands together, and gently bows no matter how apparently lowly the status of
the person. He greets everyone the same
way, high or low. Unlike his
denigrators, he suffers from no inferiority complex. He does not need to prove his superiority,
like some of his ethically and morally challenged opponents feel compelled to
do.
Dr
Webster was an island scholar, winning a government scholarship to study
dentistry in the States. Later, he
attended Yale University in the US, where he obtained a Master’s degree,
graduating in 1991 as a medical doctor.
While maintaining a busy and successful practice, he provided ear, nose
and throat care for indigent patients in Florida where he had settled
down. In the States he was well known
for participating in mentoring programs for elementary and high school
students. He led the society for
minority physicians in Palm Beach County.
He chaired surgical sections at different hospitals. He became involved in local, state, and
national political campaigns in the USA.
It was hardly surprising that after some 20 years away his eyes turned
to the political situation in his home island of Anguilla.
Before
Dr Webster returned to Anguilla to take up the mantle of leadership, the island
was run by a series of political groups entirely lacking in integrity. Nepotism, cronyism, conflicts of interest,
all ran rife decade after decade. The
voters shuffled from party to party, desperately hoping for an improvement
every five years. It never came.
Seven
years ago, Dr Webster was unsuccessful in his political campaign to represent his
village constituency of Island Harbour.
But he had proven his integrity and commitment. When he ran again two years ago, he was
returned to the House of Assembly by a landslide. Since then, as leader of the political party
with the most seats in the Assembly, he has taken up the mantle of Premier of
the Island.
These
past two years have seen him exhaust all of his political capital. He is now daily criticized on the private radio
stations by loud mouths who are all his intellectual and moral inferiors. It is painful to listen. I won’t repeat any of the egregious and
undeserved insults that are showered on him on a daily basis. I only note that he has not once deigned to
respond in kind. Amazingly, he continues
to be the same gentle, courteous, almost diffident, person. One never hears an unkind or insulting word
from him.
Members
of the political opposition are mainly silent.
It is not the opposition party that does most of the attacking on his
character, integrity, and intelligence.
The most virulent attacks come from disappointed, previous members of
his party. They each claim to have been
turned down on some interest or the other of theirs that they unsuccessfully promoted. Hurt an Anguillian in his financial
interests, and you have an enemy for life.
The
political opposition do not have to be loud in their condemnation. They are politically astute enough to know
they need only keep quiet and let the governing party tear themselves
apart. Previous members of the party
will do their work for them. Their
strategy is in three years’ time to swoop in and snatch up the prize of
political power. Their hope is that if
they are successful, Dr Webster will then retreat to his medical practice in
Palm Beach, leaving Anguilla to the scavengers.
