All BVI will soon be on trial.

Truth be told, a single individual will be, so there is no reason everyone should feel compromised, let down, complicit.  But they do.

It is almost the feeling that people of African descent have experienced over the decades when one of their number, albeit a stranger, commits a crime anywhere in the world.  

They have felt judged and personally and silently blamed by the international community.

Andrew Alturo Fahie’s rise to prominence must have been preordained.  For the brightest and most successful group of politicians the Territory ever boasted, the NDP, self-destructed over power struggles.

They forgot that they existed to serve the interests of the people and they, to be ‘first among equals,’ (Jeffrey Archer) turned upon each other like a pack of rabid dogs.

They used the public’s cosmopolitan status against it.  They disparaged one of their colleagues for extending a hand of friendship across racial lines and for encouraging foreign direct investments.  The crusade to destroy him for that treachery was brutal.

They denied him the ability to extend the runway which they now agree is vital to the economy of the Territory.  They ignored his work for the environment and complained about his frequent travels even when it was on their requests to cover their responsibilities.

And they influenced a public, willfully kept ignorant, to banish him from public life.

Investors lost interest in the Territory.  The quality of life in the BVI, unlike the quality of mercy in Portia’s famous speech, (Merchant of Venice) was strained.

BVI slipped from the head of the class to become the joker of the subregion.  Her infrastructure, frozen in time; Her dependence on the governments around her with vision, increased.

Macduff (Macbeth) materialized with his expression of grief.  “O horror, horror, horror! Tongue nor heart / cannot conceive nor name thee! …. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.”

And, simultaneously, a rogue wave carrying a green tide washed into the halls of state, propelled by people who felt defrauded, disgusted, deserted.

And the band played on.  Except the lyrics did not make for merry hearts.  The public lost its voice; Many who had a contribution to make were roughly pushed aside.

The Territory’s policy foundation was shaken to its core.  Diplomacy fled.  A brawl was opened with the overseers.  A loan guarantee that would have provided cheap money to rebuild the infrastructure was rejected and legitimate businesses were chased away.

A commission of inquiry interrupted the downward spiral and the senseless run on the treasury.

Still, we wept en mass when word reached us on 29 April 2022, that our ‘political master’ was detained on foreign soil for alleged infractions that, still, appear, incredible.

Only Lady Macbeth’s insincere high drama before she lost consciousness could, on that occasion, have described the despair that visited the people.

“Woe, alas! / What, in our house?"

But the day of reckoning dawns.

Will we have a better understanding of the events that led to this point?  

We hope so. 

Might we also comprehend how ‘God’ could have been so consistently paraded in the streets and wickedness still flourish?  

Perhaps not, since the state continues to parade ‘God’ in the streets.

Would any explain how the ‘First Estate’ was so hoodwinked by the theatrics?  

Unlikely.

Will Members of the House of Assembly ever find it possible to discuss that unprecedented development in the political history of the BVI and devise a path in policy, if not in law, to ensure that this history does not repeat itself?

Never!

Yet they find time and make space on the Order Paper to pacify their conscience for what they have done to an icon.

And they continue to soil their mouths with the good names of those like Noel Lloyd who demonstrated that country must be greater than self.  He displayed;

Bravery; Courage; Character; Strength.

They talk.  

Yet, they entertain no discussion over the impacts of their, sometimes, foolish decisions and actions.   

Still, the goal is independence.

Let the games begin!!

And let us, on our Fridays, carefully observe and truthfully analyze.

Happy Friday!