Over the past two and a half years my appearance and participation at public consultations held by the Government, and particularly the Ministry of Finance, has been infrequent. This is especially so whenever I am informed that the Chief Minister, in his capacity as Minister of Finance, would be making remarks. On such occasions the Chief Minister never misses the opportunity to rant and rave that collusion between the British Government and the past Government is the cause of the financial and economic situation inAnguilla. He then proceeds to come up with an assortment of conspiracy theories and baseless statements designed to make his point.
I was invited on very short notice to a public consultation on Monday and Tuesday of this week on the proposed “Framework for Fiscal Responsibility”(FFR) being negotiated between the Government of Anguilla (GoA) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office(FCO). I was cognizant of the fact that the Chief Minister would be making some remarks but nevertheless I decided to attend for mainly four reasons. Firstly, even though my presence has the effect of “kryptonite” on the CM’s ability to maintain focus, going forward I have resolved to participate in any forum or consultation that I deem to be of national importance. Secondly, I believe that this new Framework is strategic to improving public financial management forAnguillain the years ahead. Thirdly, it was a good opportunity, based on the technical presentations planned, to get an accurate assessment of the Government’s financial situation. And finally, I was curious as to the functioning of the Ministryof Finance, Economic Development, Investment and Tourism (FEDICT) after the “much maligned” reshuffling of Permanent Secretaries earlier this year.
With regard to my first reason, I am happy to report that I do not believe that my presence set the Chief Minister off. Rather, it was a comment from the Governor confirming that the CM indeed committed, in a letter to the Minister for theOverseasTerritories, Mr. Bellingham, to balancing the overall budget by 2013. The Governor’s overall presentation focused on the significance of these consultations to the negotiating process between theGoAand the FCO — but his comment could have been interpreted in at least two ways. Either he was putting the record straight on this contentious issue between the Opposition, the Governor and the CM – or he wanted to give a historical context to the joint commitment, to getting the public finances under control, made by the newUKand Anguilla Governments in 2010.
Apparently, that remark caused the Chief Minister, when it was his turn to speak, to abandon his prepared text and carry on in his usual rant about collusion; sabotage; reparations; mismanagement; water and electricity from St. Maarten; a French financed Airport in Brimegin; and his willingness to go to jail – like the African leaders – to freeAnguilla. Not surprisingly, as soon as the CM completed his rant he left the room never to be seen again for the remainder of the two-day consultations.
It is my view that this issue is worn out. Was the Governor intentionally using the occasion to do a “fact-check” on the CM’s statements? If I were a betting man I would say yes! Did the Chief Minister have to respond in the manner he did? I thought that he could easily have ignored it and proceeded with his prepared remarks. The CM by responding actually brought attention to a fact that is well-documentedboth in writing and on tape. Is this an important enough issue to warrant such a response in the presence of visiting agencies? I think not! In fact, I believe that the whole issue is becoming extremely childish and, in the interest of dealing with the more immediate issues of governance, we all should move on and allow the CM to continue to believe his own lies. To my mind, this was the most embarrassing and disturbing moment of the Conference.
My second reason for attending was that the topic for the consultation was of great importance to creating a robust system of management forAnguilla’s public finances “consistent with the highest standards of governance and democracy”. It is obvious that the public needs to be aware of these new approaches, to managing our resources, that include certain responsibilities requiring our full compliance. Since these negotiations will be agreeing to a framework for the long term, it is important that we take advantage of the opportunity to make an input or understand what is being proposed. We have been operating on a set of “borrowing guidelines” agreed almost ten years ago, but the new challenges of this period call for a more holistic approach to decision-making that includes principles of transparency; accountability; measurability; sustainability; suitability; affordability and so on. The proposed framework incorporates these principles and as it evolves they will be institutionalized through the enactment of legislation and the establishment of sound policies and regulations. To my mind, I could not afford to miss the opportunity to be in on the ground floor of these discussions.
My third reason was to be able to benefit from the accurate information that would be available. In this regard, I was very impressed with the quality of work of the presenters from the various ministries.It demonstrates that even in two and a half years our technical officers have developed a considerable grasp of their subject areas and display great ease in articulating the issues.I came away with the confidence that there is a cadre of technical staff capable of managing our fiscal and financial challenges into the future. The use of power-point presentations, not for vanity but to put the facts and statistical data in clearer perspective, provided some useful tools for understanding the correlations of trends in the economy over the last ten years. To my mind, the political directorate, that the CM declared in his rant as “having no power today — none whatsoever”, would be well advised to recognize the power available to them through the proper utilization of these technical officers.
My final reason for attending was to determine whether the worst fears of the CM and his Senior Advisors regarding the reshuffling of the Permanent Secretaries, earlier this year, were realized. However, on the contrary, I can speak for all the participants when I say that we witnessed a “well-oiled” machine in action. In fact, the CM himself commented on the competence of his staff to make critical decisions forAnguilla’s development. His (the CM’s) statement was to advance his case that the approval process by British Officials was designed to keep the people of Anguilla enslaved and that our officials were just as qualified and should be allowed to make those decisions without oversight from theUK. To my mind, all is well in the Ministry of FEDICT and the several months of wrangling and civil disobedience was much ado about nothing.
It is my view that the objectives of the consultations, namely, to get the specific views of the public on the proposed Framework for Fiscal Responsibility, were not adequately met. To enable that process, I believe that the actual document, to be negotiated, should have been circulated far in advance of the consultations. However, I strongly feel that the forum, apart from the rants of the Chief Minister, provided us with useful information and insights into where we are; where we are headed; and a discussion on how to get there. In a few words, our situation; our aspirations; and the way forward. But if, as many of the presenters indicated, the FFR is only the beginning of the process I would suggest that we made useful progress.
There is, however, one nagging issue which remained with me from the earlier part of the forum on which I feel moved to comment. The Chief Minister continued to whine about the difficulties in getting approvals from FCO on critical requests. But what was more disturbing is that at least one of the presenters also seemed to complain about the same experiences albeit in a much more measured manner. I believe that these apparent frustrations, among some of the staff in the Ministry, need to be addressed. The British Government and in particular the agencies managing the Overseas Territories, typically the FCO and DFID, have not changed their approach to approvals in the thirty odd years that I have been in active politics – and conceivably the period as far back as 1967 as well.
From as far back as I can recall from the period of grant-in-aid – through the period of Capital Aid; to this period of “Graduation from “Aid” – it has always been a struggle. Once we require the approval of the British Government for anything the process will be slow; the pre-conditions onerous; and at times seemingly irrelevant. The process with the European Union is exponentially worse. I can recall it took us almost five years, after the last tranche of funds from EDF IX were approved, to get the money in our account. Fortunately, we had our own resources to use as bridge financing. The bureaucracy is slow and often there is a lack of appreciation or understanding of small developing states and the issues affecting them.
My humble advice to the political directorate; the technical officers and senior managers is very simple: the attitude of the British Government is a given. It will not change! There is only one way to advance your interest and your approvals. Make the case! No need to whine or cuss! Make the case! In the end someone will understand. Make the case! The British Government has its Constituency just like you! Make the case! And chances are, if you can’t make the case you probably don’t have a case! Time to get creative!Make the case! I really can’t make it any simpler than that.
