Ladies and Gentlemen, Fellow Anguillians, Residents of Welches and District Number 1, Good Night!
Let me tell you, I am so pleased to be here in Welches. And I am so happy to see all of you here with us. Tonight is a special night. We are here not only to talk with you about the issues that are concerning us today, but we are here to support some of our community brothers and sisters who are in need. And we are here to support the Honourable Othlyn Vanterpool.
We remember the Bible Scripture Mark 12:31 says, “[T]he second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And so this is one of the reasons why we are here tonight, to show love to our neighbors. This is what it is about, fellow Anguillians. It is about helping one another. This is what we, the Anguilla United Front is about, ensuring that all of our Anguillians and our country as a whole are looked after. This is what being a representative of the people is about. It is not about false pride. It is not about seeking to elevate yourself so that people can pat you on the back. It is not about getting elected to get a salary for five (5) years in order for people to help themselves and their family members and leave everyone else to suffer.
The reason why you elect a representative for your District is to ensure that the needs of the people in that constituency, and the island as a whole, are looked after. Your representative’s role is to create opportunities – economic, social and personal opportunities – to help us grow as a nation and as a community. Tonight, right now, you need to ask yourselves whether you have found these qualities in our elected and unelected representatives in our AUM Government. The residents of Districts 2, 4, 6 and 7, I am speaking to you! Have you rated your representative’s performance? Are you satisfied with the job that he has done over the last four and a half years? Are you willing to re-elect him for another five (5) year term, into the year 202, based on his performance these past few years? What is your representative’s record?
A gentleman in my District told me the other day that his grandmother had a saying, “ Sweep hell and burn the broom!”. Well I can tell you, that saying is so appropriate to what I am talking about tonight. So for those of us who have a representative in this AUM Government whose performance for these past four and a half years have left much to be desired, I say, “Sweep them out and throw away the broom!”
Why sweep out the AUM? Well let’s look at their record. Take for instance the Interim Stabilization levy that our Ministers of Government passed in 2011. It is an unfair tax and an unfair burden on the people of Anguilla. This is a tax that was supposed to last for only one (1) year but has now stretched into three (3) years and shows no signs of ending. Although our AUM Government talks about the three sources of revenue that can come into the country – (i) from foreign direct investment; (ii) from grant aid; and (iii) from taxes – the only one that our AUM Government seems to be the most comfortable with is increasing taxes on us.
Our AUM Government has no ideas, no thoughts as to how to move Anguilla forward. They list supposed accomplishments but at the end of the day, the question is, how are we, the people of Anguilla living? How are we taking care of our children and our elderly? How are we putting food on our tables? Are we working?
Just a couple of hours ago I was at a food establishment in The Valley and I was speaking with a couple of young men who were having a drink. One of the young men turned to me and said “[W]hat we really want are jobs!” I said, “Exactly! This is what I have been talking about for months!” Members of our AUM Government have been saying that Anguillians are working and that the only Anguillians that are not working are the ones that do not want to work. This is absolutely not true!
Ladies and Gentlemen, do you know what? What was unfortunate, what hurt me about this conversation with this young man, was that this young man was from my very own District Number 2 constituency. It is a District where our representative is not only a member of this AUM Government, but he is the key link that has kept this AUM Government in place for the last few years. It is a District where our representative brags that from time to time he is Acting Chief Minister. That may be true but how does this help the residents of District Number 2?
Well what do you think that I said to this young man? I told him, “Young man, if you want to see real change, if you want a Government that gives you real opportunities, that opens the door for you, then for your District Number 2 representative and this AUM Government, we gotta “Sweep them out!”
While we are speaking about District Number 2, I want to also recognize the former Chief Minister and representative for District Number 2, the Honourable Osbourne Fleming. And I want to talk Mr. Evans McNiel Rogers for welcoming Mr. Fleming to the platform and recognizing his contributions over the years to not only District 2, but the country as a whole. Let us give him another round of applause.
We were speaking about the record of our AUM Government. Let us talk about the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank takeover here in Anguilla. Now I first spoke about this in Stoney Ground and people are very concerned about this issue and wanted me to speak about it again. A High Court decision recently came down in favor of someone who had sued one of our indigenous banks here in Anguilla for wrongful dismissal when her contract was terminated at the time that ECCB took over the two indigenous banks in Anguilla. The High Court found that the termination of services was a breach of the employment contract and ordered that she be paid monies.
Now, I raise this matter because, when it was announced on 12th August 2013 that ECCB had taken control of CCB and NBA, we know that our Chief Minister had signed and agreed for them to come in. It has now been more than one (1) year since the takeover and we have heard only very brief, vague reports as to what has been happening with the Banks. Complaints are coming from different sources that many persons, Anguillians and non-Anguillians, need to withdraw funds for one reason or the other from either Bank, but that they are unable to withdraw a substantial part of their funds. Some persons are sick and need the funds for medical treatment. Other persons want to make business investments and yet others want to relocate their funds for estate planning purposes. All have been met with the same response, that there are limitations for withdrawing their own monies.
In addition, this AUM Government has passed a law in the House of Assembly which prevents ECCB from being sued by anyone for the work that they are performing in Anguilla. So, if you are accustomed of dealing with any transaction at the bank (for example cashing cheques, forwarding monies and making deposits) and something wrong happens and you suffer a loss, what our Government has done is essentially to prevent you from suing ECCB generally for anything that happens while the banks are under their watch.
What is the effect of this law and holding on to customer funds against the customer’s wishes? The effect is that many persons, especially those living abroad, have developed a distrust of our banks and banking system here in Anguilla generally. And so every day our Banking industry is being destroyed. In the interim, there is no real accountability to the people of Anguilla. Now, it is not the ECCB or even the Governor who is accountable to we the people. It is our elected representatives in Government who are accountable. It is those persons who we elected that should be looking out for us and making sure that our rights and our interests are protected. Where is our AUM Government when we need them? What do they have to say about the progress of the conservatorship? Our Chief Minister sits on the Monetary Council and has first hand information as to what is happening. Yet our AUM Government is strangely silent on the issue of the ECCB takeover. The members of this AUM Government have been silent as to the future of these two indigenous banks. Our AUM Government needs to know that there is a continuing obligation on their part to inform us, the people of Anguilla as what is happening in our very own country. With no accountability, no transparency and no good governance, should we sweep the AUM out of Government? What do you say?
From the infighting and cursing over the years to our members of Government marching against some Government departments, to blaming everyone under the sun for their failure to perform, to overtaxing the people of Anguilla to breaking practically every promise that they made during the 2010 general elections in order to get elected, I say we sweep ‘em out! Sweep ‘em out and throw away the broom so that we never, ever have to endure another five (5) years like how we have been suffering now!
I have a lot more to talk about, but I will stop here tonight, because we have had a long line up tonight. But I want to and will continue speak with you in upcoming meetings about serious issues that we need to address in our country. I want to talk to you about health care. We need to talk about the services that can and should be provided for our elderly. We need to talk about our young people, some of whom are feeling disenfranchised in our own country. We need to talk about affordable education. And we need to talk about the economy and serious efforts that need to be made in order to get this economy moving.
We, the Anguilla United Front, have a plan to really get the country going. And it is not smoke and mirrors like our existing AUM Government. We intend to work closely with the private sector in order to generate investment and create additional and new jobs in areas such as construction, real estate, fishing and fish processing, agriculture and financial services just to name a few. We intend to create a positive environment to help our Anguillians to create and build small businesses in manufacturing, the arts and entertainment, transportation and shipping and professional services to name a few. We intend to establish positive and beneficial relationships with existing and future investors in order to lay a strong foundation for the encouragement of future business in Anguilla. And so I and the rest of the Anguilla United Front team will be speaking with you and these issues in the very near future. As Terry said, “ We the AUF are the force that can push Anguilla forward!”
Fellow Anguillians, tonight we are here to support a worthy cause. And we are also here to support the Honourable Othlyn Vanterpool, the elected representative and District Number 1 candidate for the Anguilla United Front. He is young and capable, he has a record of proven performance during his time as an elected representative and he truly cares about his community. Remember, we do not need a piecemeal government because you have seen what can happen. The next government will have to hit the ground running and we do not have time to worry about who is going to join with who.
We, the members of the Anguilla United Front stand here, seven strong, ready to lead Anguilla forward. We are single minded in our focus. We have the ability, we have the skills, we have the experience and we have the right attitude. Vote for your Future! Vote for your children! Vote for your jobs! Vote for Othlyn in District Number 1 and the entire Anguilla United Front team under the leadership of Mr. Victor Banks! It is all about the people of Anguilla.
Good night. God Bless You and God Bless Anguilla.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
