Roadtown, Tortola - Ladies and gentlemen, I stand before you on this historic occasion, everlastingly grateful to the men and women of the one time hated Positive Action Movement for the bravery and courage demonstrated in securing for us all the sixty acres on Wickham’s Cay and about three quarters of Anegada.

I will have to explain that an American entrepreneur, Mr. Norman Fowler, purchased Wickham’s Cay from the Honourable Isaac Glanville Fonseca and proceeded to dredge the area to connect Wickham’s Cay to the mainland Tortola and in so doing would provide a second road in Road Town.  Anegada is the second largest island in the British Virgin Islands group, in area it is thirteen square miles.  While the eastern half is coral stone, the western half is sandy.  Beautiful beaches there are and it is claimed that there are over three hundred (300) wrecks in the waters around Anegada. 

There are also sports fishing, snorkelling, scuba diving and other aquatic games.  The island is completely flat and development can take place easily.  You can see therefore, why we should be so proud of those persons who were prepared to face the danger to go out and fight to win back those two portions of our Territory which had been handed to the British company, Bates –Hill by the then administrator, Mr. Martin Stavley, who was fully supported by the British Government when he made that decision. 

In fact, even his Attorney General at the time advised him and all the members of the Executive Council that he could not advise Executive Council to accept the agreements because

(a) he had nothing to do with the preparations of the agreements and (b) he had just returned from holiday and was given the agreements that morning of Executive Council and had no time to study the agreements. 

When the administrator insisted that he wanted the agreements that day, Mr. Barker insisted that it be recorded in the minutes of Executive Council that he could not advise about the agreements unless he had sufficient time to look over them.

 
I would like to again thank publicly my colleagues in the House of Assembly for supporting the motion to rename the Palm Grove Park the Noel Lloyd/Positive Action Movement Park.  Standing in the House of Assembly last Thursday, I felt privileged and honoured to move a motion asking my colleagues to approve the re-naming of the Palm Grove Park. 

The members of the Positive Action Movement are indeed our heroes and all of us should take great pleasure in saluting them, in applauding their bravery, in showing appreciation for a well-fought battle instead of the adverse criticism that a lot of fuss is being made now and why not before.  There have been several Governments since 1971 and any citizen could have come forward with the idea and I am sure the Government would have listened to any idea put forward to show our appreciation for the Positive Action Movement.

The two agreements were the fruits of what we call rank colonialism and while it is true, I believe that some form of development would have taken place on Wickham’s Cay and Anegada.  The question to ask is development for whom and I have learnt that when that sort of physical development takes place in a country or island it must include the indigenous people.  In fact I remember that in one of my written submissions to the committee that was later set up to investigate the agreement, I likened the way the administrator dealt with them to be similar to how King Leopold of Belgium treated the Belgian Congo.

The battle that was fought reminds us of the way people in other countries have fought to correct wrong things in their country, like the women who rallied together in England to campaign for their right to vote (the Suffragets), like the people in India who fought against the importation of the salt tax, and how Martin Luther King Jr. and others withstood the savagery of the southern United States and eventually overcame.  It was no reason to doubt that a British warship was dispatched to monitor the development of the Territory because for many years this was one of the hallmarks of British colonial policy.  There was always a threat that a Man-o-War would be around our shores but that threat meant little to the Positive Action Movement.  They had a mission to liberate the Territory and they went straight ahead with that.

The pressure continued and under the John S. Thomson administration, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office set up a committee of inquiry in the matter.  The Chairman of the Committee was Sir Derek Jakeway and there was one gentleman from Trinidad who had served some time as a judge and the other one was an economist.  Of course the commission recommended that the agreement should be modified by the company headed by an Englishman, Kenneth William Bates, and eventually in 1971 the Privy Council handed down a decision which allowed for the termination of the agreement. 

The British Government had to pay Bates-Hill the sum of five million pounds.  Interestingly, when the changes in the constitution were negotiated in 1977 and one of the changes was that finance was transferred to a Minister, the British Government sought the repayment of five million pounds to the British Government and decided that it was a first charge against the Consolidated Fund of the Government.
The significance of the Positive Action Movement’s success in forcing the rethink of this major development project was not just the securing of the property but also restoring our pride as a people and demonstrating the endless possibilities of collaborative efforts. For that, we the people of these Virgin Islands, this generation and those to come, owe an immense debt of gratitude to our brothers and sisters of the Positive Action Movement. It is their vision, foresight and bravery that ensured victory in this unprecedented struggle.

Although this recognition comes posthumously for some, they are no less deserving. Mr. Alford Hodge, Mr. Calvin Baronville, Ras Uhuru, also known as Lindy de Castro and Ms. Louella Harrigan, they are no longer with us, but I am hoping that the members of their respective families are within our midst today as we recognise and honour their contribution to the overall development of these beloved Virgin Islands.

Mr. Noel Lloyd has departed from us too but I was extremely happy to travel to Miami with several persons including the Chairman of the B.V.I. Honours Committee, Mr. Reuben Vanterpool, the Honourable Member for the Fifth District, Honourable Elvis Harrigan, Mrs. Patsy Lake, Ms. Sandra Ward and Mr. Reynell Corum to honour him in October 2007 with the Award of Certificate and Badge of Honour of the Territory. It was with great pride that I bestowed that honour upon him and Mr. Lloyd was very pleased to be honoured that way and he accepted that Badge of Honour with great humility.

I admired his bravery, his courage, his integrity and his determination to fight for what is right. There are some people who will begin the fight and as soon as they encounter opposition, they falter and crumble by the wayside. Mr. Lloyd was very persistent though, staying the course until the end. Though small in stature, the feat he accomplished by standing up to a bigger and more powerful force is far beyond measure and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Other Caribbean islands boast of their own national heroes. For example we have Sir Alexander Bustamante of Jamaica, a trade unionist who championed the cause of the labour movement and Errol Barrow, the father of Barbados’ independence.  Now ladies and gentleman, we can truly say we have our very own, indigenous Virgin Island heroes, the men and women of the Positive Action Movement. It is important that they have been recognised individually.  Their names are listed on the programme booklet you would have received when you entered the park this afternoon.  Members of the Positive Action Movement, we recognise you, we honour you, we salute you and we humbly appreciate you.

I would even compare them to the likes of Rosa Parks who defied the existing norms and refused to give up her seat on the bus, to Martin Luther King, a prominent leader in the American civil rights movement and even to Nelson Mandela, the former South African leader who stood up against apartheid.

Today, because of our own local heroes, Wickham’s Cay is the thriving heart of Road Town and the Anegadians have their lands which were taken from them on the pretext of development. This would not have been possible had it not been for the valiant efforts of the Positive Action Movement.  This is indeed a unifying moment and I am happy to see those of you who have turned out today to show your collective appreciation for these valiant men and women, who showed gutsy determination and moral courage in their quest. They did not fail us ladies and gentlemen and it is because of their actions that we stand here today, united in our admiration for a job well done.

It is our responsibility now to ensure that we continue to build upon the legacy they left us, that of selfless contribution to the development of our homeland. We all have individual aspirations but I want us to stop for a moment and think about what we can do whether as individuals or as a group to leave an indelible mark on these Virgin Islands. What will our legacy be?

The late John F. Kennedy once said “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”. This is an apt moment to encourage you to ask yourself this question.

We often think about what the Government is doing or as some may put it, not doing, but do we ever stop to think about our role in the whole process of development? What contribution are we making to ensure that our children and their children will enjoy the same and even more privileges than we do today?  President Barack Obama says “Yes we can,“ and we know that that is true, we can do little things and big things.

Contributing to the development of your country is not something one should necessarily expect to be rewarded for but I want to affirm Government’s commitment to recognising, honouring and paying tribute to those who have selflessly contributed to the development of our beloved Virgin Islands. Let us continue to work hand in hand to create a society we can all be proud of and to hopefully leave our own indelible mark on the history of the Virgin Islands. As we stand here today, we experience today the legacy of the Positive Action Movement, what will be your legacy tomorrow?