Dickson Igwe. Photo: VINO/File

These are critical voter groups that may vote very much the same way at an election, affecting the outcome. There are many reasons why age cannot be ignored in the game of power. But it would be folly indeed, and too complex an exercise, to assess Virgin Islands age demographics, and how this affects politics, especially in a short story. In any event, a clearly incomplete national census may render that effort futile.

Now, democracy is also called representative government. That is an accurate phrase. People vote, but representatives of the people rule. Electors decide the elected, then the elected run the show. And representatives inordinately, and in most democracies, are made up of the elite, the intelligentsia, and those connected to wealth and power.

However, it is Joe Average, Tom Taxpayer, Consuela Sweetness, and Martin Meletic, who put those representatives in power. The savvy politician understands this critical political truth: the people are needed to elect the politician, but even more critically, once the politician’s rear end is placed on the hot seat of power, it is the goodwill of the people that ensures the ruling group’s political agenda is executed.

Once the goodwill of the people is lost, governing becomes a very difficult affair indeed. And that is why good public relations are such a crucial piece of armory in the politician’s war chest. In the Virgin Islands, the matter of airport development, something this Observer and many others believe is a critical necessity for a tourism oriented economy may be fighting against a new skepticism from Johnny Voter. Why? Because the airport project is not being sold effectively, and has become entangled with an increasingly poor public relations model. And so too the cruise pier project: this is equally crucial to growing the tourism economy, but alas, it too appears to be increasingly under a fog of public skepticism.

Now, this Observer remains optimistic, and an ardent believer, that the country can build the first world type air and seaport infrastructure linking the country with the rest of the planet directly, by allowing the largest planes take off and land in the Virgin Islands, and providing seamless sea and even seaplane connections to St. Thomas: a critical entry point into the country for the US traveler especially. And the cries of those who state that the country cannot afford so many developments simultaneously he hears. Still, he does not accept the premise that this is the wrong way to go. He states: if not now, then when! All over the world, there is a scramble by countries to build airports for a two trillion dollar airline manufacturing industry. Air travel is expected to grow even more significantly in the coming years.

And if jumbo jets can land in the remotest regions of Africa and Latin America, the quibbling about limitations in the Virgin Islands is simply untenable, and an excuse to do nothing. The country is a leading yachting geography, and pristine leisure destination, that could conceivably see a much greater number of crucial overnight guests and customers visiting its shores. This will benefit economic growth now and in the future.

But no, and instead, these opportunities to grow the market are stanched, thrown away, by a bottleneck that spells going roundabout before arriving at Terrance B. Lettsome, or the West End and Road Town ferry docks. One wonders if it could be accurately assessed, the customers lost through this travel albatross. It probably runs into the millions of dollars in lost revenues per annum.    

Yes, he does not see these multiple projects as the fiscal albatross that some appear to assert: they must happen, if this country is to have any hope of playing in the BIG FIELD. He sees this public spending as economic expansion and stimulus: spending to generate greater economic growth in the very near future. But he believes the idea of simultaneous development has been poorly sold by the powers that be.

He also believes that government spending and borrowing to develop the economy can be done wisely and prudently, and create greater revenues for the country down the road. In other words, there is a symbiotic relationship between financial stimulus, strong spending on infrastructure, and medium to long term economic growth.

He also clearly appreciates that a geography surrounded by sea must acquire new state of the art ferries, married to highly functional docks with excellent customer services; add to that idea a locally based national airline with frequent flights to regional hubs, even a new seaplane type dynamic.

The cruise ship industry is a critical economic constituent. It is crucial for the Virgin Islands taxi driver and tour guide. The taxi business is a crucial segment of the local economy. Consequently, any investment that will boost cruise visitor traffic must be welcomed. However, it must be done with maximum transparency and measured fairness. It must also have regard for all stakeholders: the primary stakeholder being the Virgin Islander and resident.

All of this married to imaginative infrastructure development and a sustainable development model. This must include  a state of the art hospital with links to global medicine, a brand spanking new and functional sewage architecture and system, environmentally friendly super resort type developments, green energy, and a new focus on the eco friendly tourism economy and agriculture model.

But most importantly, an education system plugged into the global learning paradigm of the new advanced type scientific manufacturing, engineering, Math, digital technology, and the modern linguistics that increasingly ensure that the global citizen is multilingual in speech and writing ability. And this government appears to have been pursuing just those policies: so why the very palpable skepticism of a sizeable number of voters?

To be continued...

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