With Hamlet’s birth, (Shakespeare) Claudius, his uncle, was pushed to second in line to the Danish throne.  And Hamlet’s father made the same mistake that Mufasa (Lion King) made.  He loved and trusted his brother.

Both ended badly.

The games intensify.  Power is too important a commodity to leave to chance.  Macbeth once uttered that “If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me'.   But the Lady Macbeth had other ideas.

There are usually heavy casualties in the quest for power.  Those who pursue it with all their heart and might, leave no stone unturned; Family, kinship, friendship, love; All fall as victims.  

The variegated splinters have splintered yet again.  The latest splinter group, ‘The Alliance,’ appears to be saying that their preemptive strike is the road to unity.  And the jury may never deliver its verdict until business is settled at the polls.

But a queen has been captured on the chess board, unwittingly pulled by the magnetism of the game.  She is a ‘political animal.’  She grew up in a political household and practiced, for decades, in the space.  She is a lover of people.  The age range of her considerable list of friends is from 9 to nigh 109.

At her age, she is still coherent, charismatic, dynamic, energetic, uninhibited, loved, respected, consulted and a force to be reckoned with.  We say nothing of her experience and contributions to the development of these Virgin Islands.

For it was she who: Turned Lavity’s dream of a college into reality; Put culture on the right footing; Did the ground work and hired the professionals to write the functional brief and produce the architectural designs for the Dr D Orlando Smith Hospital; Built the Ellis Thomas Downs, being a sports enthusiast and a horse racing aficionado.

The list of her accomplishments is too long to recite here.

But it is she who was captured on the chess board for, every now and then, someone will emerge who will ‘outfox the fox’ himself.

So, when her blessings for the shenanigans was sought, she did not see that she was moving to a different court, to play on another chess board away from those for whom she would have walked the plank, if the suggestion was made.

Uncertainty grows.  A tangled web is being woven from which it will become almost impossible to extricate herself, the longer she remains estranged.

If she consults Gabriel García Márquez (100 Years of Solitude), she will recognize the ideology she knows well, that memory and the past count significantly in our lives. 

And that will spare her the impact of the philosophy of Hobbes that “Hell is truth seen too late.”

Meanwhile, the public looks on in consternation.  They have seen a well-functioning and important Party to the BVI political process and development, laid low by power-plays.

History, as it is wont to do, is repeating itself.

And they are witnessing the further carnage that will likely plunge the splinters into insignificance, as an Opposition, for lack of unity and rob the territory of a functional “Government-in waiting.”

Of course, there will be impressive presentations and soliloquies in the Honourable House designed to dazzle the casual onlooker, confuse the listener, and stake a claim on leadership.  

[This is where King Agrippa makes his entrance although the Apostle Paul will not be his admonisher and councilor.]

Yet, the variegated splinters have long held themselves to be the brains of the Honourable House.  They are, in the main, accomplished, educated, articulate, perceptive.  

But they are not cohesive.  The ‘I’ factor is too strong.  And the hunters may have already shared the spoils of a catch they have not yet seen.  For their demonstrated desire for power seems to eclipse all else.

Where are the people in this process?  Don’t they have a right to representation?  Must their dreams and aspirations for the territory be sacrificed on the altar of ambition after votes are counted?

Should the sustainable development of the Territory be constantly under siege because wise men and women cannot leave egos at the door and work in harmony and in the interest of the people?

Is power so important that the destruction of long-standing relationships is an acceptable casualty?

Are we still juveniles in our political experience?

All we know for sure is that the magic number is 7.  And 3 seems a significant distance from that goal.

Nevertheless, ours are not ‘elected views.’  They are only the views we proffer on Fridays.

Happy Friday!