Listing Details
| ID: | 2063 |
| Title: | Corruption-free Anguilla |
| URL: | http://corruptionfreeanguilla.blogspot.com/ |
| Category: | Regional: West Indies |
| Description: | Don Mitchell's blog about governance and corruption in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla in the West Indies. |
| The End - 2010-10-14 22:17:00 |
 Three times unlucky. That is what they said in the trenches duringWorld War I. If you were a soldier taking cover in a trench and lit one cigarette at night, the sniper might miss. By the time you lit the second one, he had you spotted. If that shot did not get you, the third one was bound to splatter your head. Hence, third time unlucky. I have now received my third “letter before action”. A subject of several posts on my blog has sent me a letter threatening a law suit if I do not apologise to him for what he claims are defamatory articles I have posted of him going back to 2007. I have sought legal advice, and am awaiting word from my attorney on how I should respond. It may be worth remembering the recent history of this blog. It started in December 2006. By 2006, the lone Anguillian radio call-in programme,Talk Your Mind, had degenerated into social chatter about carnival and culture. There were no other radio stations engaging the public in any kind of serious discourse. By 2010 that has all changed. Each of the several radio stations in Anguilla now hosts one or more radio call-in programmes per week. At each of them the citizen is invited to express his opinion and to criticise government action and inaction. Even Talk Your Mind now once again occasionally deals with controversial issues. When the blog started, our two local newspapersThe AnguillianandThe Lightpublished only press releases and society stuff. No more. Since the blog started, they have begun to print critical and analytical stuff about the goings on in government. Last week’s Anguillian alone boasted over 6 pages of serious social and political commentary. Back in December 2006 gang violence had never been as pervasive as it was in that year. There were more murders in Anguilla in that year than in a normal decade. TheRoyal Anguilla Police Forcewas secretive and defensive about its actions. Its members were held in very low public esteem. They complained that the public was not cooperating with their investigations. They had not yet started holding their weekly press conferences. They do so now. They now keep us up to date with what is going on in the criminal court, and on the criminal front. This welcome public relations effort began immediately after I met with the Commissioner of Police and his senior officials and pointed out how useful and necessary such an activity would be. Police relations with the public of Anguilla has since gone through a ground sea swell. Back in 2006, the then Chief MinisterOsborne Fleminghad long stopped the tradition of weekly press conferences thatHubert Hugheshad engaged in when he was in office. This blog complained frequently about the negative impact that this secrecy and lack of information had on the society. You will recall that many of us were then suspicious of government. There was a sullen acceptance that things were going on that none of us was being told about. The blog posted several pieces pointing out the need for more openness in government, particularly for press conferences after the weekly Executive Council meeting, so that we could be informed what government was doing for us. Shortly after the blog began to make these complaints, the Chief Minister started his weekly press conferences. It is true that they were not informative, about government, but mainly political propaganda, about the Chief Minister’s take on his enemies and their motives. There is still to this day no weekly press conference on the activities and decisions of ExCo, and that is a shame. Hubert Hughes has continued the tradition of political press conferences. Never mind, at least it is something. For what little it is worth, this blog can claim some credit. There are plenty of other forums out there performing the function for which this blog was started. There isaxareality.com. That forum does occasionally tend to be juvenile and bad tempered, but it posts interesting documents. There is some political discussion onAnguilla Talkthough lately it has mainly died down, reportedly in response to threats of legal action. I no longer feel like a lone voice crying in the wilderness for some openness, transparency and accountability. Closing this blog down will not be a serious loss. Several others have taken up the mantle and are carrying on demanding the high standards of public life that we all expect. The bottom line is that whether the gentleman who is threatening action against me is right or wrong, I am not prepared to expose Maggie Mitchell’s retirement fund to more risk of depletion. Since I evidently lack the necessary skills of dissimulation, it would seem that the only way to ensure this objective is to cease publishing. This will therefore probably be my last post on this blog. A pity, really, as the site was nearly at the 250,000 visitor mark.   |
| Independence! - 2010-10-10 11:48:00 |
 The airwaves and the local newspapers this past week have been filled with talk of the need for Anguilla to seekindependence from the United Kingdom. Anguillians have always been the most independent-minded West Indians, so the discussion is a healthy one. From the earliest days of colonialism we have had to make do on our own. Why not now? No metropolitan power ever ruled us directly, until after the British Invasion of 1969. Alone among the seventeenth and eighteenth century colonies of the Leeward Islands, Anguilla elected its own Governor who was then approved by the Governor in Chief in Antigua. In the other islands, the Lieutenant or Deputy Governor received a patent from the Monarch. Not the Anguillian Deputy Governor. No expatriate colonial elite, unlike our richer neighbours, lorded it over us. Our flocks of goats and fishing boats during the colonial period were at our own disposal. We were, the truth be told, throughout most of our history, too beggarly-poor. It took a long time before we had our own formally appointed Executive Council. Our first ExCo was established after the 1976 Constitution. Not even after we acceeded to rule by St Kitts in 1825 was there any real interference in the activities of the local Vestry that had always run Anguilla's public affairs. No British Governor sat in any government house in Anguilla untilCharles Goddenwas appointed Anguilla's first Governor in the early 1980s. Whatever gains we have made socially and economically in recent decades, it has all been done right here in Anguilla. Today, it is arguable that Anguillians are better off and more economically and socially independent than some of the so-called independent States in the region. Though we are a British Overseas Territory, once we follow the law and the regulations, the British leave us alone to conduct our affairs. Why then the loud boasts that we raise all our own revenue, and that he who pays the piper should call the tune, and, in recent days, the call that British supervision should be ended? Why all the hysterical talk now from certain quarters of the need to seek political independence from Britain? The answer is: smoke screens and camouflage. According to what we have been reading in the press and hearing on the radio, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office seems to take the view that our governmental leaders have not been following any of the Constitution, the law, or the conventions of government in relation to borrowing. Their view appears to be that the new administration has ignored the rules, and gone off on a frolic of its own. The result has been anunfortunate divisionthat has in recent days arisen between Government House and the local administration. The British Minister for the Overseas Territories has been in Anguilla. Hehas asked foran explanation of the Chief Minister'ssigning a letter, apparently not authorised by the Executive Council or by the House of Assembly. This 9 July letter authorised our Social Security Board to negotiate a US$200 million loan. The government of Anguilla by law guarantees all Social Security borrowing. Such a guarantee of a loan requires conformity with the Borrowing Guidelines agreed years ago between Anguilla and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Anguilla has exceeded its borrowing limits and is presently in breach of the Guidelines. The Minister is supposedly quite miffed at our irresponsible actions. It is this incident that appears to have caused the UK Minister to question the actions of our government, and that has caused the resulting reaction by our leaders. Whenever a country's leadership acts outside the law, when it has been shown to be self-destructing, when it becomes desperate to stir up a misguided following in its support, then the cry arises, “Let us join together against the foreigner in our midst. They are all traitors and will betray the nation! Out with the British!” A call for nationalism against “the other” is then seen as a unfiying force. The madness of it is that such ploys, obvious as they are, are so often successful. Then, confusion and chaos prevails over reason and common sense. Every sensible Anguillian hopes that is not what is happening here. The call to patriotism, to standing united against the brutal British, has all the ring of the revolutionary catch-phrase, “Liberté, egalité, fraternité!” And of Hitler's insane tirades against the Jews. Few thinking persons in Anguilla really believe that we are fighting against some reactionary evil foreign regime. Anguillians will forgetDr Johnson'swarning, “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel” at our peril. Have no fear. Most of us realise that the call for independence is no more than false patriotism, a smoke-screen designed to hide defects in governance. So, let me answer boldly, and with no concern for the inevitable labelling of being a neo-colonial lackey, and a running-dog of the imperial British. No, Anguilla is not ready for political independence. Yes, the people of Anguilla are independent-minded and normally we can run our own affairs. No, this is not a normal time. No, the call for independence being made now is not being made to advance our interests. Yes, it is more likely being made to hide the incompetence and wrong-doing of our politicians. And, I mean the politicians of all parties, past and present. Anguilla will be ready for full internal self-government, and subsequently for independence, only after we have put in place the essential building blocks of democracy. We will be ready to hand our fates over to our local politicians, of whatever stripe or colour, when the British at last permit us to place in the Constitution the checks and balances and the watchdog institutions that will permit the people to hold those political leaders to account when they go astray. It isn't enough that the Constitution be amended in some hurried “reform”, and some legislation be cobbled up and passed without real discussion. These institutions must be working and functional. In my view, they must be proven to work for at least one full generation before we go independent if we are to be sure of our civil rights. Until that has happened, we would prefer not to bare our necks to the sword of vindictiveness held above our heads by small-minded politicians who derive pleasure from lording it over us the ordinary people, knowing that we have little or no redress under our present system of government. If we want to learn what victimisation really is, let us go independent like Antigua and Barbuda or St Kitts and Nevis did without a Constitution designed to protect the citizen against political and administrative abuse. Until that time, when we have the institutions of democracy in place in our Constitution and in our law, we surrender what little protection being a British Overseas Territory affords us at our peril. No, we are not receiving any grant in aid from the British government and taxpayer, and, yes, we raise all our own revenue ourselves. Yes, the piper calls the tune. But, no, we do not have to join the chorus when the song is out of key. No, we are not yet at that much-to-be-desired point of being ready for political independence from the United Kingdom. Related posts:   |
| Investors - 2010-10-09 11:32:00 |
 One last quote from the TCI Journal is called for. There is an article from a foreign investorpublished by the Journal. It is so applicable to Anguilla, that I thought it was wasted on TCI. So, I reproduce it here for Anguillians to read. The scenario described is exactly what the investor faces when he visits Anguilla, that you may well ask yourself how he could have confused Anguilla with TCI. This is what he wrote [replaceTCIwithAnguillaeverywhere]: “Through your Journal I would like to state the case for our investment group, and for the local population to understand the difficult situation any investor currently faces when doing business in the TCI. This is in the sincere hope that our stance may assist future inward investment and the resultant development of your country. Although I write as an individual from within the group, our feelings are fairly universal. Our group of mainly European based investors has had a presence in the TCI on and off over a number of years, primarily to gauge development potential, and to get a "real feel" for the islands; we have also secured private property there. We have been considering a major development within the islands for some time, and in fact presented our plans and ideas to the previous administration. However, we were far from impressed with the way in which they expected us to do business, so quickly lost interest (most investors/developers are honest hard working people who risk very much and will not be compromised as a matter of principal). In the meantime we visited three other Caribbean Islands and one central South American country, and presented our proposal to their respective governments, but more about that later. When the British partially suspended the constitution and took over the administration of the islands, it renewed our interest and we felt that the TCI could once again be a safe bet. Our planned development would have created many new jobs, new services, business opportunities, brought many new high net worth individuals to your shores and would have assisted greatly with economic diversification; all of which the islands desperately need at this time. However, after recent events we have decided that the TCI is "not for us" and the USD100M+ project we had planned, and which was fully capitalised with our own in house funding, will now be executed elsewhere. I know for a fact that we are not alone in this regard and generally for the same reasons stated below. This was NOT as a result of the British, who we strongly believe will eventually turn the economy around and develop a more sustainable economic base for the TCI’s long term future. It is because of the attitude of very many locals, who believe that the rest of the world owes them a living. Most of whom want our money and developments, but DO NOT want us and will do all in their power to prevent us from gaining a fair path to citizenship, regardless of the amount of pure financial input or socio economic benefit we bring. The simply appalling and vastly over staffed TCI Civil Service was another reason for not wanting to do business here. Compared to other Caribbean destinations, the TCI civil service is light years behind, and is the single most inefficient organisation we have ever come across in thirty years of doing business on three continents. Over the last few years we have had literally dozens of TCI people offer to be our "belonger partners", but the very same people brought absolutely nothing to the table. No skills, no experience, no cash or assets even, just the promise of getting our development rubber stamped through the back door by friends and relatives; the very scenario we were trying to avoid. Incidentally, the term "belonger" appears to not even be an actual word, and is certainly not listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, and to the uninitiated it seems to be a derogatory term; maybe you should consider moving into the 21st century and changing this? The way in which many locals propose to do business, have monopolies on business licenses, certain trades etc. is also discriminatory. Ironically however, I have heard in recent weeks certain locals bleating about making representation to the European Union court of human rights etc.. However, the EU would certainly view much of what goes on in the TCI as discriminatory. As one social group is favored politically and otherwise over others; so good luck with that, you cannot have your "cake and eat it’! The talk of independence is also of great concern to our group. How can we be sure our USD100M+ investment would have been safe in five years time? In our opinion the TCI is far from ready for independence and such talk is complete folly by one of two types of people. Either, completely uneducated people who know no better and who usually follow everyone else, or people who will do anything to avoid the long arm of the law for previous wrong doing. Sadly, Mugabe and Zimbabwe spring to mind. The honesty, integrity and skills of your politicians is also of great concern. The current leaders of the two major political parties, would never inspire confidence in any savvy investor group. One seems to make completely irrational and arbitrary statements that lack any real thought or intelligence. The other has a large cloud hanging over his head from the previous administration, which may rain rather heavily on him in the very near future! Neither could be considered true statesmen and appear to be nothing more than pure "chancers" from the exact same mould as all the other previous non-entities. The TCI really needs a fresh approach when it comes to politics and politicians, because the dead horse you have been flogging for years has completely had it! It would be nice to see some TCI youngsters getting into politics for all the right reasons, taking a fresh look at the problems the country faces and not being tainted by the dishonest practices of old. The TCI has missed out on an excellent development opportunity because of the blinkered attitude of a good portion of locals, an awful civil service, an appalling TC Invest and a general apathy we find hard to fathom in the current climate. The other countries we have visited in the region worked hard to build our confidence in an efficient, professional and transparent manner; reassured us where necessary and generally welcomed us for the long haul. We have never expected "something for nothing", in fact quite the opposite is true. However, you cannot have it both ways, and need to learn to compromise. This is the first step to flourishing and eventually prospering as a nation. As long as the current attitude towards foreign investors prevails, you will never achieve this goal, but Good Luck and God bless anyway!”   |