The old East End School compound was the venue of a well-attended public meeting on Saturday night, May 11, by the Anguilla United Front Government. The event involved a combination of speakers mainly from Districts 1 and 2.
They were: Mr. Othlyn Vanterpool, the party’s former District 1 candidate who will be contesting the first-time at-large elections in 2020; the present and newly-announced candidate replacing him in District 1, Mr. Orris Smith; and the AUF’s Elected Representative for District 2, Deputy Leader and its 2020 candidate, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge.
The meeting was chaired by party’s colleague and Elected Representative for District 3, Mr. Evans Rogers, who gave opportunities to Mr. Vanterpool and Mr. Smith to be the first speakers. (A summary of their addresses is printed elsewhere on this page.)
In her address, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, Minister of Home Affairs, spent much time speaking on her Ministry’s accomplishments in education including the current rebuilding of schools following Hurricane Irma; labour matters including the new Labour Relations Bill and its benefits to private sector employees in particular; and constitutional and electoral reform for which she also has responsibility.
She was pleased to report that, under her watch, there has now been significant advancement on the Anguilla Constitution. She pointed out that it was the oldest constitution in the British Overseas Territories but was now being modernised after a number of failed attempts by previous Anguilla Governments.
“In 2015, when I was elected, I made a decision that we would in fact make effective constitutional amendments during my five-year term,” she told her listeners. “I quickly went about and established a Constitutional and Electoral Committee, headed by the Honourable Justice Don Mitchell, and that Committee worked hard. That Committee had the opportunity to comprise all the political parties – all the parties that had an interest in being involved in the constitutional amendments. For two years they worked and presented a draft constitution in 2017. That constitution was based on consultations with people throughout Anguilla during that two-year process; and the hard work the Committee did is commendable – and I want to thank them for what they have done for us here in Anguilla.”
After speaking about the Committee’s submission of its Constitutional Report to Executive Council, and certain delays in 2018, Minister Richardson-Hodge continued: “Throughout all the Constitutional Reform Committees, over the years, there were two main things that were consistent and what the people wanted. One, they wanted at-large/island-wide voting so that they could have representatives from across the island; and two, they wanted for their grandchildren to be recognised as Anguillians.”
She expressed delight that both of these matters were addressed by the first portion of the Constitution now approved by the UK Government. She stated that the Draft Order in Council, to that effect, was signed and became effective on May 7, 2019. In addition to recognising grandchildren as Anguillians, the Order, among other matters, increases the number of Ministers of Government to five; and changes the title of Chief Minister to Premier as is the case in the other British Overseas Territories.
Responding to critics about the change of title for the Anguillian leader, currently Mr. Victor Banks, Minister Richardson-Hodge commented: “Every other British Overseas Territory refers to their leader of Government Business as Premier except in Anguilla where we refer to our Leader of Government Business as Chief Minister – as if he is the head of a tribe. We have changed it so that now he is a Premier. He retains the same duties, the same obligations as before; his pay does not increase. It is simply a name change. I cannot understand why this should be an issue for anyone.
“The constitutional amendment establishes a limit of two terms for the Premier. It establishes a procedure in the event the Premier is incapable of continuing in office due to illness or death. It removes the disqualification of Ministers of Religion and persons of dual nationality to seek elected membership.
“When I say dual nationality, I am not referring to persons like me who was born outside Anguilla but to Anguillian parents so I am an Anguillian. It is referring to Anguillians born in Anguilla and would have travelled overseas – the US, Canada, UK etc – and obtained citizenship of another country. Under our previous constitution, if you were living in the US and obtained US citizenship, you could not run [for elected office] without giving up those rights as a US citizen. Now, this amendment to our constitution allows persons…to retain their US citizenship and to come back and run in Anguilla.”
The Minister stated that the rest of the draft Anguilla Constitution, in terms of the future direction of the island, would be taken forward later this year. “We have met as a whole House and the next step is to take it forward to the public for discussions,” she added. “After that, we will engage in discussions with the UK so that by the end of 2019 we ought to have the full revised constitution. But the reason we wanted to fast-track the two aspects – in particular the grandchildren and the at-large voting – was because the people of Anguilla had been crying out so long for these changes. And we just simply could not continue without putting them in effect.”
Meanwhile, while chairing the AUF’s public meeting, Mr. Evans Rogers, the Minister of Health, took the opportunity to speak about the Healthcare Foundation that has been established to obtain donations for the improvement of health services in Anguilla. “I spoke on several occasions about the Anguilla Healthcare Foundation Incorporated – a non-profit organisation, a 501C3 facility – and some of those in opposition thought that it was a ‘pie in the sky’. But I am here to announce that this facility has been approved by the Federal Government of the United States.”
He called on the Leader of the Anguilla United Movement, Dr. Lorenzo Webster, whom he described as his “classmate and buddy”, who is also involved in improving the quality of healthcare in Anguilla, to continue to join in that effort regardless of his political win or lose position on the island. Mr. Rogers promised that a copy of the US-approved document would be hand-delivered to Dr. Webster so that he could influience some of the medical specialists he works with and brings to Anguilla to contribute to the Healthcare Foundation.
Mr. Rogers read the opening paragraph of the letter, dated April 12, 2019, about the US Federal Government’s approval of the Anguilla Healthcare Foundation which will solicit and receive funds from the United States. It stated as follows:
“We are pleased to tell you that we determined your exempt from Federal Income Tax under the Internal Revenue Code, Section 501C3. Donors can deduct contributions they have made and under the RIC section 170. You are also qualified to receive tax deductable requests, transfers and gifts under Sections 2050, 2106 or 2502. This letter helps resolve questions on your exempt status. Please keep it for your records.”
Mr. Rogers, an enthusiastic fund-raiser for state-of the-art health services equipment, said he was very happy about the positive comments he was receiving about healthcare in Anguilla. He added that “politics is about representing the people.”
