A three-day Post-Election Seminar for Parliamentarians, mainly in Anguilla, opened at La Vue Boutique Hotel conference room on Monday this week, with one of the UK facilitators telling them they were not interfering in their business but wanted to hear how they could assist them.
The veiled remark came from Dr. Matthew Offord, Member of the UK Parliament for Hendon. He was at the time delivering an address following introductory remarks by the Speaker of the Anguilla House of Assembly, Mr. Leroy Rogers; Opposition Leader, Ms. Palmavon Webster and Chief Minister and Leader of Government Business, Mr. Victor Banks.
In giving an overview of the seminar, Dr. Offord said in part: “It is great to be here as a Member of Her Majesty’s Parliament in the UK. It’s great that we have been invited as a delegation from the Parliamentary Association, and I am very grateful to you for hosting us here this week…I don’t come here, nor does anyone else, to tell you what to do. What we come here for is to work with you, and to look at how you are doing things and to try and share best practice. I am not only very pleased to see that we not only have Members [from Anguilla] but from British Virgin Islands [and] indeed the Turks and Caicos Islands so that we can all share best practice together. We certainly come here to assist…where we can, but certainly not to tell any side how things should be undertaken in your countries where you take your own decisions. So I want to make that very clear from the beginning: that we come as friends – and certainly not anything more than that.”
The UK Parliamentary Member said the Post-Election Seminar was aimed at “strengthening the knowledge, skills and confidence particularly of the new elected members, of the Anguillian House of Assembly, to share best practice with our Commonwealth partners.”
Dr. Offord continued: “As I said, there are many members here from other Overseas Territories. I look forward to hearing their experiences. I am very pleased to see indeed a Member of the Scottish Parliament – Duncan McNeil here. As you know, we have a delegated Assembly of Parliaments in the United Kingdom and the problems and conflicts they face in those Parliaments and Assemblies, I [thought] would be very useful in our discussions in the next few days…I have certainly come myself in the spirit of not only engaging with yourselves. I am looking forward to learning to see how you work with issues such as the Budget in the Accounts Committee and indeed to see the role of the Opposition in your work. I hope that we will be able to take back some ideas, some initiatives and some proposals that other Members of the Commonwealth would be able to look at, and discuss, and maybe decide to implement in their countries.”
In addition to Dr. Offord, other seminar facilitators included Mr. Duncan McNeil, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Greenock and Inverclyde; Mr. Duncan Sager, Clerk of the Select Committees, House of Lords, UK Parliament; and Ms Sharlene Cartwright Robinson MP, Member of the House of Assembly, Turks and Caicos Islands.
Ms. Pamalvon Webster, the Anguillian Opposition Leader, was pleased to welcome especially Ms Cartwright Robinson of TCI whom she described as a “dynamic woman representing the Opposition”, and the two delegates from the British Virgin Islands. She went on: “I want to say to the experts who are going to be sharing with us their experiences and best practices: you are coming from jurisdictions where there has been lot of change; a lot of development, but also a lot of tradition. There is no more opportune time than now to be collaborating with us because we intend to be with you, leading with you and making a difference in the world.”
Ms. Webster took the opportunity to speak in favour of the work of retired High Court Judge, Don Mitchell, who was among the gathering. “I want to recognize him in this setting because, more than anybody else, perhaps in Anguilla, he represents that source of knowledge which we need to transfer effectively and we need to share this with you. He has had a really laudable career as a Justice of Appeal as well. He is a well-recognised historian. He is also a blogger and I think we are really blessed to have him here…”
The Opposition Leader said that a collegiate environment was being shared in Anguilla politically, and otherwise, with some potential positive results “and a different kind of order”. She added: “This is the beginning of a new phase completely, and we are collaborating. I am in Opposition, but I am not opposing for opposing sake. I am making a difference for our people.”
Chief Minister Banks thought that Ms Webster had “set the stage that we hope to build not only in Anguilla, but throughout the Commonwealth.” He stressed that “especially in the Caribbean we have demonstrated that we are a bastion of democracy and we want to continue in that vein.”
About the event, Mr. Banks stated: “This conference is one of the first of its kind that I can remember in my almost thirty-five years in politics. It is a good indication that we are serious about ensuring that Members who offer themselves for political office, or Members who have been appointed to the House of Assembly, understand the awesome responsibility that they have. We need to sit around a conference such as this, and talk about the issues that affect the way that we deliver the governance that we have promised the people we represent. It is very important especially for the first-time members of the House of Assembly to get a feel of what is expected of them.”
The Chief Minister was grateful to those who travelled from the UK, the BVI and the Turks and Caicos to participate in the post-election seminar in Anguilla. He noted that there were a number of items on the agenda of interest to Anguilla. One was constitutional and electoral reform which Anguilla had been struggling with for many years, and a process in which Justice Don Mitchell was a part of – over several administrations – and whose presence at the seminar was most welcome. Another agenda item he referred to was the Public Accounts Committee. He observed that, for years, only lip service was paid to it. In his view, “it is not necessarily for lack of transparency, but mainly for lack of resources on one hand and, on the other hand, the lack of the wherewithal for the House of Assembly to get this done.” He thought these and the other agenda items were important matters for discussion.
The additional topics included: Parliamentary Practice & Procedures; Administration & Parliamentary Business; the Legislative Process – A Comparative Study; Political Parties & Parliaments; Holding the Executive to Account – From Committees to Ministerial Questions; Standards, Privileges, Ethics and Interests; a Brainstorming Session: Engaging with the Public, Media and other stakeholders; Youth Parliamentarians: An Introduction to Parliamentary Practice and Procedure; Effective Debating Skills; the Role of Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and Backbenchers; the Role of the Speaker and Clerk; and a Feedback Session.
