No Stool Pigeon

About the Book

Here in one place as suggested by my ‘friend’ Helena who worked at the Cultural Office after she had read the five pieces, for the benefit of persons beyond the confines of the geographical space occupied by the island, and for those who would otherwise not have been exposed to the thoughts expressed, or would have had to carry out the laborious search through the Montserrat Reporter’s archives in order to revisit any of the pieces but for the last which has not previously appeared in print, are the socio, economic, and political analyses as documented under various pseudonyms by Haycene Ryan over the period 1991-2008. Where pen names were used, it was done, not out of fear, but on the premise that, as so often occurs in ‘small societies’, some persons would not bother to read a piece because of their negative perception of the author’s capabilities or motive while, others accept the ideas without question due to their association with the individual with neither group employing any measure of ‘critical thinking’ whatsoever. The articles were all written with the future of Montserrat and its inhabitants in mind and not to promote any individual or political party ideology.

About the Author

Haycene ‘Chico’ Ryan as known to many, and a host of other names to his various friends and associates may be considered the authentic George Street product. He represented the island in athletics, cricket, and soccer and had a more than average public service career that comprised 7 years in Customs and Excise; 9 years as Port Superintendent; and 14 years with the Inland Revenue Department from which he retired as comptroller. He considers his most defining action to be that of refusing to pay the freight bill relating to a shipment of galvanize sheets in 1991 as presented to the Ministry of Communications and Works by Great Western Shipping Company. While writing ‘Beyond Today’s Horizon’, after first discussing his thoughts with then Government of Montserrat Economic Adviser amongst others, he made enquiries of the manager of The Bank of Montserrat who made the following statement he considers profound: “You have been working in the belly of the beast and are therefore in a position to make recommendations pertaining to how the island could be rebuilt.” It was with this sense of ‘what was possible’, and not just wishing to quietly get by which was the catalyst for putting the thoughts to pen in an effort to alert anyone who cared about the events that were unfolding