Not quite "us and them"

I think that is fair to say that prior to being elected, and particularly during the election campaign the 'administration' (also known as public servants, officials or 'them') came in for a fair amount of criticism.  A number of councillors from the old council made it sound as if there was a power struggle between the public service and LegCo. That the public service was out to thwart the councillors at every twist and turn.

This has not been the case as I have experienced it since joining LegCo as we seem to have a good working relationship with officials. (I don't really like the term but it is the one that is used most often)

Indeed last week when the fiasco of the asphalt plant was put in the public domain I was very clear when asked that there was not any resistance from the public service to publishing this information once we had requested that a press release be issued.

Like most things it is about building relationships and I know from experience how officious councillors can be from my former life as a public servant. I have had several unpleasant experiences where the main purpose, as I saw it, behind being summoned to a committee meeting was to be humiliated. 

So it was interesting to read a report from the Institute for Government, 'Civil Service Accountability to Parliament'. The report is actually about the role of public servants when called to give evidence at select committees.  We do not have select committees or a ministerial form of government but I found the report very informative and there are lessons for us to learn as councillors.

It would seem that the UK has similar issues and some interviewed in the report recognized the need engage with staff

"So if we don’t speak to the front line staff, we don’t get the full picture, all we’re getting is policy, and 

aspiration and things, but we need real people to be telling us what their real experience is…"

We had an experience recently where we had discussion papers and stakeholder reports but despite some of the front line staff being present at the meeting we did not have their views.  One of my colleagues asked the member of staff for their opinion and though this person at first seemed reluctant to speak, with encouragement this staff member was able to talk openly and this had a significant effect on the discussion.  This is as it should be.

Another point made in this report is that the distinction between policy and operations is not always clear cut.  This was something we discussed in public meetings prior to the election as again members of the old council did seem to struggle with this.

I like the following quote from the report as it introduces the concept of 'joint accountability' which is something that I had not considered before

"In practice, however, it may not be particularly straightforward to draw such a clear-cut line 

between a minister’s responsibilities and an official’s responsibilities. One senior official 

explained: ‘I’m not sure you can divorce policy from delivery... I’m not sure that there’s a point 

where you’d say ‘well, that’s down to the minister, and that’s down to the senior civil servant’, I 

think inevitably you’re bound together in your joint accountability"

As stated before we do not have ministers and the system is not as complex as the UK but joint accountability does break down the 'us and them' mentality.  

Ultimately one would hope that we are all working toward the goal of improving the lives of Saints.  We may have different ideas as to how this should be achieved but if we can maintain a relationship built on trust and joint accountability, or perhaps joint responsibility, then I am sure that we will achieve our goals.

Wait for me

I attended a very good workshop yesterday that was organised by Dr Cilla McDaniel, Glen Mohammed and Wendy Henry from the Health and Social Welfare Directorate.  It was in response to the tragedy of people taking their own lives on the island and how we can respond to this.

There was a real cross section of the community present; government staff, church leaders,people who had been directly affected by suicide, legal, police and others

Glen put it in context but of course always difficult to extrapolate data from such a small community but it highlighted the complexity of the issue and the challenge we face.

We do not have sufficient mental health resources and staff and that is something I am going to need to take on board with the Public Health Committee.  Money again.

Not just money though, there is a limit to how much a community of 4000 can do for itself.  Support groups are a fantastic idea but with the lack of anonymity and the small numbers they are generally not sustainable.  Think of any support group of 10 people, they are probably drawn from a population in the tens of thousands.

There are individuals on island quietly doing work with other individuals to support them and we decided that this was a model that could be expanded.  A list was compiled of people who were willing and able to be supportive and this will be publicized so that hopefully someone in distress will know where to turn.

I keep banging on about this, and will continue to do so, that with the focus on economic development we need to recognize that without a healthy community there is no real sustainable development.  We need to keep pressing this so that those who push economic development do not see improving the mental well being of the island as a secondary issue or one that can be addressed once the economy starts to grow and we have a bit more money.  Strengthening community is an investment in our future and one that is every bit as important as the more traditional view of investment as a financial transaction.

I was privileged to be able to give a short talk and for what it is worth I include it here

As some of you will know I first trained to be a psychiatric nurse.  This was a three year course based in a hospital and there was a lot of group work and counselling involved. Toward the end of our third year one of the students in my class, Sandra, began to struggle. I knew that she was suffering from depression and I once took her to an appointment to see her psychiatrist.  Towards the end of the course Sandra took some time out and I remember spending the day with her shortly before I sat my final exam.

As we came out of our exam one of our tutors gathered us all together to tell us that Sandra had killed herself. 

I wanted to share this with you because though we all felt guilty, and that she would have done more, it is hard to know what else we could have done.  Sandra had professional help, many of her friends were training as psychiatric nurses who were equipped to talk to her and she had acknowledged that she was depressed.  Still she took her own life.

There are many reasons that people take their own lives and as Sandra showed sometimes even when help is available it is not enough.

I say this only to highlight the complexity of the issue and to remind ourselves that though today is a start it is really only the first tentative step on what is going to be a long and difficult journey.

It is a journey that we are going to need to take together and it starts by acknowledging that there is a problem.

I asked if I could speak today, not just because I have some experience in this field, but also because we need to face this as a community.  We are all community leaders and the number of people who have taken their lives in the last year in particular but also the last couple of years is a sign that all is not well within our community.

Let’s get it out in the open now.  Our community is suffering:

·         Alcohol dependency

·         Child sexual abuse

·         Sex offences

·         Domestic violence

·         Depression

·         Self-harm and suicide

·         Loneliness and isolation

·         Chronic health problems

·         Poverty

There are more but the purpose of today is to bring these concerns out into the open and look to ways to address them

Some of these need to be addressed by SHG, some will cost money.  But no matter if SHG is involved or there is the need to identify more money what is required first is leadership within the community.

I said before that we are all community leaders and we are.  There are many more leaders out there and it is up to us to harness the power that resides within this community for the future of this community

So what is community?

Is it just a group of people who live in the same place?

Is it just a group of people who share the same beliefs and values?

Is it just a group of people who face the same problems in life?

My answer is that that it is all of these and more.

My concern is that if we keep trying to define community we will create communities that we do not want to know or be associated with.

Let’s keep it simple

It is all of us, rich, poor, sick, well, employed, unemployed, Saint, expat, Longwood, Sandy Bay, town, it is all of us.

That brings me to the notion of the Common Good. 

The common good is about how to live well together. It is the whole network of social

conditions which enable human individuals and groups to flourish and live a full, genuinely

human life. At the heart of the common good, solidarity acknowledges that all are responsible for all, not only as individuals but collectively at every level.

In our small community there are many examples of the common good in action.  People looking out for each other, our civil societies and charities, those who volunteer and a level of friendliness and courtesy that has been lost in many other parts of the world.  So we have a strong foundation but it is one that we must build on.

Our community is changing and changing fast.  The airport, economic development, Saints returning home, a growing expatriate population working both within SHG and the private sector.  Many welcome this change and see in it new opportunities.

Some don’t.  Some are not benefiting from the new developments and may even fear them. 

Our challenge is to ensure that development does not mean a widening gap.  Some of this financial but much of it is also ensuring that we do not get so caught up in chasing these opportunities that we forget those who are unable to take full advantage of these opportunities.

The principle of the common good requires that the essential dignity of every person is upheld.  In a small community where we know, or think we know everyone’s business, it can be as simple as not prejudging someone because we think we know everything there is to know about them.  It is about giving people a second or even third chance.  Many times I have seen this happen on St Helena but sometimes as well  I have seen people written off as lazy, stupid or not deserving support.

We have much to do.  It starts by acknowledging the problems we face, we tackle these problems by adopting the principles of the common good and we succeed because we are a strong community of people whose fulfilment lies in our relationships with each other.

It may not be easy but it is not impossible.  We have come together today because we are distressed by the number of our people who have taken their own lives 

But we cannot imagine that we will fail

And we will not fail

And that is because; to quote Bruce Springsteen

I will wait for you

And should I fall behind, wait for me

Dr Corinda Essex

I was fortunate today to attend the retirement function for Dr Corinda Essex who has spent 42 years working for St Helena Government in a variety of roles.  As well as working full time she also completed a Masters Degree and then a PhD.

It was wonderful to hear the speech from Gilly Francis detailing all of Corinda's achievements, including her time as a councillor, and humbling when you consider her devotion to St Helena.

Two things stand out from today.  These come from Corinda's response to Gilly's speech.  One is that Corinda always made sure that  she was  prepared for whatever challenges she faced which she said was one of the reasons she completed a PhD.  Attention to detail and being prepared is a lesson we all need to take note of.

The second thing and the reason I wanted to post this piece is, and I quote from my memory

'As long as I have the health I will continue to serve St Helena and her people'.

I may not have remembered this word for word but I remember thinking that you don't generally hear people these days saying publicly that they are willing to serve.  It was a very powerful statement.

I will do well as a councillor to remember those whose work we continue. It is easy to be arrogant and think that what we are doing now is new and different and so much better, when in fact we should remember that what we want to achieve now is only possible because of the foundations built by those who came before us.

Corinda is one of those who built strong foundations.  She continues to serve St Helena and I look forward to working with her in the future in her capacity as the president of the Chamber of Commerce.

Reflecting on the future

I think blogging is one of those activities best done at night when one is in a reflective mode.  I am studying for a post-grad diploma in Leadership and Management and a few weeks back I had my first tutorial (one to one via Sype) since being elected. My tutor Prof John Parker asked me what my vision was for the future of the island now that I was elected.  He was not asking me what I wanted to achieve in this term he was asking me what was my strategy for realising my vision.  

This made me think that before developing a strategy I had better have a vision.  I guess I always had one but it would be fair to say that it was the usual off the peg stuff, a fair society, sustainable development a community that cared for the most vulnerable. All very good but rather lacking in substance.

So here goes.

There is no doubt that without economic development the island will decay and the social fabric will deteriorate.  I am concerned though that the cost of economic development could also lead to a different sort of degeneration and one that tears the social fabric apart.

It goes without saying that St Helena will always be a small and isolated place whether it continues as a resilient community is really up to us.  This is why I have some problems with the party line, the 'high value low volume tourists' and resort developments.  There is an argument that we need a flagship hotel as if this will be the mother ship for the tourist industry.  You know what I am beginning to get a bit worried by this. I have never stayed in a fancy resort but my understanding is that people who like to stay in them do not usually worry too much about the locals as long as they are serving the drinks and making the beds.

What about small hotels, B&Bs and perhaps a social enterprise training hotel/restaurant that is owned and operated by the community?  A sort of SHAPE type tourist enterprise.  We are informed that we need to be ready for the airport, well we may need a few more places for people to sleep in and some more places to eat but we do not need to be lined up in our uniforms like some sort of modern version of the Downtown Abbey staff,lined up and waiting on the master to arrive.  

How about a more organic model of development?  A bit here a bit there, no problems with some improvements in customer service but also need to retain some of the eccentricity and individualism that makes this such a wonderful and at times frustrating place to live. 

This is not say that we want to avoid change, the island has always been in a state of flux, I think that Saints do change quite well but we need to be doing it because it is right for us, that way it is genuine.  We don't go in for too much of the fancy and sophisticated stuff and I fear that if we put on airs and graces just for the Hivallowvols then we are selling our soul.

I quite like that, 'Hivallowvols' maybe it will take off and I will have introduced a new Saintenglish word.

So back to the future.  Ok, I have to say a thriving community but by that I mean that we have lots of individuals benefiting. Small shops, homely restaurants, local tour guides, perhaps some interesting businesses who have found a niche that we haven't even thought of. Quite like the idea of an affiliated academic centre; just Googled the Uni of California 'Center for British Studies' which has a focus on the British Empire. Maybe some institute like that could set something up. 

Who knows what the future will bring but let us think small rather than big and grandiose. 



    

Freedom of Information

A very positive meeting was held with councilors, media, members of the public and SHG public relations staff discussing Freedom of Information (FOI).

I am absolutely committed to this as the alternative as someone said at the meeting is that you would be supporting secrecy.  Yes it has to be tailored to suit our resources, it cannot be overly bureaucratic, and we must make sure that personal information and legitimate commercial information remains confidential but we must have openness and transparency.   

There is a lot we can do already and what we will push for first is a policy on open information that clearly sets out what can be published.  To avoid doubt my preference will be to list the kind of documents that will be made available as we need to support public servants in being clear about what they can release.  From my experience from working in government,without clear guidance the default position is to not release anything and then a culture of self-censorship arises.

I know that we talk about the special needs of a small community but I am less sure that this makes us exceptional.  True it is harder to ensure anonymity but lets face it most people know what is going on even when information is not released. I think it is time we be more grown up and just get the information out there.

A great quote from Joseph Pulitzer

There is not a crime, there is not a dodge, there is not a trick, there is not a swindle which does not live by secrecy.  Get these things out in the open,describe them, ridicule them in the press, and sooner or later public opinion will sweep them away

And for those who think that it might not be necessary or that there are other priorities I found a speech from the Health Minister Jeremy Hunt  addressing the shocking failures of some NHS hospitals as a result of lax safety and a culture of secrecy.  

We need to restore faith in our government and our council 

As the island develops and we become more accessible to the outside world the potential for the dodge or swindle increases. 

Let us treat the public with respect and let them know what we are doing

Lost hope

Yesterday we buried another member of our community who had committed suicide. One person taking their own life is one too many but in the last year we have had a number of people commit suicide.  Suicide is a difficult topic to talk about and in a small community it cannot be discussed in the abstract. Though we may not be directly affected we will know someone who is and so we must be especially sensitive.  However we cannot avoid discussing this.

There is no doubt that we are experiencing a time of great change on the island and for many there are more opportunities for work or to establish a business.  For some however the changes are irrelevant or even frightening. I do not wish to try to explain why so many people have taken their own life and I do not wish to say that it is because of all that is happening on St Helena.  What I wish to say is that we must not be blinded by the prospect of economic development and think that everyone is benefiting.  There is so much more than economic development and we must never forget this.

There are serious issues that need addressing head on as we have avoided a public conversation about them. Alcohol abuse, domestic violence, child sexual abuse and social isolation to mention just the most obvious concerns.

A conference/workshop is being held this month to do just this.  It is a first step and it must be the first of many steps.  I know that together we can come up with ideas and practical responses to this crisis.

As Father Fred said at the funeral address; "I appeal to those who may have lost hope to talk to someone".

I just pray that if there is anyone on island feeling this way that they do talk to someone.

Writers and politicians

Niall Griiffiths is on island this week.  He is a published author of fiction, travel writing, in fact he is 'a writer'. By that I mean that the act of creating using words is what he does.  I went to listen to him talk about being a writer last night and he said that writing is what sustains him, be it novels, short stories, poetry, whatever. The form is not important it is the act of writing.

Niall is everything you expect a writer to be. Passionate, words come tumbling out when he speaks, he takes off on tangents, he is a supreme raconteur.  He is almost the stereotype of the kid from a rough estate who survived by finding his passion in writing but I think that would be a grave injustice as he is that but so much more.  There is a genuineness and warmth that you don't get by acting a part.  He is so full of enthusiasm for life in all of its details both mundane and grand that it is infectious

For about an hour and a half last night he spoke about his life, his writing and then he read one of his short stories.  Considering we were just sitting in a room listening to a bloke talking it was exhilarating.

And we have several things in common. We were both born in 1966, both studied English at uni and our families emigrated to Australian.  Niall's only stayed a few years before they returned to England.  He mentioned a travelogue that he had written about driving across Australia revisiting places where he had been as a kid.  I have not read it yet but there are a few sniffy reviews on Amazon.  I get the feeling that these were written by Australians who did not take to his rather negative view of Aus.  Ok I have not read it yet but I think I might like if it takes a pop at the 'lucky country'.  I am very grateful for growing up in Australia but I don't buy the image of the land of freedom particularly when it treats the indigenous population with contempt and now the political parties seem to be falling over themselves to show who can be the toughest on boat people.

Anyway it got me thinking.  Listening to Niall's monologue about the need for him to write to make sense of the world and of himself, could politics be as creative as writing?  The desire to change the world, to improve people's lives is what I mean by politics as a creative endeavour.  Sure there is a lot of political stuff that is tedious and at times compromises have to be made.  That is the same with writing, the publicity tour, talking to 'money men' about film rights etc.  That is what the writer also has to do but it is not the core.

Perhaps this is why we have such a low opinion of politics and politicians.  Because too many concentrate on the deal making and not enough on being creative in working to help people.  Politicians need to be passionate, they need to be driven if they are going to succeed in making a positive contribution.

I once thought I could be a writer but I lacked the need, the hunger, to just write and keep on writing.  But there is something in this being elected to represent people, to want to just keep on trying to make life better for people that is every bit as creative.  I had not really thought about it until last night and now I cannot stop thinking about it.  I may not leave too many words behind but at this pivotal period in our island's history I have to do everything I can to make the community more resilient and strengthen the ties that bind it together

HMS Richmond

Easy to be cynical

Now I guess I am what passes for a local dignitary I was invited on board the HMS Richmond for a function.  I was happy to go the other night but in the past I would view these events through a rather jaundiced eye.  It was just a PR exercise for the Navy and a bit of a jolly for the locals is how I used to see them.

Not that this isn't true to an extent but what I found when on board was a very articulate, interesting and interested group of personnel, all officers I imagine, whose company I really enjoyed.

I was able to learn something of life in the navy and they seemed genuinely interested in learning about life on St Helena. As is often the case it is the informal, unplanned situations that are the most memorable.  While waiting for the boat to get back to shore my host invited me for a quick tour of the living quarters.  I spent about twenty minutes in one of the wardrooms talking to a group of officers who were off duty and not part of the function.  Again we had a really interesting conversation and I know that they appreciated the warm welcome they received on St Helena.  They agreed that on the island they were 'among friends'.

So again I need to change my perceptions and as usual it comes through having the opportunity to meet people that I would not normally meet.  And you know what, in an uncertain world, on an isolated island, I am reassured that there is a UK naval presence in the South Atlantic.