Minister of Infrastructure in Anguilla, Mr. Curtis Richardson, has publicly regretted the tape recorded statements he purportedly made during one of his unguarded moments which went viral on social media and other forms of communication recently.
The Minister was called to account by Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks, near the end of the Government’s press conference on Tuesday, February 14. Mr. Banks, who also cautioned Mr. Richardson about being careful what he says in public, was referring to a question to the Minister from one of the media representatives.
The Chief Minister, who at the time of the circulation of the tape was in London at the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council conference on Brexit, said: “In my absence [from Anguilla], I heard that persons were calling on me to fire the Minister. I want to say a number of things: First of all, as Ministers of Government, we must be aware of the fact that we are Ministers of Government 24 hours a day. Even though it is reasonable at times that we will have a light moment and may say things, we also have to be cognisant of the fact that there are certain persons within the community who are just standing and waiting to take advantage of that situation – that, when you speak, to record it and put it in ways that fulfil their ill-intentions whatever those intentions are.
“We therefore have to be increasingly careful. Of course, Mr. Curtis Richardson is a young Minister and he has a particular style. As individuals, we all are different but I have warned Mr. Richardson, and I have not warned him only to his face, but I have warned him in public that you have to be careful because he is somebody who is very funny/comedic. He is short tempered; he says things from time to time which you definitely do not want to have said, and certainly he should not say things about his colleagues in public situations like that because they could be misconstrued or they could be put to another reason.”
Mr. Banks continued: “I think the Minister should be warned that these things could have a dangerous effect. The other part of that issue is the fact that there are people within the community who have ill intentions, and are prepared to use every means of trying to destroy other persons for whatever reasons there may be. I think the social media has great value to contribute towards the dissemination of information to ensure that messages get out there of a critical nature that would be useful to society. But it can also impact the very negative in the way it deals with issues. It is really unfair that a number of persons should so callously use the media to destroy, and impact, not only the person who made the statements, but other persons associated with that person – whether his family, his colleagues or whatever.
“I am reaching out to the Minister to be very careful. I am always circumspect of what I say, and where, but that is a part of my nature. I have also grown to become aware of the fact that whenever you make a statement, whether you make it in the presence of one person, or two, once you make it outside of yourself, you can rest assured that there is a possibility that that statement can go elsewhere.
“First and foremost, I think we have got to be careful about the kind of statements you make about your colleagues to persons you know obviously don’t support you, and want to see the relationship between you and your colleagues destroyed. At the end of the day, whatever Mr. Richardson said, he would have said it for one reason or the other. But he has made statements of that nature to me in jest. I haven’t taken it and carried it anywhere else, and the tape that has been circulated has no context where the other person who had been involved in that discourse…had to say what was not said. It was manipulated in such a way that it could have that effect. I blame the Minister for allowing himself to be caught up in that trap and I am sure that he would have learned a lesson; but certainly, I think that this is something that can happen to any of us once social media is around and people are in a position to do what they have done.
“I would ask the Minister to make a couple of comments in addition to what he said, so that we could know exactly how he feels about this; because even through politically in his district there are some people who are strongly supportive of the way that this was done from the negative standpoint, there are also people who have been affected; and I think that somewhere along the line I am sure that he is concerned about that as well.”
Mr. Richardson replied as follows: “I want to thank the Chief Minister. Basically, what I would like to say, in addition to what I said before, is that in such a hostile environment I want to express my deep regret for the disappointments and frustrations that the published recordings have caused some Anguillians; some people of St. Maarten and several persons throughout the world. I also regret any distractions the AUF team, and the AUF Government, have had to deal with as an unnecessary addition to the already overloaded challenges in a time when the focus should be moving the country ahead.
“I am in particular grateful that the Almighty God, in whom I trust, has granted me much grace and wisdom throughout this ordeal, and it is my intention to serve my country with all that I am.
“Thank you all very much. Curtis Love.”
Earlier, Mr. Richardson, replying to the media representative’s question, said in part: “Basically, the tape is just what some people would term as “locker room chatter – just on the street talking with people.
“One of the most detrimental aspects of the tape is that the conversation that I was having lasted for some forty minutes. The tape only accounts for about three minutes of that conversation, so obviously you are coming into a conversation in pieces that does not really account for what the general discourse was for that forty minutes. I am pretty much sure that all of the persons who were present knew that there was no such conversation or story to be told about me being involved in such matters, but that is the way the tape came across.”
