Governor Alistair Harrison held his last press conference for the year on Tuesday, November 20, two weeks before travelling to London with Chief Minister Hughes for the Annual Joint Ministerial Meeting.
Mr. Harrison, who announced a new source of funding – the Jubilee Fund – which is available to all Governors’ Offices – gave a round-up of a number of community projects two of which his office financed from that fund and the majority financed from the Governor’s regular fund. The money from the Jubilee Fund is being used to recruit a consultant to strengthen the Fire Services and to finance further work on positive behaviour management in schools next year. That fund was established this year on the occasion of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and is part of the general trend towards deepening the partnership between the UK and the Overseas Territories.
Under the Governor’s regular fund, assistance was given for the parent/child retreat recently organised by the Department of Social Development; a water fountain at the Recreational Centre, at South Hill, for the use of children playing basketball; the National Forum on Disability; the Red Cross project to build a safer community; bathroom facilities at the Sandy Ground Playing Field; the Anguilla National Trust project on connecting youth with nature; and the Blowing Point Youth Development Centre for a project on children and young people in a changing society. The Governor noted that the theme of the projects was focused on the young people of Anguilla in keeping with the objectives of the UN-declaration of Universal Child Day of 1954.
“I think we are all concerned about the way, throughout the world, in which children are subjected to influences that we perhaps were not subject to when we were children,” the Governor observed. “We see the consequences around the world and we are not immune to that in Anguilla. I think it is very important that things should be done, as they are being done throughout the island, to give young people something worthwhile to do.”The Governor disclosed that so far an amount of 30,000-35,000 pounds was spent on projects from the regular fund.
Mr. Harrison said he was looking forward to attending the Joint Ministerial Meeting with Chief Minister Hughes and his delegation, along with representatives from the other Overseas Territories. The meeting in London will be held on December 4 and 5. The Governor explained said that some ten years ago, the previous UK Government had established the Overseas Territories Consultative Council, an annual meeting in London for all the elected leaders and governors. That body has now been replaced in the new White Paper by a Joint Ministerial Council. “It is an expression of the deeper partnership we are trying to achieve with the Overseas Territories,” Mr. Harrison added.
The Governor confirmed that Anguilla’s draft budget for 2013 had been sent by the Ministry of Finance to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. “It was sent on time which was the agreed timing – the end of October,” he said. “There have been discussions taking place between the Finance Ministry, the Foreign Office and DFID and those will continue.”
Replying to a related question, Governor Harrison said: “Both the Chief Minister and the Minister for the Overseas Territories, when he was here a few weeks ago, expressed their willingness, their intention, to sign the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility which would set the parameters of financial management in Anguilla. They both hope to sign that during the course of the Joint Ministerial Council. Various Overseas Territories have signed similar frameworks and I think they have been extremely beneficial to financial management in the territories concerned in these very difficult financial times.”
With respect to the approval of a loan for the Anguilla Community College, Governor Harrison reported that: “Agreement has been given by the British Government for the borrowing [of the money]. Drawdown cannot take place until the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility is signed. But, meantime, the discussions can go ahead with the finance people to sort out the terms of the loan and so on, and I think that is going ahead. The Chief Minister and Mr. Simmonds have expressed their desire to sign the FFR (Framework for Fiscal Responsibility) during the Joint Ministerial Council and I am sure that’s how that will be resolved. The proposals were very good ones and the British Government was happy to endorse them.”
Those proposals include the building of a new campus for the Anguilla Community College on 11.5 acres of land which the Government has made available off the Long Path in the area of the Factory Shell.
On the issue of Cap Juluca, the Governor said it was a very sensitive situation, but stated: “I think I would reiterate what I said before, that the Chief Minister, all members of EXCO, including myself, and the Foreign Office, including the Minister for the Overseas Territories, are united in our desire to keep Cap Juluca open and to find a long-term solution to its legal and financial problems of which we are all aware. The importance of Cap Juluca to the island really cannot be over-stated. Therefore, I hope that a long-term solution will be found. I am sure that it will be an issue that will be discussed between the Chief Minister and the Overseas Territories Minister in London and, as I said, we are all united in our desire to keep the resort open.”
Responding to a question concerning the long-running concerns the Governor frequently said he has had about Minister Walcott Richardson, he stated that those concerns were continuing. “I continue to have some concerns and I have asked the Chief Minister on a number of occasions to help me resolve those concerns,” he replied. “I have asked him to suggest a different way forward if he doesn’t want to go the way that I suggested and I hope I will be able to address those concerns at some stage.”
He went on: “I think that it is right for the Governor, or anybody else, but particularly the Governor, if he has such concerns, to raise them with the Chief Minister which I have done. I continue to hope that the Chief Minister would find a way to resolve my concerns.” He hoped that the concerns, which have not been officially made public, would be resolved before he leaves Anguilla next year.
The Governor commented guardedly on the often-rejected Education Bill in the House of Assembly when asked about the draft legislation. “I don’t want to say too much about the Education Bill because that is a matter for the House of Assembly and it is right that the Governor should stay out of the House of Assembly,” he stated.
“But I think there are a number of important issues in the Bill which are concerning a lot of people. For example, if the Bill is not passed by the end of the year, there will be consequences for funding from the European Union’s Development Fund. And, of course, there are aspects of the Bill which affect Anguilla’s international obligations…Of course the vast majority of the Bill is an internal and devolved matter for the Government of Anguilla; and it is ultimately for the Government – that’s to say the Elected Ministers and for the House of Assembly – to resolve it. I obviously hope that they will find a resolution.”
Governor Harrison expects to leave Anguilla on Saturday, December 1, to attend the Joint Ministerial Council in London and for a period of leave. He hopes to return to the island on December 30.
