Opposition leader and governor exchange letters

Her Excellency Ms Christina Scott
Governor of Anguilla
Governor’s Office
Old Ta, AI-2640
Anguilla

15th January 2016

Dear Governor

Interim Stabilisation Levy (Amendment) Act, 2015 (Bill)
Control of Employment (Amendment) Act 2015 (Bill)
Vehicles and Road Traffic (Amendment) Act 2015 (Bill)
Property Tax Act 2015 (Bill)

Thank you for your letter of 8th January 2016.

I am grateful to you for your clear explanation of your interpretation of the relevant provisions of the constitution.
While your interpretation is prima facie persuasive, I must respectfully disagree with it, not least because it would lead to the clearly untenable conclusion that the provisions in question of section 55 of the Constitution are superfluous.
Put another way, if, as you rightly contend, the Governor is, except in the circumstances set out in section 28(2), obliged to “act in accordance with the advice of the Council” (section 28(1 ), which, as you say “should not ….. be taken to imply that the governor personally supports every decision that flows from any Executive council discussion”, it is

• EITHER necessary, in order to support your interpretation of section 55, to equate the fact that the Governor’s obligation to act in accordance with the advice of Executive Council means that the Governor’s enforced acquiescence is tantamount to a “recommendation” of the Governor within the meaning of section 55(2)
• OR it is necessary to treat the expression “recommendation of the Governor” as having a quite distinct and far more natural meaning, namely that the Governor must expressly recommend the Assembly to proceed upon any Bill described in section 55(2)(a).

If you adopt the former interpretation, as your letter argues, I submit that section 55(2) can and will always be circumvented by the Executive until challenged through the Courts. That can hardly amount to a purposeful interpretation of the draftsman’s and legislature’s intent, being, as it would be, an insupportable circumvention of the protection intended to be afforded by the Constitution. I submit that it is unsustainable under normal rules of construction.
If you adopt the second interpretation, the section makes sense and was clearly not followed in relation to the Bills in question.
But whether or not my interpretation is right, as I strongly maintain that it is, or your interpretation is right, I believe it is an implicit requirement of section 55 of the Constitution that in order for the Assembly to “proceed upon” a bill for increasing taxation, not only should the recommendation of the Governor have been given (as I maintain it had not been), but it should be seen by all members of the Assembly to have been given. Not, of course, being a member of Executive Council and not having been provided with a copy of the relevant minutes, it is not the case, as you suggest in your letter you are satisfied, that “an appropriate minute will have been issued in [your] name”. No minute whatsoever was issued or produced, let alone one issued in your name “recommending that the Bills be introduced into the House”.
Indeed the manner in which my objections were disregarded, both by the Speaker and by the Chief Minister, was not merely discourteous but an affront to democratic government.
It follows from what I have said above that I reserve all my rights in connection with the purported passage of these Bills, which I do not regard as validly considered or passed in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
I am copying this letter not only to the previous recipients of my letter dated 1st January 2016, but also to the Speaker, the Deputy Governor, the Attorney General and all other members of the Assembly.

Yours sincerely,
Palmavon Webster
Leader of the Opposition

cc:
Steve Mccready Esq., Chief of Staff Governor’s Office.
James Duddridge Esq., MP. Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office.
Andrew Rosindell Esq., MP., Chairman, United Kingdom Overseas
Territories All-Party Parliamentary Group
Ms. Fiona Mactaggart MP., Vice Chair, United Kingdom Overseas
Territories All Party Parliamentary Group
Michael Potter Esq., Assistant Head of Caribbean and Bermuda Section,
Overseas Territories Directorate, Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Don Mitchell Esq., QC,
Chairman, Anguilla Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee
The Honourable Victor F Banks, Chief Minister
The Honourable Cora Richardson-Hodge
The Honourable Evans McNiel Rogers
The Honourable Evalie A Bradley
The Honourable Curtis Richardson The Honourable Cardigan Connor The Honourable Paul Harrigan
The Honourable Terry Harrigan
The Honourable Deputy Governor MR Stanley E. Reid The Honourable Attorney General, Mr Rupert T.
Jones The Honourable Speaker, Mr Leroy C. Rogers