No Stool Pigeon

By Haycene Ryan

Here in one place as suggested by my friend Helena who worked at the Cultural Office after she had read the five pieces, for the benefit of persons beyond the confines of the geographical space occupied by the island, and for those who would otherwise not have been exposed to the thoughts expressed, or would have had to carry out the laborious search through the Montserrat
Reporters archives in order to revisit any of the pieces but for the last which has not previously appeared in print, are the socio, economic, and political analyses as documented under various pseudonyms by Haycene Ryan over the period 1991-2008. Where pen names were used, it was done, not out of fear, but on the premise that, as so often occurs in small societies, some persons would not bother to read a piece because of their negative perception of the authors capabilities or motive while, others accept the ideas without question due to their association with the individual with neither group employing any measure of critical thinking whatsoever. The articles were all written with the future of Montserrat and its inhabitants in mind and not to promote any individual or political party ideology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 20, 2009
• ISBN: 9781462828005

Haycene Ryan

Haycene ‘Chico’ Ryan as known to many, and a host of other names to his various friends and associates may be considered the authentic George Street product. He represented the island in athletics, cricket, and soccer and had a more than average public service career that comprised 7 years in Customs and Excise; 9 years as Port Superintendent; and 14 years with the Inland Revenue Department from which he retired as comptroller. He considers his most defining action to be that of refusing to pay the freight bill relating to a shipment of galvanize sheets in 1991 as presented to the Ministry of Communications and Works by Great Western Shipping Company. While writing ‘Beyond Today’s Horizon’, after first discussing his thoughts with then Government of Montserrat Economic Adviser amongst others, he made enquiries of the manager of The Bank of Montserrat who made the following statement he considers profound: “You have been working in the belly of the beast and are therefore in a position to make recommendations pertaining to how the island could be rebuilt.” It was with this sense of ‘what was possible’, and not just wishing to quietly get by which was the catalyst for putting the thoughts to pen in an effort to alert anyone who cared about the events that were unfolding

Book preview

Copyright © 2009 by Haycene Ryan.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4363-9203-7

                   Ebook                                     9781462828005

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

48875

Contents

INTRODUCTION

MONTSERRATIANS… . YOU MAKE THE CALLS

A PEOPLE WITHOUT A PAST HAVE NO FUTURE

BEYOND TODAY’S HORIZON

DEMOCRACY: MONTSERRAT STYLE.

MONTSERRAT—GREAT POSSIBILITIES ABOUND

MONTSERRAT’S PRIVATE SECTOR: AN IMPEDIMENT TO DEVELOPMENT?

IS THIS ANOTHER GREEK COMEDY?

CIVIL SERVANTS ARE TOO LAZY?

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

DO WE HAVE A GANG OF FOUR?

ETHICS, MORALS, AND MORALITY

HARE BRAINED

GREED AND CORRUPTION

PILLAGE AND PLUNDER

PORK BARRELL POLITICS OR INCOMPETENCE

WORK IS WORK

SHACKLING THE LOOSE CANNON

THE BRITISH PLOT TO KEEP MONTSERRATIANS SUBSERVIENT

THE JIM ALLEN LECTURE SERIES—WHAT PURPOSE?

INTERESTING LESSONS LEARNT

A BRITISH PROVIDED AIRPORT FOR MONTSERRAT?

THERE IS GENUINE CARING, AND CARING AS POLITICIANS DO

PATIENCE MY… . I AM GOING OUT TO KILL SOMETHING

MEN: MICE: INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES: INDEPENDENCE.

WHAT’S GOOD FOR THE GOOSE NOT GOOD FOR THE GANDER?

THE LAMBS’S SILENCE

FARARA PLAZA

PENSION INTEGRATION—WHOSE CONFUSION?

ANTIGUA SHOPPING BLUES

IS ALL TALK CHEAP, OR JUST IN POLITICS?

IN EVERY THING GIVE GOD THANKS

SLEEPING AT THE WHEEL?

OUR GOVERNMENT PLAYS US CITIZENS TO BE FOOLS

CABLE TV LATE FEE CALLED UNFAIR, ILLEGAL

ENTITLED TO A FREE LUNCH?

AS TIMES CHANGE—HOW DO VALUES?

AMBITION… . WHAT THINGS WE STRIVE FOR??

IS THE CHIEF MINISTER A SPENT FORCE?

WRONG TIME MY BACK… . !

ARE MEN LEARNING TO BEHAVE BADLY?

THIS VEXING BEAM IN MY EYE

ALCHEMY: THAT’S WHAT!

This publication is dedicated to the memory of ‘Miss Alma’ for the love and guidance bestowed, and also to my wife for her support and encouragement.

INTRODUCTION

Here in one place as suggested by my ‘friend’ Helena who worked at the Cultural Office after she had read the five pieces, for the benefit of persons beyond the confines of the geographical space occupied by the island, and for those who would otherwise not have been exposed to the thoughts expressed, or would have had to carry out the laborious search through the Montserrat Reporter’s archives in order to revisit any of the pieces but for the last which has not previously appeared in print, are the socio, economic, and political analyses as documented under various pseudonyms by Haycene Ryan over the period 1991-2008. Where pen names were used, it was done, not out of fear, but on the premise that, as so often occurs in ‘small societies’, some persons would not bother to read a piece because of their negative perception of the author’s capabilities or motive while, others accept the ideas without question due to their association with the individual with neither group employing any measure of ‘critical thinking’ whatsoever. The articles were all written with the future of Montserrat and its inhabitants in mind and not to promote any individual or political party ideology.

MONTSERRATIANS… . YOU MAKE THE CALLS

August 30, 1991

The natural tendency of business enterprises is to strive for market dominance. With such dominance, ‘Monopolies’ tend to arise after other players have been forced out, especially if the state does not step in to discourage, or break these up to promote competition. The consumer then, is at the mercy of the monopolist, a demise from which the Soviet Union and other socialist countries are attempting to extricate themselves.

In mini-states such as Montserrat, where utilities such as Electricity, Water, Telephone, and Air-Line are institutionalized monopolies, for whatever Political or Economic reasons; what can be done, or is being done to control the action of such enterprises and protect consumers from the vagaries of ‘monopolistic pricing’ and service delivery?

In the most emulated capitalist economy, that of the United States of America, the government broke up Ma Bell’s operations to enhance competition, offer better services, cost savings, and other benefits to the American consumer. Moreover, the companies so formed are closely regulated in regards to tariffs etc. by Watch-dog committees.

Having said this much, I will now pay particular attention to the operations of the local branch of Cable and Wireless. There are a number of issues which are not only perplexing to me, but also to a fairly large number of other Montserratians.

1. On accessing International Direct Dialing, Automatic mind you, you are yet charged $1.10 for the ‘attempt’ to connect to a number in Antigua, St Kitts, or Dominica even though no one took or answered your call! What is even worse, if the ‘system’ mal-functions, as happened to me in early January 1991, such as (explained by one of the company’s employees) when the lines do not disengage, even though you properly hung up the receiver; you are charged for TEN, TWENTY, THIRTY, or as many attempts recorded with no avenue for recourse, fairness, or element of natural justice.

This seems like madness, or total disregard for the consumer by both the company and the government which is supposed to protect citizens from such behavior. When the connection is manually done, one is required to pay a Report Fee of $0.33 as published in the 1991 Directory! Why is it then, that with the cost savings made by eliminating the HUMAN INPUT, that is Dialing Direct, the consumer/customer must pay $1.10, a difference of $0.77? Logic would lead one to believe that it would cost more with the HUMAN INPUT. You would have been using more of the factor of production whose cost increases with usage that must be recovered. It makes no sense to me!

And speaking about equipment cost recovery: that of the equipment is being recovered through Depreciation provision on the company’s Income Statement. Moreover, much of this has already been factored into the overseas fee and charges levied either through Absorption Costing or Variable Costing. There needs to be an explanation, and not just any ‘old explanation’! Is this another instance of un-supervised monopoly which is not in the Public’s Interest?

2. On questioning the rates charged for I.D.D. on one occasion with one of the company’s employees who seemed prepared to charm me out of my investigations shortly after Hurricane Hugo struck, I was told at the time that ‘the company had to pay A.T & T. for use of the latter’s facilities’, but, I am yet wondering. How much do they pay? My conclusions are that the company passes on very little if any cost savings to its Montserratian customers.

The A.T. & T. rates for I.D.D. Calls from the U.S. to Montserrat are on a tiered system chargeable in American dollars to the individual customer as of May 1991 are as follows:

Mon… …Thu

8am-5pm… … .$1.20/min

5pm-11pm… …$1.05/min

11pm-8am… …$0.90/min

Fri… … .Sun

8am-5pm… … $0.90/min

5pm-11pm… . . $0.80/min

11pm-8am… … $0.695/min

In comparison, the rates as charged by CABLE & WIRELESS taken from their 1991 Directory for a call from Montserrat to the Continental U. S. are the same for each day of the week:

Sun… … Sat

8am-8pm… …$1.7667

8pm-8am… …$1.4354

These rates are arrived at by using a conversion rate of $1.00 US. = $2.7169 E.C.C.

Cable & Wireless, one would expect, Will get concessionary rates on a company to company basis, but the figures above do not reflect this. Again, one is left to ask: Are any cost savings being passed on? Monopolists generally have no incentive to do such, especially when not regulated. It is a take it or leave it situation.

3. In regards to local calls there is a billing rate as follows:

8am-8pm… …$0.14/3mins

8pm-8am… …$0.14/8mins

This cost structure does not seem overly expensive until your monthly bill arrives, but the company can offer better such as the one now suggested as operated in the United Sates.

For a nominal fee, using the hypothetical figure of, say $30.00 per month (from first hand experience, this amount is $3.00 U.S. for calling within a 30 mile radius) the consumer is not billed for the individual calls he/she makes. That is, his/her calls are unlimited within the designated area, this being Montserrat. Are they going to speak of ‘economies of scale’ as an excuse?

4. But, is our government interested in protecting us, its citizens, from the actions mentioned above? Who will be the judge of that? For sure, the expertise that would enable a regulatory body to ascertain whether excess profits are being made, or, an acceptable rate of return on assets is earned is available.

Gone are the days when it was only the Entrepreneurial Enterprise which possessed such expertise. There are highly qualified and well recommended economists, accountants, and others who are languishing in departments where their skills are not properly utilized. Give them the task of analyzing the affairs of these monopolies, and make recommendations to correct their price gouging practices for the benefit of the public. Moreover, act on the recommendations so that real benefits flow to the people!

There is no completely FREE, UNREGULATED Economic System. There are many short-comings of the Market which must be corrected by the State. Our politicians need to buy into this vision. It does not require, as is suggested by persons more learned than I, People with (forget the euphemism, let us use plain English) a University Degree to see that we are paying extremely high prices when it could be otherwise. Are we operating in a pricing system of WHAT THE MARKET CAN BEAR?

Should this state of affairs be allowed to continue? Those who need to must take heed. If change and sensitivity to customers/citizens needs are not instituted from within, there will come a time when they are imposed from without!!!!!!!

A PEOPLE WITHOUT A PAST HAVE NO FUTURE

January 12, 1996

I happened to be late for work and saw some of the Local Access programme which featured Rotary’s 25th Anniversary Celebrations. A comment was made by Mr. George Piper which had a profound impact on me. It was this: "Something must have been happening in this island twenty five years ago."

The statement was made in view of the fact that most of our successful community and other organizations were marking the year 1995 for being in operation for a ‘quarter century’. And, just like Mr. Piper, most of my generation have seemingly forgotten what was happening, or happened in 1970. Twenty five years ago.

The people of Montserrat chose then to change direction, shift gears, or whatever, as it relates to their advancement. They voted in the Progressive Democratic Party of P. Austin Bramble. They made the painful break from the governance of William H. Bramble, Austin’s father for whom our airport has now been renamed. Bramble Senior had run his race!

Whether it was continuance of Willie Bramble’s vision or the ushering in of new concepts, under a new regime, ordinary Montserratians the world over were able to hold their heads high and come together as a people. The accomplishments were many despite the detractors pouring salt and water in the fuel tank whenever they got the opportunity.

Sturge Park was fenced with donations and voluntary labor from persons too many to mention. I must however mention Peter Howson alias ‘Red Pole’ and his passion for the game, his running onto the field stuffing money into Jim and other players’ pockets. They were very interesting times. We produced a team which, but for the willful act by the St Kitts Authorities should have won the 1972 Leeward Islands Cricket Tournament. Players from that team went on to excel in the Combined Islands’ Team and Jim Allen became a household name before Vivian Richards.

The return of a number of distinguished Montserratians from abroad, who felt they could now make it at home, gave us a cadre of persons which had among other things an uplifting impact. People were infused with a spirit that made anything seem possible for us.

We also had the scourge of the Racism Elections in ’73, and for the first time in our political history, a minister of government was fired for promoting his personal agenda and not towing the government’s line. What strides we made—Montserrat became the voice of the Lesser Developed Countries at Caricom, and we were so proud to have our Chief Minister speaking on behalf of Prime Ministers despite our political status.

That 1970 springboard provided us with a road programme which made Montserrat the envy of its neighbors with regard to durability and quality. Despite being dubbed ‘the road government’ important