The Anguilla Government’s first official press conference for 2019 was held on Tuesday, January 22. Chief Minister Victor Banks told reporters: “2018 was a recovery year and I think we have done exceptionally well – and we are looking forward to the impact of that recovery in 2019.
“I would like to congratulate all those persons who were able to rehabilitate their businesses. We are especially pleased that the tourism plant has been up and running. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of the tourism season in December, we had more rooms available for accommodation purposes than we had before the hurricane. That is a good thing and I am still getting positive reports about the occupancy rates. A number of hotels have reported that they are close to top level occupancy, all the way through until the end of May, and that after May it does not look badly either. We are pleased with that and hope that businesses benefit from the tourist industry – and that the industry is able to realize a significant customer service support as well.”
On governance matters, the Chief Minister announced the appointment of 23-year-old Jose Vanterpool, by Governor Tim Foy, to fill the post as First Nominated Member of the Anguilla House of Assembly, the youngest local parliamentarian on record.
“I take this opportunity to congratulate young Mr. Vanterpool and his family on that achievement,” Mr. Banks stated. “It had to be a great effort on their part, as well as the talents and abilities of Mr. Vanterpool that we should recommend him for that position at such a young age.”(A press release issued by the Chief Minister, to that effect, is published elsewhere in this edition of The Anguillian newspaper.)
On the 2019 Budget, Chief Minister Banks, who is also the Minister of Finance, noted: “The budgeting process is still taking place, and we hope to bring the Budget before the House of Assembly by the middle of February this year. We are hopeful to get it completed by the end of January. The Government has made provision for the delivery of Government’s services by putting in place certain facilities, allowed by the Financial (Administration) Audit Act, so that salaries and expenses will be dealt with – so that the business of Government can run as usual. We have until March 31 before the Budget is in place, but we certainly intend to have that done as quickly as possible.
“Last year was a very successful year for Anguilla especially in terms of our expectations and the estimates that we put together for 2018. We have exceeded those expectations. The revenue performed exceptionally well. As a consequence, instead of a deficit of 24 million, we had a deficit of less than six million – and that deficit was caused, not necessarily by not meeting our commitments, but by also handling a number of other things, over and above the approved Budget, through the Supplementary Budget that was put in place in December.”
On other matters, Mr Banks went on: “There are a number of issues in the public domain which I wish to comment on. The first is that there is a lot of discussion about Government vehicles and the funds that were expended in making sure that Government agencies, companies and ministers had transportation over the period following Hurricane Irma until the present. It is construed, in the public domain, as if it was intentional by Government to find itself in this situation and it has been bandied about – as I understand – that numbers as high as 800,000 dollars were spent on vehicles for Ministers of Government.”
In disputing that figure, he remarked: “Ministers of Government, as part of their compensation package, are entitled to transportation. It is something that has been the case with Ministers in previous Governments. The entire Government fleet of vehicles, with the exception of the Police, is 38. Of those vehicles, seven are in reasonable condition and, as a consequence, after Hurricane Irma with the damage to vehicles, it was important that we allocate those vehicles, in a practical manner, and to ensure that vehicles that are being rented, were especially rented to single users as often as possible. As a result, some vehicles that some Government Ministers would have been using, would have been then transferred to their departments where there are multiple users…”
The Chief Minister added: “There is a lot of mischief abroad regarding this issue of the Government’s rental vehicles. It was a necessary evil, given the needs after Hurricane Irma, given the state of the Government’s fleet of vehicles, and the importance of ensuring that Government carries out its functions.”
Mr. Banks further said: “Another issue is that on Monday we had a public consultation on the Permanent Residency by Investment, and the Tax Residency Programme, at the Teachers’ Resource Centre. The turnout was not very good but certainly a number of interested persons raised questions that will assist us in taking the programme forward effectively.
“We have engaged some experts in the area – a company called ‘Latitude’ as well as the Auton Group. They have been working for Anguilla in fashioning and designing a custom-made programme of what we have to offer. They are doing this without a contracted fee. All the resources that have been expended so far, in making this happen, have come from these groups and they have been very efficient in working with Government to take this forward. I think the consultation was very useful and we had a good response from the audience.”
Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, Minister of Home Affairs, Education, Labour, Immigration and Constitutional Affairs, addressed various matters in her Ministry. She spoke at length on the rebuilding of schools, now a matter of much information and discussion in the public domain – and the efforts of her Ministry in handling the situation.
She was delighted that the Labour Relations Ordinance was now in operation. “As of the 8th of January 2019, it is now in full force and effect,” she stated. “All the provisions within the Act are now applicable to our labour situation here in Anguilla. It took some time. We had consultations on the Labour Relations Act since about 2016, and so it has been a long road.
“I would like to thank the general public for expressing their views and concerns – those persons who were in support as well those who were not in support of certain sections. By and large, it is well recognized that our previous labour laws were insufficient, and so today we have an updated labour law that we will be able to move forward with. The next step is for Ministry and Labour Department officials to go through the labour law, in terms of the existing practices on the island, and where there are sufficient or insufficient [practices], to inform persons.”
The Minister of Health and Social Development, Mr. Evans Rogers, informed media representatives that, as part of improvements at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, a new set of surgical and other equipment would be installed there shortly. He also spoke about the continuing upgrading of the male and female wards and the operation theatres.
Mr. Rogers took the opportunity to thank the Chief Minister “for his leadership before Hurricane Irma, during Hurricane Irma and after Hurricane Irma, for us to be in the position we are today.” He added: “It is not only the Chief Minister, but all of us who spent countless hours trying to keep this island together and moving forward.”
Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Cardigan Connor, said in part: “I would like to start with tourism. The fact that we got out in the market, very early in November, after Hurricane Irma in 2017, to say we were open for business, even though it was limited, we at least had some accommodation available for December 2017. Thanks to ANGLEC and the Ministry of Infrastructure that we had electricity by then.
“As we rebuilt, the focus was on what would happen in the festive season 2018, and we were not disappointed. The official figures are not out as yet, but early reports suggest that there were more private jet planes that came to Anguilla and the majority of them stayed here. In the past it was believed that probably about 30 percent would go to St. Barths – and now the 90 percent that came to Anguilla remained on the island. Even though at times you would count the number of planes on the ground, many of them came and went so the true numbers will come out pretty soon.”
Mr. Connor went on: “I must say that the Tourist Board did a terrific job in the Anguilla Beyond Extraordinary campaign. But of course they could not do it all alone. The private industry, as well as Government, came to the forefront to make sure that our tourism season would be nothing but positive.”
The Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Curtis Richardson, was grateful to a number of persons who worked on the Big Jim building at Blowing Point, now converted into a temporary passenger terminal pending the erection of a new and permanent structure funded under the UK Government grant. He also expressed thanks to the Romney’s family, owners of the Big Jim property, as well as the Connor’s family landowners, for their cooperation and contribution with the port development. He said the British company, WYG, was in process of preparing the final drawings for the new terminal.
Mr. Richardson was also grateful for the new jetty that is to be constructed at Road Bay, funded by the British Government. In addition, he expressed gratitude to Chief Minister Banks and Permanent Secretary, Larry Franklin, for their work and support in moving forward with the airport expansion project.
The Minister stressed that he was fully engaged in ensuring that Anguilla has a dependable system of running water. “We are now in 2019 and, as I have said before, the people of Anguilla must understand that every drop matters,” he said. “This is the campaign that I, as the Minister, am on right now in order to fulfill the mandate of 24/7. Water must run in Anguilla 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with no excuses. I am now on a massive campaign that every drop counts. The 60-40 water loss before I came to office must become a thing of the past.”
Minister Richardson, who also has responsibility for agriculture, took the opportunity to speak about his support for farmers, and promised to assist with irrigating their farms by arranging special water rates for them.
