Guernsey Press

We are all suffering

DEAR Mr Editor,

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Thank you for giving me the opportunity of replying to the letter published on 5 March and written by Mr Tim Chesney [‘Fortress Guernsey’ is the limit of CCA’s ambitions].

I am writing this not as President of the CCA, nor as President of Policy and Resources.

I am writing this really as a citizen of Guernsey, and I suppose also having regard to the fact that I am a Deputy.

It is nice to hear from Mr Chesney again. I recall that he was writing correspondence similar to this some months ago. If my recollection was such, he was threatening to take action against the then CCA by way of Judicial Review (or perhaps otherwise). I am not sure what he did, but nothing was heard of him and perhaps good judgment in due course gained favour with him.

I note again he is threatening, in certain circumstances, to take action and challenge the decisions that might be made in due course. I also note that he says that that will be funded by a large number of people. I would say this, if those people are of limited funds they would be better spending that money elsewhere. I would also say that if those people have greater funds, then they would perhaps be better spending those funds on charitable purposes. Rich or poor though, the monies are theirs and they must do as they believe is appropriate.

I would have thought what would have been more helpful would have been if Mr Chesney had picked up the telephone and spoken to me or sent me an email. If he wasn’t able to contact me or felt that he did not want to contact me, he could have contacted one of the other members of the CCA. We all do our best, and have done our best, to respond to communications.

The intention is not to have Fortress Guernsey. Everybody who has had to make difficult decisions over the past year or so has done so reluctantly. That is whether it was under the previously constituted CCA or under the CCA of which I am now a member. We hate making these decisions, but they must be made. We make them on the basis of evidence and on the basis of our judgment. We act in good faith.

Guernsey of course was able to remain open internally for many, many months when other jurisdictions, including those that he has referred to, were subject to more stringent conditions for at least part of the time when Guernsey was ‘open’ internally.

We have vaccinated more people per capita than nearly every other jurisdiction in the world.

We want to move out of the current restrictions as soon as we can.

I have already said publicly that we will be considering very shortly our options in relation to relaxing the controls of our borders. We will consider our options carefully. We will make an announcement as soon as we can. I would hope that that would not be too long off.

I believe Guernsey is a functioning democracy. I think overwhelmingly most people do. I appreciate Mr Chesney does not. I and my colleagues are always alive to the very significant health issues, whether physical or mental. We appreciate how difficult this has been for every citizen of the Bailiwick. To say otherwise is simply not accurate. Such statements can be repeated and repeated. They do not make them more accurate.

Why I have particularly written this letter personally is for two reasons.

The first is because it expressed my views alone.

The second is because Mr Chesney refers in his penultimate paragraph to the contrast between those who create wealth and politicians/civil servants, etcetera.

I have no idea of Mr Chesney’s personal circumstances. He may be a self-made person. He may have inherited money. He may have walked into his parents’ business. None of that is my concern.

What is my concern is for him to, as it were, take the high ground and say that he, and others to whom he refers, have a greater stake in this agony, which it has been for the citizens of this Bailiwick, than others.

I say the following not for any sympathy. Because of my other interests which are outside of politics, this particular pandemic going back now a year, has cost me and my family many, many thousands of pounds. We have had to subsidise our businesses. We have had to forego income. To me and my family it has been a massive financial sacrifice. I say that not for sympathy but because it is a fact. Whatever I may have accumulated has been done through hard work over many years. Nothing was left, and I expected nothing to be left, to me. Again, I do not say that for any reason other than it is true.

Thus I appreciate Mr Chesney’s comments. Because we live in such a wonderful open democracy he is free to make them. Equally, I am free to make these comments.

Peter Ferbrache