COMMENTARY: Public confidence and elections

By Dickson Igwe, Contibutor

The most important factor in Virgin Islands prosperity is public, business, and investor confidence in the society and economy. Public confidence drives the value of everything in the economy. 

Confidence is an invisible element: a glue that holds the economy and society together. Confidence allows for economic growth and social sustainability. 

OK. The dollar is the world’s reserve currency. The strength of the dollar reflects investor confidence in the USA as a safe haven for business and investment. That confidence is primarily a belief in the military power of the USA to maintain order in its own region at first instance, and the wider world at large. 

The stability of the west: its free societies, its democratic values, its economic and social prosperity, sits on the platform of US security pledges through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Europe and Asia especially, that it will police the seas and skies to maintain peace and security against any adversary. 

The preceding is a world perspective on how confidence drives the international community. At the local level, the population of a country looks to the government to provide peace, safety, and prosperity. 

A government that has a history of good social, fiscal, and economic governance is the beneficiary of the faith of the people of the country. It is re-elected, and repeatedly. The political and social system that the government represents enjoys longevity. 

Good political leadership is not hubris and noise. Governance must be mission and vision-oriented. Governance must be experienced, knowledgeable, and well-informed. An effective government enjoys the scope to achieve the national vision, by the people who entrust that vision with their leaders. 

As the Virgin Islands approaches another election season after a tumultuous 24 months with a Commission of Inquiry at the center of political activity, the core task of the country’s leadership is to gain the confidence of residents that there is a national vision pursued diligently and honestly. 

The confidence of the Virgin Islands public both at home and abroad will depend upon the ability of the leaders to ignore all the noise and focus on driving a message that contains a sustainable vision. 

A land without a vision is a sailboat without a destination. The implementation of the Commission of Inquiry Recommendations must be at the forefront of governance. 

The focus will be the establishment of a brand new culture of honesty and integrity that will drive governance now and in the future. There is zero benefit in residents not recognizing the reality of the threat of UK direct rule if politicians fail to do what they must. 

This is not the time for talk but for solid action. The time for talk is over. This country has been a paradise for commentators. As important as comments and opinion are, the next few years will be about building solid governance reforms around an economic vision that will pass a better country on to the next generation. D

Dickson Igwe is on Twitter and Facebook.