The newly-appointed Governor of Anguilla, Ms Christina Martha Elena Scott, will take the Oath of Office and the Oath of Allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen at the Atlin N. Harrigan Parliamentary Building on Tuesday, July 23. The swearing-in ceremony, to which a number of persons in the public and private sectors have been invited, will commence at 2.00 pm.
The Oaths will be administered by Resident High Court Judge, Madam Justice Cheryl Mathurin.
The programme for the swearing-in ceremony is as follows:
? 1:40 pm – Arrival and Seating of Members of House of Assembly
? 2:00 pm – Sergeant-At-Arms brings House to Order for entrance of Hon. Speaker Barbara Webster-Bourne
? Entrance of H.E. Governor-Designate Christina Scott escorted by Commissioner of Police Rudolph Proctor
? Prayer – Rt. Rev. L. Errol Brooks, Bishop of the North Eastern Caribbean and Aruba
? National Anthem/National Song – A.L.H.C.S. Steel Orchestra/Choir
? Reading of the Commission of Appointment – Hon. Speaker Barbara Webster-Bourne
? Administration of Oaths by her Ladyship – Madam Justice Cheryl Mathurin
? Welcome remarks – Hon. Leader of the Opposition Evans McNiel Rogers
? Welcome Remarks – Hon. Chief Minister Hubert Hughes
? Greetings – Other Members of the House
? Response by H.E. Governor Christina Scott
? Adjournment. Procession from the House – H.E. Governor Christina Scott escorted by Commissioner of Police Rudolph Proctor. Hon. Chief Minister Hubert Hughes in attendance.
? Royal Salute
? Inspection of Guard of Honour by H.E. Governor Christina Scott accompanied by Hon. Chief Minister Hubert Hughes and Commissioner of Police Rudolph Proctor.
Ms Scott, whose date of arrival in Anguilla was announced for this week Friday, July 19, has succeeded Governor Alistair Harrison who left the island on Thursday, July 18, after serving for four years. Ms Scott has had a wide-ranging civil service career working across a range of domestic and international policies. Her last post was Director of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat in the Cabinet Office. She previously spent three years as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister. She also worked at HM Treasury, in the Department for Transport and at the European Commission. This is the first time that she has been appointed at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Meanwhile, at his last press conference on Wednesday, July 10, Mr Harrison, replying to a question, said that Ms Scott was bringing a great deal of experience to the governorship in Anguilla, having worked at the centre of the British Government. He continued: “She was working for three years for Gordon Brown when he was Prime Minister. Before that, she was Private Secretary to Alistair Darling when he was Secretary of State for Transport. So she has worked very much at the heart of the British Government in London which is a very sort of different experience in what I brought. I mostly worked abroad and with a Foreign Service background. She is not from the Foreign Service so, in terms of her experience in Government, Good Governance and so on, she is very well qualified indeed. I think she is an excellent choice to be my successor and I very much wish her well.
“I don’t think I will make public the advice I have offered her, but we have had extensive discussions about the job and I know she is looking forward to it and looking forward to the challenges. But I want to make one other point and that is that any Governor – be it Christina, my successor or whoever – is operating on instructions from the Minister of the Overseas Territories and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and is pursuing policies that have been decided by Ministers in London. Those policies are set out very clearly in the White Paper and it is our job to implement that working with the elected Ministers.
“One of the things that has been brought in on the White Paper is the new Joint Ministerial Council in London replacing the Overseas Territories Consultative Council, and the task of the JMC is to implement the commitments of the White Paper – and leaders in the Overseas Territories have been asked to say, round about now, how they are getting on in implementing the commitments that they all signed up to in the JMC communiqué last December. So it is a continuity of policy – and whilst you will see a lot of differences with the new Governor, the policies that she will be implementing will be the same ones that I have been seeking to implement.”
