Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

I agree with the opinion piece in this week’s Sentinel (p4) – and therefore disagree with our current Governor (not, sadly, an uncommon occurrence).  If you are not allowed to know how your elected members voted on an issue then how can you make a meaningful choice at the next election?

Prior to an election candidates make lots of promises about what they will do, what they will support and what they will oppose.  For example, let’s say a candidate promises to improve healthcare on the island.  They get voted in and then spend the rest of their four-year term voting against anything that might result in improved healthcare.  But at the next election they, again, promise to support and promote healthcare.

In a developed democracy (UK, Europe, USA and most others) you can find out how your member voted on every single issue.  In the UK you consult a publication called Hansard (it’s online). If you find s/he didn’t vote the way they promised they would you can demand an explanation and, if you are not satisfied, not vote for them again.  But to do this you have to know how they voted.

It is completely against everything I understand about democracy to keep members’ votes a secret.  Secrecy in this benefits nobody except the dishonest.

Maybe one of our more honest members would like to put forward a Bill to remove the shroud of secrecy and bring democracy to our island’s governance.  Obviously not one of the ones who hides behind the veil of silence to do his or her underhand dealings; one who actually votes the way he or she promised the electorate they would.

I assume there is at least one.....

International Politics Explained!

North Korea is an undemocratic regime that tortures and kills its opponents and poses a military threat to its neighbours.

Saudi Arabia is an undemocratic regime that tortures and kills its opponents and poses a military threat to its neighbours.

Any yet North Korea is an “evil empire” while Saudi Arabia is a friend and ally. Why is this?

The answer is that Saudi Arabia supplies the US and UK with oil, and buys armaments from us, and hence helps our rich get richer. North Korea does not.

International Politics is not about justice, fairness and Human Rights – it’s about preserving and expanding the wealth of our leaders.

MI5’s current list of active secret agents

Hands up all those who know what The Gazette is, and how to access it?

I ask because Governor Honan claims that it is “open and transparent” if an announcement is published in it (Letters, today’s Sentinel). 

I must disagree. 

Nobody reads the Gazette.  Most people have never heard of it and very few know how to get a copy (you have to find it on the notoriously impenetrable SHG website, but to find it you first have to know it exists and it’s there).

Something put in the Gazette can hardly be said to have been ‘published’, and certainly not either openly or transparently.  A letter in both newspapers counts as published (it has to be both because many people only read one).  Or an announcement on the radio (again, both stations), run for at least three days because people sometimes miss one night.  If you want people to know something you publish it where people will see or hear it. 

In my opinion, claiming something to have been “openly and transparently published” because it was in the Gazette is like the Vogons (in “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”) saying their plans to destroy Earth had been “on display in the local planning office in Alpha Centuri for 50 Earth years”.  About as open and transparent as MI5’s current list of active secret agents.

All of the people, all of the time

Don't you just love it when you read a SHG Press Release that begins "SHG is disappointed ....."

It always reminds me of my old headmaster. He would be "disappointed" that boys had been caught smoking. Disappointed that only twelve had got into Oxford/Cambridge. Disappointed that somebody had burned down the school hall. Etc. Etc. He was never "angry" because that would have involved him leaving his high place of superiority and descending to our level. Instead he remained aloof.  Just as SHG tries to do.  SHG should not be patronising the people of St Helena, it should be listening to what we have to say and engaging positively.

SHG was "disappointed" that the Sentinel "misunderstood" the "facts" about coffee plants, according to their press statement.  One wonders how it will react when it reads this week's edition which proves that the information the Sentinel used in its story came by email from SHG!  More 'disappointment', or just plain "Oh, shit, we f@$£ed up, we'd better say nothing at all"?  An apology would of course be out of the question because that would involve admitting they got something wrong.  SHG believes it, and everything it does, is axiomatically correct and reality must be adjusted around it.

It will be fascinating to read the results of the recent "What do you think of SHG Information" survey.  Everybody knows that what they publish is crap, but I'm sure the results will show that 105% of respondents believe SHG's information to be reliable, trustworthy and completely accurate (just like when 100% of the people of Iraq voted for Saddam Hussein).  I'm sure it will turn out that there will have been many "spoilt" submission papers; spoilt with errors like not ticking "the best" for every box which meant they had to be disqualified.

Who do they think they are fooling?  Certainly not me or any of the other people of St Helena.

Until we get some reality from SHG the gap between Government and People will continue to widen.

Shame on you!

Yesterday was International Womens' Day.

The St Helena Government proudly posted on its Facebook page about the "many wonderful achievements of St Helenian women and girls" while completely failing to mention that, in St Helena, it is still perfectly legal to pay a woman less for the same job as a man and advertise a job for men only.

Instead of a proud post they should be cowering in a corner in shame.

Smile for the camera!

Words cannot describe how bored I am with postings from Travel Shows.  Facebook and Twitter are infested with them.

I guess the island has to be represented, but do we need to see hundreds of postings showing images of people smiling at the camera with some stand in the background? How does this help us?

Why not give us some useful data: how many people visited the stand? how many said they would actually consider St Helena as a future tourist destination? Then we would know if the budget that pays for these excursions was being well spent, or should it instead be allocated to fixing the roads or improving benefits for the poor and needy.

Look! An iceberg....!

I see SHG says it's "looking into" the allegations against the hospital in Pretoria. Meanwhile another batch of patients left for there on Saturday......

Imagine SHG as Captain of the Titanic. Somebody spots an iceberg dead ahead, and we get this statement: 

"We have received unconfirmed reports of an iceberg dead ahead. We have contacted London and they are sending an Iceberg Expert to review the situation. He will arrive in three weeks and we should have his report in about six months' time. In the meantime the ship will continue at full speed on its present course".