Mr David Carty, a former Speaker of the Anguilla House of Assembly, has appeared on the political platform for the first time in the 2015 general election campaign.
At Little Dix, on Saturday night, February 7, at one of the largest public meetings of the Anguilla United Front so far, he spoke on "building a high road" not only in terms of decent campaigning, but what he saw as important ideas that could lead to the overall development and forward movement of Anguilla.
Carty, known for his usual eloquent discourse, borrowed the topic in part from an address which Mr Victor Banks, Leader of the AUF, delivered at a public meeting on Thursday, February 5.
He went on: "Mr Banks spoke about building a high road in Anguillian politics and, to illustrate the importance of his point, he juxtaposed or compared building a high road to the politics of destruction and personal character assassination that we have lived with for the last fifty years.
"You, the people of Anguilla, need to understand that building a high road in our political life is more than just being decent on a political podium. It is more than just being able or unwilling to say something negative about your opponent. It is allowing a small community of fifteen thousand souls not to become enemies against each other in a village community - and thereby tap into talent that even may not support you politically, but is there. Anguilla is a small place. When you insult people's families, you create enemies for life; when you degrade people's character, you create bitterness and strife; and when you do that, you dull the opportunities that we all have to share in the ideas that will build a new Anguilla.
"What Mr Banks spoke about was, in essence, the politics of resentment - and that is what I call it; and that politics of resentment must end. It must never be allowed to throw away or alienate especially the young people from bringing ideas to the table. I want to talk to you in the context of what I have to say about listening to ten young Anguillians in the Library on Thursday night and the ideas they shared. When I listened to them, my eyebrows raised and I said wow - if we can just hold strain, Anguilla will be a better place."
Mr Carty stressed that building a high road would lead firstly to possibilities and, in that context, he spoke about renewable energy - the replacement of expensive fossil fuel-generated electricity by the cheaper alternative sources of solar and wind power.
He recalled that in 2006, during a private visit to Anguilla by President Bill Clinton, he (Carty), the Energy Committee he chaired, and Mr Victor Banks, then Minister of Finance, met with Mr Clinton for discussions on renewable energy.
Mr Carty continued : "At that time, the technology was not as advanced as it is today, efficient or as cheap, but we knew that the technology was coming and that Anguilla is blessed by God Almighty with bales of sunshine - sometimes too much; and with the breeze blowing across the island morning, noon, and night, except for sometimes in October...
"Mr Banks, to his undying credit, immediately saw the opportunity and he did two things. The first thing he did was to exploit the visit of President William Jefferson Clinton to Anguilla, the most popular politician on the planet, who was here liming with his wife and playing golf down at Temenos. Mr Banks persuaded the President to have lunch with him at Zura's along with a group of us who were strong on this issue because Mr Banks knew that President Clinton was serious about renewable energy.
"Over that lunch, I was privileged to have been given the opportunity by Mr Banks to make the case to the President as to why a little island, 35-square-miles, connected from east to west by a well-run utility - ANGLEC...could be an example to islands all over the world for a serious push for energy independence. The President bought the matter hook, line and sinker, and he made a commitment to Mr Banks, and the rest of us at that meeting, that he would do everything in his power to help us to achieve it."
Mr Carty said that the second thing Mr Banks did was that, with the support of his colleagues, he signed a special warrant giving the Energy Committee money to begin research into renewable energy. Carty, then Speaker of the House of Assembly, obtained permission to pursue, on behalf of the Government and people of Anguilla, the setting up of a small committee to explore the issue. The committee later received a grant from the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) to further its work.
He further explained: "Over four years, we brought down specialists in renewable energy in wind and solar. We bought a sophisticated computerised anemometer - something that measures the wind - which is up on a pole right now at Corito, measuring down to a second the speed and direction of the wind every day. It is to inform engineers and electronics specialists as to what the wind could do in little Anguilla. You would not believe when the people analysed the data from the anemometer, how much they said to us: to use their language, 'you fellows have a fantastic wind resource'. In other words, 'you have the wind that it takes to help to make renewable energy possible'. So the possibility for renewable energy, and what it would mean for Anguilla, was defined by pro-action on the part of the then Anguilla United Front Government, spearheaded in particular by Mr Banks - and I want to give him a lot of credit here tonight for that vision."
Mr Carty emphasised that building a high road would also lead to understanding and opportunity. He said that the current AUM Government of Anguilla eventually abandoned Anguilla's move towards renewable energy with the use of solar or wind power, as was being pursued by the Anguilla United Front Government.
"The failure of the Anguilla United Movement is that they did nothing for the last five years in this area," he charged. "Instead, we have been bamboozled and propagandised by a new fancy technology called pyrolysis where we are going to burn garbage in Corito to create four megawatts of power."
He quoted statements made by Mr Rommel Hughes, a qualified Anguillian Environmental Engineer, reading from an Environment Impact Assessment report, that such a system would produce dangerous fumes polluting cisterns and the sea.
Mr Carty put it this way: "Pyrolysis paralyses everything and, for the life of me, when I see a Government that has the resources of wind and solar in such a massive way, to tell me that they are going to burn garbage...to create electricity is beyond me...We deserve better and to do so, you have to take the high road. Anguillians are smart enough, good enough, and capable enough for a sensible conversation that would drive this country forward - and that is why I believe, I know, that a Government of the Anguilla United Front will create a new revolution in Anguilla."
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