Letter From The President: Jubilee reflections

Jubilee reflections: What is independence?

Countrymen and women, loyalists and opponents, in a few weeks we will be celebrating 50 years of self-rule. For me, the end of British colonial rule should not have been described as ‘independence’ and I will explain why. As we prepare for the celebrations, I am going to devote the next four weeks reflecting on our so-called independence. In the first in my reflections series, I want to ask a simple question: what does independence mean? I know my life is not a very good example but I want to use it to define what independence should mean. I hope you don’t mind and this is just to set the tone so I hope you bear with me.

I was born into this world in the 1940s to a certain couple. When I was born, they run my life. As a child the only thing I could do without any prodding from my parent was to ease myself. I could do it anytime I felt like it (and usually it was not a conscious choice). Mummy and daddy decided every things else for me. They decided when I ate and what I ate. My mum, especially, liked to bathe me a lot. The smallest hint of dirt or fever and she’d splash water on me in a basin.