What are we prepared to sacrifice to achieve a more prosperous Anguilla? To me, that is the question that we must ask ourselves as we think about Anguilla’s path to progress. Over the past few months we have heard of a series of initiatives being explored by Government to encourage investment and generate revenue for our almost stagnant economy. We were introduced to the possibility of marina development which caused quite a stir among the environmentally conscious and persons concerned about the disruption of our way of life, and it was received with some skepticism by those who consider it yet another project that will not bear fruit. The idea of cruise tourism has also been bandied about, and also got a mixed reaction from persons many of whom are concerned that it would spoil our peace and tranquility and be a deterrent for those tourists who come to Anguilla for its laid back, uncrowded atmosphere. Then we heard of the concept of a Special Economic Zone and this too got an unenthusiastic reaction, very likely because the concept is not easily understood. What is clear in all of this is that Government is desperately seeking ways to resuscitate the economy.
The most recent venture seems to be the concept of economic residency. While this is certainly not a novel idea for Anguilla, because I recall it being proposed by the former Government, I don’t believe anyone expected that it would really come to fruition. However, we have learned of the public consultation, to be held on August 23rd, to share the proposal with the public which is a clear indication that Government is serious about moving forward on this. Understandably, people will have many questions about this programme. We are not unfamiliar with the many citizenship by investment programmes operating in several other countries in our region. We have heard of the revenue generated by these programmes which has been used to support critical infrastructure and other development projects in these countries. Unfortunately, we have also heard stories of abuse of the citizenship privileges granted to persons who then engage in illegal activity, resulting in countries being blacklisted. Allegations of misappropriation of the funds collected from these programmes have also been reported. Therefore, while there is the potential for significant revenue generation, there are also drawbacks that we must be cognizant of.
I am obviously unable to comment on the Anguilla economic residence programme as I am not yet aware of the details, but I imagine that the question on everyone’s mind would be whether this is a route to citizenship or belonger status? If the answer to this question is in the affirmative, then the next question would be what sort of people is Anguilla seeking to attract and how would this affect the demographic make up of Anguilla in time to come? Also, who should be considered Anguillian? The list can go on. I encourage us, though, to act responsibly and attend the consultation so that we can obtain the information and answers that we need in order to assess for ourselves whether this is a good move for Anguilla.
I would equally encourage our Government to be cautious. Before we go down this road, we must be sure that the potential benefits to the country outweigh any negative impacts that we may experience. It is true that Anguilla is desperately in need of an economic boost, but I do not believe that the saying “desperate times call for desperate measures” is one that should be followed when running a country. Rather, we must in a systematic and level-headed way decide on what sacrifices we are willing to make to take Anguilla out of this abyss. One thing is clear: we have to give up something. The collective issue we must grapple with is, what and how much?
