Anguilla’s Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks, says the island and its people were fortunate to have had a Governor like Mr. Tim Foy in office when Hurricane Irma came in September 2017 – and that the 60 million pounds in UK aid was not a drop in the bucket.
Speaking at the Government’s fourth anniversary public meeting on March 30, Mr. Banks said: “While we in Anguilla were trying to create an atmosphere of calm and demonstrate sound leadership, there were those on the airways criticizing the response of the British Government and other agencies.
“I believe that when it comes to situations like this you must have faith and you must show mutual respect…God blessed us to have, two weeks before the hurricane, …a Governor who understood and appreciated the challenges that we faced. And I believe that that was a part of the plan because there is no way that we would have been able to find the wherewithal to rebuild our schools; rebuild our terminal buildings; get electricity restored from our own resources.
“In the House of Assembly, two days ago [March 27], the Leader of the Opposition said very critically, ‘Oh, the 60 million pounds is a drop in the bucket’. I asked her to apologize to the British Government, and the people of the UK, because that ‘drop in the bucket’ was more than the revenue that we raised in a single year in Anguilla. And it was a drop in the bucket – not of Anguilla’s taxpayers’ money but the taxpayers of the United Kingdom – people who were prepared to be generous and kind to us. They did not have any obligation to be generous and kind.
“Don’t let anybody fool you. The fact that the UK Government is the administering power doesn’t mean that they should take their taxpayers’ money and spend it on Anguilla. We have to pull our own weight so we should be grateful.
“That [the 60 million pounds] came as a result of the leadership role that we all played. I sat in Executive Council and I said to the Governor: ‘I have five things to say to the British Government in connection with what I want for Anguilla in this recovery, and I am not going to change it. It is the tune that I am going to sing from now until I receive the British Government’s support.’ My colleagues are there to bear me out when I said in the Executive Council why it was important that the British Government had to contribute to the recovery of the people of Anguilla.
“I said, No. 1: Anguilla is a small island and when a hurricane hits Anguilla it hits Anguilla. When a hurricane hits the United States it may hit Florida or a part of Florida. But the other 49 states not hit are part of the Federal Government and have the wherewithal to come back, as one people, to assist the Floridians or that part of Florida that was hit. When Anguilla gets hit the only place it can turn to for assistance is outside of Anguilla.
“No. 2, I said as a British territory we cannot go internationally to other countries and seek aid, so all of our aid must come from the United Kingdom, however small it is, or we have to get their permission to get aid. So they have to be the intermediary if we have to get aid from elsewhere.
“No. 3, you just said to us that we are in breach of all our borrowing guidelines so if we are in breach of our borrowing guidelines, obviously, you cannot expect us to do any further borrowing to support ourselves. So therefore any assistance coming to the Government of Anguilla must be grant money.
“No. 4, I said Anguilla is in a serious state of devastation and we need a number of critical infrastructure projects …so we don’t want any small money. We want long term recovery assistance that can help us to be more resilient in the event of future hurricanes. I said that because of the destruction of the airport in St. Maarten we are faced with a situation where we can’t get flights coming to Anguilla to support our tourist industry even if we are able to build back. As a consequence you need to look very carefully and seriously at the expansion of our airport facilities in Anguilla.
“Finally, I said that the people of Anguilla will have to go through a transition period as a consequence even after that assistance comes to us. We also require budgetary support; and we will not be in a position to pay any increased taxes.”
Mr. Banks further stated: “I want to say to you, the people of Anguilla, that we never changed that tune. I am thankful to the entire region, and all the regional and international organizations, the Overseas Territories and the OECS which helped us; the UK Government and most of all our investors who had confidence and steered the course; the Anguilla Diaspora in the UK and the USA who have been so helpful to us. All of them stuck with us but that mantra [the reliance on the UK for help] is why we are where we are today.”
