My beloved fellow Anguillians, and all you goodly people who have chosen to spend this Christmas, the many Christmases before, and the many Christmases to come in Anguilla, my dearly beloved country, I hasten to wish each one of you a safe, free, and joyous yuletide season.
We, whose lives have been spared to enjoy yet another Christmas, can indeed say thanks be to God for His mercies and His grace. And while we are thanking God, our hearts go out to our family members, our neighbours, our friends and our acquaintances, who experienced tragedy and grief this year. We pray that they find comfort in the assurance of God’s mercy and grace during this Yuletide season.
As we celebrate the event of Jesus birth, all of us need to remember that the time in which it took place was characterized by the same kind of threats, the same kind of struggles, the same envy that plague our world today. His short life on earth – it was only 30 years – was full of trouble from the day He was born to the day He was killed. He suffered political harassment – a jealous king hunted Him down to kill Him when He was just a toddler. People scandalized His name, lied on Him, beat Him up, spat in His face, and after all of that, they stripped Him naked and nailed Him up on a cross – crucified Him like a common criminal.
And what did He do to deserve all this brutality? All He did was leave the glory of Heaven, disguise Himself as a human being to come down to earth, was born in a cow pen, and lived a life of poverty just to save humanity, including the same people who made His life miserable down here.
That is a Bible story that we human beings can never comprehend. Jesus could have chosen to be born and to live in a palace, and have all the fame and glory that life could offer, but He chose instead to live a life of humility and suffering, in order to teach us a lesson, to be a source of comfort to us when we are in distress, and to be an example of self-emptying love.
We who call ourselves Christians, we who call ourselves His disciples, we who call ourselves His followers have much to learn from His birth, His life, and His death.
This is the fourth Christmas message I have been privileged to deliver since you gave the Anguilla United Movement the mandate to govern on 15 February 2010, The Christmas season and the approaching year end are traditionally joyous occasions, but they are also a time of reflection, and we have much to reflect on.
After February 2010, the government was strengthened by the voluntary inclusion of the Member for Sandy Hill, The Hon. Mr Jerome Roberts, who now holds the portfolio of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Education portfolio.
In looking at our present situation, we must remind ourselves that the Anguilla United Movement government inherited a bad fiscal situation from the Anguilla United Front administration. The 2009 budget had a deficit of over EC$100 million. This included (a) the budget shortfall of EC$78 million (b) the unpaid bills in the Treasury exceeding EC$20 million (c) the amount borrowed from the ECCB (d ) the EC$20 million borrowed from the St Lucia-based Trinidad fund (e) the EC$24 million which Mr Chris Bryant, The British Minister for the Overseas Territories, permitted the AUF government to borrow , but stipulated that it had to be paid back from the European Development Fund aid as soon as the money was received.
This was the dismal financial situation at the time when more money flowed through Anguilla than ever in its history. These are facts. Not baseless rumours. The British Minister actually wrote a letter in which he criticized Mr Victor Banks,The Minister of Finance, for poor fiscal management, which included breaching the borrowing guidelines. I have publicly read the British Minister’s letter dated 18 January 2010 on several occasions.
There was an increasing budgetary deficit every year during the AUF government’s ten years in office Mr Bank’s poor handling of the economy led the British government to tight the screws on Anguilla’s borrowing. This has had a stifling effect on Anguilla’s economy.
The much needed aid of EC$24 million from the European Development Fund could not be spent in Anguilla’s economy, but had to be paid back as son as the AUM government took office.
We must never forget that the fiscal situation was so bad before 15 February 2010, that the AUF government was afraid to produce the annual budget, and entered the 2010 financial year without one.
We must never forget that when the AUF government was voted out of office it was borrowing money to meet its recurrent expenses, That included paying civil servants’ salaries. The AUF government had sunk Anguilla in the deepest part of the ocean with a millstone around its neck. That was the situation the AUM inherited.
Amidst all this, the AUM government experienced two further drawbacks: firstly, the resignation of the Member for West End, the Hon. Mr Walcott Richardson, a very good administrator, who has been a great loss that neither the government nor the people of Anguilla can afford.
Secondly, the dismissal of the Member for Road North, The Hon. Mr Baird from the AUM government. As Chief Minister and leader of government business,, it became necessary for me, after much deliberation, to relieve him of his ministerial portfolio. In making this critical decision, I was driven by the fundamental principle of discipline in a free and democratic society. Mr Baird’s behaviour was inconsistent with those principles. I could no longer put off responding to the loud, persistent call of the people for his dismissal.
During the 2010 general election campaign, the AUM made a sacred pledge to rebuild Anguilla’s depressed and distressed economy, and to redeem Anguilla’s good name, both locally and in the world outside. To that end, the government spared no effort to do two things: (1) renegotiate the ridiculous Memorandums of Agreement signed by the former AUF administration, and (2) attract new foreign investments into the country. However, these aims were in conflict with the policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
In the USA, when the economy went into recession, President Obama injected money into it. That action is now bearing fruit, and the economy is showing signs of growth,
In contrast, here in Anguilla, Her Majesty’s government turned down my request for her to do the same thing in Anguilla. Instead, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office did everything it could to further wreck Anguilla’s economy, with the intention of turning Anguilla into another Turks and Caicos Islands.
The tool of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was the bad, colonial, buccaneering British governor, Mr Alistair Harrison. He did his best to undermine Anguilla’s Tourism Industry through a series of measures. He also refused to sign every one of the five budgets the AUM government was forced to produce in three years.He signed those budgets only after he had driven up our deficit, because revenue could not be collected. Like the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he discouraged investors from investing in Anguilla. All this was done to prevent the AUM government from healing the wounded economy. In carrying out his bad acts, the governor had the full support of The Hon. Mr Baird and other local officials. Or shall I say stooges?
As if that was not bad enough, the UK administering power bombarded Anguilla with a stream of tax consultants and tax officials, insisting on increased taxation. The British Minister responsible for the Overseas Territories and the AUF government had agreed on stringent tax measures before the February 2010 general elections, but had decided to hold them back until after the elections, so as to give the AUF party a good chance to win. After those elections, the UK administering power began breathing down the AUM government’s neck to implement those measures, and to reduce the civil service.
Fellow citizens, this is not malicious gossip. The letters dated November 2009 and 10 January 2010 to the Chief Minister, Mr Osborne Fleming, from the British Minister prove this. I have read them publicly on several occasions.
Let me state here that my request to Britain to inject some money to jump-start Anguilla’s economy was not unreasonable. Britain’s wealth was built on exploiting her colonies’ natural resources, including Anguilla’s. Britain reaped millions of dollars from mining phosphate in Sombrero and in Anguilla; from the Sombrero lighthouse; from Anguilla’s sea island cotton, which was famed to be the best in the world; and from the little sugar that was produced here. British financial assistance to Anguilla would not have been a handout paid for by British taxpayers. Had it been given, it would have been giving back to Anguilla a fraction of what Britain took out.
But all is not gloom, fellow citizens. As we look back, we can also see some bright spots. By the help of God, and good fiscal management, the AUM government stopped borrowing money to meet recurrent expenditure after the first month in office.
The government balanced the budget after the first year, and has been balancing it ever since.
The AUM government wiped out the huge budgetary deficit in two years.
The two world renowned budgetary experts, Mr Ved Ghandi and Mr John Wiggins, who was sent here by the UK government to find fault with our budget, vindicated it, and praised our financial team instead. It also praised the AUM’s financial management. At a public consultation in March 2011 at the Rodney Rey McArthur Auditorium, Mr John Wiggins said to the government in the presence of the gathering, “You have pursued a very rigorous, careful, controlled policy.”
All public servants have remained employed, unlike in neighbouring islands and even richer countries where government workers have been losing their jobs.
Coming to the present, the European Union recently expressed satisfaction with the way the Anguilla government had handled the European Union aid. In recognition of that, it increased the amount this year to EC$48 million.
Anguilla’s good name has been restored. Foreign investors are showing increased signs of confidence in Anguilla. More and more are approaching the government to invest in Anguilla. Investors have expressed relief that they no longer have to pass huge sums under the table.
The length of the lines at the banks on Friday afternoons is growing. That means people are going back to work, and from the look of things, that trend will increase significantly in 2014.
Jobs are advertised on the radio every day .
AUM government and the people of Anguilla have survived Governor Alistair Harrison, and Anguilla has been saved for the people of Anguilla.
We can give thanks to God, our financial experts in the Ministry of Finance, and all dedicated public servants.
A very special thanks to the people of Anguilla for their patience and the faith they continue to have in this government.
As we go into this Christmas season, and face the New Year, there is hope that the future of Anguilla is much better secured than it was before 15 February 2010.
My dearly beloved fellow citizens, once again I say, Happy Christmas. May God pour out His richest blessings on you in the New Year.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
