I was a bit concerned last week when I heard that the Chief Minister, the Hon. Hubert B. Hughes, and his Political Advisor, the Hon. Jerome Roberts, “sped off” to the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting in Suriname, in the midst of the uncertainty over the future of our premier tourism resort, Cap Juluca. I had taken note of the fact that Mr. Roberts is one of the Chief Minister’s top negotiators and a main architect of the ill-fated Cap Juluca MOU signed by this Government in August 2010. And I also juxtaposed the urgency of that meeting vis-à-vis a Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) meeting in Barbados in 2010 from which the Chief Minister returned, in a big hurry, to “put his spin” on a letter (about Transshipment) from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which he hoped to use to destroy me politically. I therefore asked myself, “why would the Chief Minister leave Anguilla at this time with his main negotiator, whereas in the past he has run back to Anguilla to deal with much less important matters?”
The answer came to me today in a news release coming out of the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), as well as a live television broadcast made by the Chief Minister on Channel 39, Carib Vision. Many of you may have heard the release and the broadcast on the local radio stations and Cable TV, respectively. True to his style, it appears obvious that the Chief Minister went to the CARICOM meeting to plant the seed that the situation in Anguilla between himself and the Governor is a source of public tension — and then he followed it up with a call for Independence over the regional Carib Vision Television Channel. There is no doubt in my mind that the Chief Minister went to the CARICOM meeting for the sole purpose of getting regional support for his bid for Independence. I believe that he is hoping that attention from the region might convince some Anguillians to support his cause.
The Chief Minister’s behaviour gives credence to the point that the Anguilla United Front (AUF) has been making, namely, that the present Constitutional Reform exercise is a part of a plan by the Government to advance its Independence agenda. To put it bluntly, the AUM Government wants to put up an “all or nothing at all” document that it expects the British Government to reject — at which point it will make the case that we have no option but to pursue Independence. The AUF’s position, so aptly articulated by Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge and Mr Curtis Richardson on “To the Point” on Monday night, is that the Chief Minister and his colleagues now need to make their position clear to the people of Anguilla. Does the Government want to be in a colonial relationship or does it really want Independence?
I do not have a tape of the TV broadcast, but I do have the text of the release from CMC that contains statements made at, and in the margins of, the CARICOM meeting in Suriname. I will quote extensively from that release, with some comments, to illustrate the absurdity of the situation in which our Chief Minister has placed us:
• The Release states: “CARICOM Leaders are to send a delegation to Anguilla ‘at the earliest opportunity’ in a bid to defuse the public tension between the Governor William Alistair Harrison and the Chief Minister Hubert Hughes”. My Observation: The Chief Minister encouraged CARICOM to send a similar delegation to Anguilla last October. They came! But where is their report? What were their findings? On what basis therefore are they coming back?
• The Release states: “Hughes said … that the Governor is a virtual dictator and that he manipulates every system to suit his whims and fancy.” My Observation: If the Governor is a virtual dictator, how is it that the Chief Minister can get things done in Executive Council (EXCO) in his personal interests. For example, he facilitated the approval of forty thousand dollars for the CM’s twelve year-old domestic phone bill in EXCO, and also passed a long-term lease on Government land for one of the tenants in his building?
• The Release states: “Hughes said … My only way of sending that message is civil disobedience in Anguilla – and that is what we will conduct until the British Government gets the message – because there is no way they will come in Anguilla and create a Turks and Caicos here”. My Observation: I again must take exception to the Chief Minister suggesting that the situation in Turks & Caicos (TCI) can be compared with Anguilla. Anguilla has never had the tradition of corrupt practices in the higher echelons of Government that has characterized the TCI for over thirty years. This statement is an insult to the people of Anguilla. But this is the same Chief Minister (Hubert Hughes) who said, in the House of Assembly, that Anguilla was among the ten most corrupt countries in the World; and who made no apology when it was discovered and explained to him that it was Angola not Anguilla. Hubert Hughes continues to insult and denigrate his own people in order to further his political agenda. What is the purpose of civil disobedience to get Independence or full internal self-government? Mr. Hughes should stop fooling the people of Anguilla. There is no need to protest to get Independence. All we need to do is to educate our people and get their agreement through a referendum. And the only way you can achieve some measure of full internal self-government is by negotiating with the British in an atmosphere of mutual respect — not civil disobedience.
• The Release states: “Hughes said … He (the Governor) also undermines the economy of Anguilla, but there is a conspiracy with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to make sure that Anguilla does not have a foreign economy”. My Observation: Why is the Chief Minister taking these nonsensical conspiracy theories to a regional level? I have received first-hand information that our Chief Minister is not being taken seriously by his colleagues in region. And, furthermore, that the unpublished findings of the CARICOM delegation that came here in October last year are not very complimentary. In fact, when he was making his presentation in Suriname a number of his colleagues absented themselves. Indeed, what would be the motive of the British Government to conspire to undermine the Anguillian economy?
• The Release states: “In this regard, Heads of Government called upon all Anguillian Leaders to safeguard public confidence in political leadership through constructive and objective discourse.” My Observation: Does the Chief Minister realize that this particular clause in the communiqué refers to the use of “constructive and objective discourse” rather than “civil disobedience” as a way forward? In actual fact it is a direct indictment on the style, approach and attitude of the Chief Minister and other advisors in his Government. The CARICOM communiqué, from which this release derives its supporting evidence, is a carefully worded document, in which CARICOM is no way interjecting itself into the domestic affairs of either Anguilla or the Turks & Caicos Islands, nor assuming any arbitration role in the relationship with the administering power (the United Kingdom).
I have attempted here to show that this mission by the Chief Minister is another one of his tactics to further his Independence agenda. It is not based on the existence of any widespread “public tension”. Most of the members of the same Caribbean Independent Countries, to whom the Chief Minister is making his appeal, are a part of the British Commonwealth arrangement. And every single one of them are members of CARIFORUM. Many of us know about the role of the United Kingdom in the Commonwealth but few know of its role in CARIFORUM. CARIFORUM is a body of Caribbean States for the purpose of promoting and coordinating policy dialogue, cooperation and regional integration, mainly within the framework of the European Union. These states benefit directly from regional resources under the Regional Indicative Programmes, financed by the European Development Fund (EDF), and preferential trade agreements with the European Union of which the UK Government is an integral part.
What I am demonstrating is the absurdity of the Chief Minister to suggest that the UK Government has a conspiracy to undermine the economy of its own Overseas Territory, Anguilla, while it (the UK) is at the same time a major player in various agreements with independent states, in our wider Caribbean Region, to enhance their development. I quote a part of the economic partnership agreement between the EU states and the CARIFORUM: “The ‘development package’ is critical to the provision of the development financing necessary to build the export capacity and infrastructure of the Caribbean’s private sector, so as to take advantage of market access opportunities presented. Allied to this, the package constitutes technical and financial assistance which will be used to put in place an enabling environment in Caribbean countries for foreign investment.” Where then is the logic in this absurd conspiracy and this so-called British “undeclared war” with Anguilla?
The Chief Minister was elected to Office because he was able to convince a number of voters that he was capable of bringing jobs and business opportunities to Anguilla — not to take us “kicking and screaming” into Independence to achieve that goal. Independence has absolutely nothing to do with putting those campaign promises in place. Nor is there any substance in his arguments that the British Government is standing in the way of his ability to deliver on his “invisible plan”. Since the first official Anguilla (Constitution) Order was enacted in 1976, giving us a level of autonomy in our internal affairs, we as a people have been responsible for every single one of the major national initiatives that have been responsible for the advancement of our people. Neither the British Government nor any British Governor has dictated or decreed that any of these actions or initiatives be taken. They have all come as a result of the inventiveness, enterprise, resolve and pride of Anguillians and their leaders. Let me name a few:
• Low volume – High value tourism was adopted as our policy for developing the tourist industry in 1979.
• The Anguilla Social Security System was established in 1982.
• The Introduction of Comprehensive Education.
• The Caribbean Commercial Bank was established in 1976.
• National Bank of Anguilla established in 1985.
• Corporatization of the Anguilla Electricity Company (ANGLEC).
• The Hurricane Luis Restoration and Rehabilitation Project 1995.
• The Anguilla Community Foundation 1999.
• The Liberalization of the Telecommunications Sector.
• The Implementation of the Anguilla Commercial Online Registration Network (ACORN).
• The Anguilla EU Transshipment Project 1997.
• Islandwide Distribution of potable water from Reverse Osmosis Systems.
• Measures to Restore Fiscal Stability in Anguilla 2002 to 2004.
• The establishment of the Health Authority.
• Wallblake Airport Expansion Project (Now Clayton J. Lloyd Intl Airport).
• The establishment of the Anguilla Community College.
This list is not exhaustive. And I have not included any of the many major physical infrastructure projects. Neither have I listed important programmes for human resource development that led to the training of hundreds of Anguillians from our own resources, especially during the period 2004 to 2009. These were things that successive Governments have achieved despite the various constraints and the reserved powers of the Governor. This is not to suggest that we should remain in a colonial arrangement indefinitely — but merely to show that it is disingenuous to use that relationship as an apology for our own shortcomings.
It appears to me, based on his arguments, that the Chief Minister would have us believe that going into Independence will erase all the challenges and hardships we now endure — is a panacea for all the setbacks that we encounter. Or perhaps Independence a “beckoning hand” to lead us into a blissful existence under a CARICOM heaven!
