“Condemn me. It is of no importance. History will absolve me”: Fidel Castro 1953
As regards Anguilla and our future relationship with the United Kingdom, it is important that British Foreign Office Minister Lord Ahmad and Prime Minister Theresa May get it right now, to avoid potential contingent liability which British taxpayers are unwilling to accept. It is probably also important to Prime Minister May that in the context of a post-Brexit Britain she keeps as many Commonwealth friends as possible, the better to deflect any embarrassing allegations or shame associated with hundreds of years of decadent British colonialism and racism. I expect she realizes now, after Boris Johnson’s public discourse this week, that she has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to emphatically put an end to the discussion that it is Britain’s lack of interest in and neglect of Anguilla that is the root cause of the economic problems we are experiencing. Johnson’s solution is to delink the hurricane relief from other initiatives, to fix the island’s economic troubles, while making impressive strides for Britain on the world stage at the same time.
But history has a long tail and, just like Harold Wilson did not listen to Ronald Webster or make use of the opportunities he had during the Revolution, to make Britain proud, the British voter will triumph. While Prime Minister Harold Wilson attracted the derision of all, he paid the price at the polls. The current standoff may yet again have repercussions for the future leadership, not just in Anguilla but in Great Britain as well.
This is an opportunity for Anguilla to get it right as well and to gracefully step into a status equivalent to that of Bermuda, with full autonomy for local law and administration. Much will depend on the calibre and commitment of our local governors.
Anguillians know only too well that governors come and go, with little or no impact on our island or our way of life. It is true that the first woman governor, Christina Scott, will be remembered and admired by some for opening up Government House to the People, and remarkably so to young women aspiring to influential roles in Anguilla.
She did nothing, though, to reverse the crime and sexual violence, or to address the challenges of the mentally ill, still housed in our prison. It is also true that Governor Scott’s decision making in Anguilla’s banking crisis will be reviewed in the coming years. Her engagement with the public service, and its redesign, will be considered as well. History will tell if she had an impact and, if she did, whether it was for the better.
A middle aged Anguillian man, impressed by Governor Foy’s kind demeanour and his religious fervor exhibited at his swearing in, remarked that the Governor could make a big difference if he chose to. He clearly connected with Anguillians and professed to feel their pain. He trusted the Governor and I encouraged him to share with the Governor his worries about ministers and senior civil servants accepting bribes. The Anguillian agreed he would set up an appointment to meet Governor Foy in his office.
Weeks later, when I enquired what his reception with the Governor had been, he confessed he had not progressed his plan. Apparently, within minutes of confiding in me, his hope was dashed when he saw the Governor encircled by the Chief Minister’s embrace. The professed brotherly love that was apparent eroded all his confidence and trust in our Governor to do the right thing. The action was so innocent, but profoundly symbolic in its consequence. Opportunity spent by yet another Governor, for lack of connection and understanding.
I believe our Governor Foy is honest and well intentioned, though he forms part of the very large Anguilla delegation at the Commonwealth Games. He and our Chief Minister are both notably absent from the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference convened in London this week. That is where Lord Ahmad and Theresa May are and, even though the hurricane season starts in weeks, Anguilla is probably only an aside conversation yet again. Bermuda’s Governor is likely there, and Theresa May may well ask to be reminded of the promises she made to Anguilla’s Chief minister at the urging of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and then Minister for International Development Priti Patel, last September. Indeed it is unlikely that Anguilla will be in any way significant to Prime Minister’s May’s agenda this week.
However, perhaps it will, and perhaps Boris Johnson will appear as the knight in shining armour, all on account of his position on Anguilla, Brexit and the Overseas Territories. He certainly is interested in the current opportunity to influence Anguilla’s future. His grand entrance in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma was fleeting but impactful. His greatness was only dulled by Macron’s presence in St. Martin and the international acclaim France was attracting ahead of the United Kingdom. His current opportunity, though, and Anguilla’s opportunity to extricate itself from the current mess without costing us an arm and a leg, lies with Boris Johnson’s Select Committee and its now decade old, but unrealised, recommendations for Anguilla.
The Seventh Report of the UK Parliament’s foreign Affairs Committee was ordered to be published on 18th June 2008: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200708/cmselect/cmfaff/147/14706.htm#a18
At paragraph 198 it was stated: 198. While the most serious allegations of corruption we received originated from the Turks and Caicos Islands, we were also sent submissions expressing concerns from Anguilla, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Montserrat, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. These concerns varied in gravity. We consider the issues raised in each in turn below, making individual recommendations about Anguilla and Bermuda and then considering how levels of accountability and transparency across Overseas Territories could be improved.
Note that this was during the AUF government of Osbourne Fleming, in which our present Chief Minister was Minister of Finance.
At paragraph 203 of the Report, the Committee made the following recommendation: 203. We recommend that the Government should encourage the Anguillan government to establish an independent inquiry into allegations that Anguillan ministers accepted bribes from developers in the Territory. We also recommend that the Government should urge the Anguillan government to use the opportunity of constitutional review to introduce stronger anti-corruption measures in the Territory.
It is incomprehensible to me why the British Government, and by extension its representatives in Anguilla – the successive Governors – have stood idly by and watched such follies as the so-called “banking resolution” (better described as the “banking fraud”), without stepping in and preventing the rape of Anguilla’s finances, much less standing firm when Anguilla governments have overreached themselves and rewarded themselves for their own incompetence.
The Committee’s concerns stemmed from various sources, including a memorandum which “expressed concern about a general lack of “adequate controls in place designed to ensure good government” in Anguilla. In particular …..
• a lack of proper public consultation and information on government deliberations;
• the fact that Anguilla does not have a Public Accounts Committee; [something that has, of course, now been corrected]
• a lack of a law requiring legislators to declare assets;
• the exemption of Ministers, MPs and Boards of Statutory Commissions from the Public Service Integrity Board;
• the lack of a Boundaries Commission;
• the lack of a Freedom of Information Act, whistleblower act and Ombudsman law;
• the lack of discussion in House of Assembly before crown lands disposed of;
• and the lack of a requirement for environmental impact assessments, and the failure to make them publicly available when they were carried out.
It added that the memorandum “argued that the failure to ensure such anti-corruption measures were introduced might leave the UK “with blood on its hands” if at some point in the future rule of law broke down as a result.”
It further added that “Governors of Anguilla had “been known to permit and endorse actions […] publicly known or recognised to be improper”. In particular …. that Governors had not condemned members of government holding commercial positions, such as the [then] Chief Minister’s position as Chairman of a leading commercial bank in Anguilla”. The latter reference was, of course, to the Caribbean Commercial Bank (of blessed memory!).
How tragically history repeats itself, and who is responsible? Where was the British government – and by extension its governors – when the 2015 banking crisis was developing and ultimately threw the finances of Anguilla into a tailspin? And where is the British government now? We would like to be told, because although the Chief Minister expressed indignation that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office wanted to impose controls on the disbursement of aid, we can have little hope that he will come clean about his subsequent exchanges or that he will ever come clean about the so-called banking resolution (which is nothing more than a convenient acronym for the “banking screw-up”).
It is instructive to note that although the FCO Report recorded (para 196) that the Committee was “…very concerned by the serious allegations of corruption we have received from the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI).” But it went on to add that “Unlike the Cayman Islands, where the Governor has taken the initiative in investigations, the onus has been placed on local people to substantiate allegations in TCI. This approach is entirely inappropriate given the palpable climate of fear on TCI. In such an environment, people will be afraid to publicly come forward with evidence. We conclude that the UK Government must find a way to assure people that a formal process with safeguards is underway and therefore recommend that it announces a Commission of Inquiry, with full protection for witnesses. The change in Governor occurring in August presents an opportunity to restore trust and we recommend that the Commission of Inquiry should be announced before the new Governor takes up his post.”
I sense that there are many people in Anguilla who, because they have a vested interest, welcome the conspiracy of silence that surrounds the financial shenanigans that have pervaded and destroyed Anguilla’s economy, and which show no signs of abating. But the British Government has the same opportunity now to announce a Commission of Inquiry in Anguilla, without – it is to be hoped – having to suspend the constitution, as it did in Turks in 2009. It should do this sooner than later, before the Anguilla government has the excuse of another hurricane (or some other unforeseen circumstance) to hide behind, in defending its record in terms of financial management.
We already know that Governor Scott did not appoint a Commission, as recommended. We also know that her successor, Governor Foy, has taken up his post without making an announcement. Certainly hurricane Irma would not have been planned for, and the international community will not be impressed by another TCI type take-over in the wake of Hurricane Irma, whatever the facts. Is this the moment for the de-linking of aid and the grant of full autonomy, subject to the findings of a Commission? – a Boris Johnson solution that is in line with the aspirations of all the good people of Anguilla.
