Sark must sort out its own problems

Even taking into account the no doubt well-meaning intentions of these self-appointed guardians of Sark's fortunes, I can only come to one conclusion.

That they've got a lot of barefaced cheek.

What on earth gives their calls any legitimacy at all? As far as I can tell, not one of them is a Sark resident. They say they have the right to speak out because they are Channel Islanders and 'we are all in this together'. What bunkum.

The 'Channel Islands' is a geographical term, not a political one, and each island is independent, with its own elected political administration. The only exception is the fiscal and partial political union between Alderney and Guernsey, which was instigated to help the northern isle recover from the ravages of the Second World War.

That was entered into freely by both parties and could be terminated on the same basis.

If just living in the same archipelago gives us the right to call for inquiries into the way the other islands are being run, then why stop at Sark? Personally, I've got a few questions about the way the States of Jersey are running their island. Should I get a few kindred spirits together and call for an external inquiry? To be fair, what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, so perhaps a few nosy parkers from Jersey could lobby HMG to set up an inquiry into the way Guernsey is governed and its economic prospects?

Of course, to be consistent with the actions of 'the magnificent 22' such calls will need to be made public without any prior consultation with the democratically elected governments concerned. Rather, the people's representatives in the respective jurisdictions should learn about these unofficial attempts to subvert their legitimacy by reading about them in the newspaper.

One of the 22, Rupert Dorey, tried to justify the fact that this self-appointed quango of the righteous had wholly failed to engage with Chief Pleas before calling for outside intervention in Sark's affairs. In fact he made a virtue of it. 'Of course we were careful not to engage with anybody in Sark before going public in case it was seen as taking sides.'

Unbelievable. Since when has talking to the legitimate, democratically elected, government of a territory been taking sides?

I accept that there are some in Sark, just like in Guernsey, who have no time for their government or its policies. As an outsider I am certainly not going to opine on how well or otherwise Sark is being run. What I do know, though, is that every two years the Sarkees have the opportunity to change their politicians through the ballot box if they are unhappy with the way their island is being run. It wasn't always thus but it is now, and the people of Sark have taken to full democracy like a duck to water, with turn-outs which make Guernsey's electoral participation look very lame indeed.

So Chief Pleas might be a super government or an awful government or somewhere in-between, but it is the government chosen by the people being governed in fair and free elections. For them to learn through the media that a bunch of self-appointed arbiters of Sark's best interests is calling for outside investigations into the way their community is run is outrageous.

If there was evidence of similar goings-on to those in the Turks and Caicos Islands a few years ago then I accept things might be different, even though it would still be much more appropriate for Guernsey's government to take the lead in such circumstances rather than a disparate group of business people, ex-politicos, jurats and ministers of religion with no mandate whatsoever.

But of course, no such situation exists. Sark is being plagued by some internal ructions that have resulted in rather sad personal tensions and blighted the island's economy. This needs to be worked through. But it's shameful that when the island has been (rightly) pushed into democratic reform, outsiders should then try to undermine its autonomy and the legitimacy of its government.

Just think about it. How would we feel if a bunch of bigwigs from Jersey suddenly popped up out of the blue and called for an external review of the way Guernsey is being run?

The answer would be a short one and would involve going forth and multiplying. What's different? In the circumstances I think the reaction of Chief Pleas has been very restrained and polite.

The reality is that Sark does have difficulties and tensions.

It is clearly for that community alone to work through those problems, however long or difficult that process may be.

I only hope this latest ill-advised intervention hasn't done anything to make that even harder to achieve.