Thinking about this week’s Governor-stopping-Saints-installing-solar-panels debacle got me wondering. Maybe we should not blame our Governor personally for his abuses of power.
I have only met the man for about ten seconds when he first arrived so I have no idea what he was like personally at that time, and indeed whether he remains the same now. But there’s an old saying: “power corrupts” to which is usually added “... and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.
Give anyone the amount of power that our Governors have and trouble will inevitably result. Even Boris Johnson and Joe Biden cannot arbitrarily decide to implement a new rule just because they want to; they both have to follow a parliamentary process which, while far from perfect, is designed to stop “Mad King Syndrome” from setting in.
“Mad King Syndrome”?
It’s where someone in charge has unlimited and unquestioned power and it goes to their head. King Cnut (“Canute”) trying to stop the tide; Roman Emperor Caligula arbitrarily executing people because they didn’t laugh at his jokes; King Henry VIII making the whole country Protestant because the Pope wouldn’t give him a divorce; and just about every Dictator everywhere throughout history.
If you give people absolute power, a lot of them go nuts. Not all, but far too many.
So perhaps the problem is not Dr. Philip Rushbrook personally. For all I know, if you get to know him you find him a nice, kind and caring man. I strongly suspect the problem is the role of Governor. It just has far too much unfettered power.
As I have said many times before:
St Helena needs three things:
1) The role of
Governor should become purely ceremonial with no power (and, probably, the
silly hat should be re-instated for the benefit of the tourists);
2) All power and
decision-making should be vested in our democratically elected representatives,
operating in an open and transparent way; and
3) Saints should be
able to vote for an MP to represent their interests in the UK Parliament
(possibly in conjunction with the other Overseas Territories).
