In my platform presentation at the Anguilla United Front (AUF) public meeting in East End last Saturday, I use the old saying “a bad workman quarrels with his tools” to explain the behaviour of the Chief Minister. It is my view that this present AUM Government complains and blames the tools that are at its disposal to advance our national development. These tools include the public service, the teachers, the Governor’s Office, the FCO, the Royal Anguilla Police Force, other public sector agencies, and local and foreign investors, just to name a few. It has become the norm for the Chief Minister and his colleagues to be at variance with these groups much too often. Such confrontations include calling the public service corrupt; berating the teachers for defending their rights; waging a public media campaign against the British Government; and attacking investors and their management teams in the House of Assembly.
The AUF Government used these very tools/agencies to restore fiscal and economic stability to Anguilla in 2003 and to usher in a period of prosperity and growth unprecedented in our island’s history. So the tools are there – they simply need to be employed in a manner that fits the problem. However, this AUM Government insists on applying political solutions to technical problems and blames others when it fail to achieve the desired outcome. The result of this attitude is that Government ministers continually overlook the skills and talent of their teams and are quick to cast blame on them at the slightest hint of public criticism. For example, when the CM says: “It is not my fault — the engineers are doing as they like!”
KUDOS
It was this kind of statement that caused me to take a closer look at Phase I of The Valley Roads Project, namely, the construction of the road between the Secretariat and the new ABC Building Supplies Complex. I was wondering why the Chief Minister was again accusing the technicians in the Department of Infrastructure of operating contrary to his wishes. What I saw during my inspection of the project, however, convinced me that our Department of Infrastructure is ready and capable of taking on major civil works projects in Anguilla.
I wish to commend the entire design and engineering team at the Ministry of Infrastructure, and the local contractors, for the quality of work being carried out on the project at this time. It will be the most complete road project on the island when finished, and will include: “three (3) culverts and a carrier drain with drainage inlets along its length, sidewalks, signage, road studs and line marking, three (3) retention chambers/soak-a-ways and other drainage features. The street-lighting will utilize solar technologies.” It is obvious that a great deal of planning and visioning went into the project, and the onsite management team deserves much credit for supervising the work in such an efficient manner. Kudos to the homegrown engineers and their assistants. Another job well done!
THE ECCB SAGA
Someone asked me, what would I have done if I were in the Chief Minister’s place when the ECCB took over the indigenous Banks? My reply was as follows:
If I were in the Chief Minister’s place, and felt that it was an action I was convinced that I had to take, my next step would be to seek clear and precise information about the process – so as to be in a position to explain it thoroughly to my colleagues and the general public. The questions I would raise to ascertain that information in this case could be:
1. What are the various stages of the process?
2. How long will the process take?
3. What are the factors that would cause it to be extended?
4. How will you handle the public relations aspect of the process, and what role can I play?
5. How will the performance of these new officials in the Bank be assessed?
6. To which authority do we complain if there are any issues arising from the persons involved in the takeover?
7. What is expected to happen to the value of the shareholder’s equity and how will that value be determined?
8. Will Government receive regular progress reports on the takeover?
9. And so on …
If I had then received fair answers to such questions then I would be in a position to provide useful and accurate information to my colleagues and the general public. Such information could go a long way in dealing with the quiet trauma on this issue within the community The Government and its supporters, however, prefer to employ their usual “lie, defame and blame game” tactics with the hope of getting political mileage out of the issue. This is not helpful to the situation in Anguilla.
CLEARING THE AIR
My press release in response to a speech by Mr. Sutcliffe Hodge will appear elsewhere in this paper. However, for ease of reference I will summarize the matter for my readers. Mr. Hodge seems to conclude, after some questionable anecdotal evidence, that my business as a company manager disqualifies me as a candidate for public office because of his determination that it constitutes a conflict of interest. In fact, he suggests that I should have been dismissed or forced to resign. This may be convenient for Mr. Hodge’s political ambitions but, unfortunately, that is not the way the test of “conflict of interest” is determined. Every Minister of Government is afforded the opportunity to exclude or recuse himself/herself from participating in any discussion in Executive Council that involves a matter in which he/she has a personal or business interest. In Executive Council one’s interests are declared when one becomes a Minister. And, by the way, such interests also include family connections. A reasonable application of Mr. Hodge’s argument could therefore suggest that if one has too much family he/she should not be eligible to be a Minister of Government.
It is obvious that Mr. Hodge found it necessary to defend his ownership of 100,000 shares in ANGLEC in my address last week in this way. He should be advised that to defend his courage and ambition to invest in Anguilla’s development is totally unnecessary. In fact, as I suggested, it should be applauded. And if he chooses to limit his business involvement to six companies on Anguilla, that is completely up to him. I, on the other hand, also have the right to be involved in a business that provides director services to clients if I so choose. Such a choice should not make me any less eligible to seek political office.
Mr. Hodge also needs to be corrected for his viewpoint that company management, to use his own words, is “a kind of behaviour”. Correction Mr. Hodge! Company Management is a business that is licensed by Government and regulated by the Anguilla Financial Services Commission. For the information of the wider public, who may be mislead by this flawed thinking, let me clear the air as follows:
1. The business that I have been involved in for over 28 years is company management.
2. One of the services offered by such business is serving as director; registered office; registered agent; nominee shareholder; and to file documents etc.
3. Over the years we have formed and managed several hundred companies in and out of Anguilla.
4. There a number of company managers licensed to do business in Anguilla.
5. To be asked to be a director of a company is an expression of trust and confidence.
6. Banx Professional Services Ltd is owned by my wife and I and is built on a reputation of honesty and integrity with our many clients. We have never had a dispute with any of our clients for the 28 years we have been in business.
7. We have held a valid company managers licence for the 28 years we have been in business.
8. Approximately ninety percent of the companies we form do not operate in Anguilla.
9. Approximately fifty percent of the companies we formed do not exist anymore.
10. Like Mr. Hodge, I actually have shareholdings in less than six active companies.
11. The Company Management Business is provided for in the laws of Anguilla.
I would also like to thank Mr. Hodge for confirming to the general public that I operate a business that is well regulated and transparent. Any information required on the ownership of any of these businesses is available at the Commercial Registry. But it should also be borne in mind that not every company that is formed in Anguilla continues to operate. You must therefore seek the current status of the companies you request information on. I have noticed that a number of the companies mentioned in Mr. Hodge’s presentation no longer operate.
Finally, like Mr. Hodge and his family, who continue to strive to live the Anguilla dream, I too reserve the right to operate a legitimate business for the same purpose.
As a parting note, I have expressed my regret that Mr. Hodge felt that it was necessary for him to draw attention to the distasteful rumors affecting his personal and family life. I would have advised him not to give “legs” to such disgusting accusations by responding. I believe that it would have been better if he had allowed his reputation to speak for itself. As a politician I have always taken that high road in response to such cowardly and malicious attacks. And I strongly condemn anyone in or out of the Anguilla United Front who would spread such vicious and slanderous rumours. Perhaps I should paraphrase Mr. Hodge’s parting admonition by saying that “those who live in glass houses should not throw stones”, just in case someone missed the point!
THE BOTTOM LINE
My good friend Sam Kelly listened to Mr. Hodge’s speech and was particularly taken back by the statement he made that “construction is not an industry, it is a project”. In his utter shock and amazement he exclaimed: “What is this man talking about! He don’t realize that right now it got big contractors home baby-sitting!” I fully agree with most of Mr. Hodge’s points on how to create a more stable economy but, like Sam Kelly, I thought that I might have missed something. Or perhaps it could very well be that Mr. Hodge missed the boat on this one.
