Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster, Leader of the Anguilla Progressive Movement (APM), was among the Anguilla Negotiating Team on the constitutional talks last week. He was asked by The Anguillian newspaper what were his thoughts about the negotiations and in particular what ‘jumped out at him’.
“I am part of the Anguilla Negotiating Team and what jumped at me is that we are using the report from the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee that was chaired by Mr. Don Mitchell,” he stated. “ I think that was a good basis for constitutional reform because it was the people’s voice.”
“What I was concerned about was that we didn’t deal with it before as a whole, and that certain parts of it were taken out by an Order in Council and passed rather than as a whole. That was one concern I had, but this year it was good to see that the UK Negotiating Team was willing to work with us in a manner that we were able to talk about the things that we had common agreement on. There are some concerns we have that we could not come to an agreement on, and those things we, as the Anguilla Negotiating Team, will have to work out what our position is. The UK Team can then work out their position, and we can hopefully come to some agreement that is in the best interest of the people of Anguilla.”
Questioned as to what he saw as some of his concerns, Dr. Webster replied:
“Among them were those human rights that the UK Team said the European Convention on Human Rights felt were some of the things in our old Constitution – and in this one that were not being addressed. This especially relates to the one about sexual orientation. I know that caused a big ruckus at the town hall meeting. We still feel that marriage, culturally in Anguilla, should be between a man and a woman or persons of opposite sex because religiously, spiritually and culturally that is what our society is based on. So that was a major concern.
“There were some other things, in terms of the powers of the Governor, that we feel should have more autonomy for us here in Anguilla as regards our elected representatives. The UK Team felt that, given the arrangement that we have, where Anguilla is an Overseas Territory, administered by the British, that the Governor should retain the powers that he or she has. I think that those are some of the things that we will have to work out because the Constitution governs the people of Anguilla, and I think that the people, through their elected representatives, should have more say on.”
The APM Leader went on: “The other things we were concerned about were the commissions that were left out of the Order in Council where we had the piece-meal parts of the Constitution that were passed. We feel that the Integrity Commissions, and the other commissions pertaining to police complaints, the public service and public campaign financing, are things that are governed by the Constitution so that we can ensure integrity, and that there are no biases in that regard.”
Dr. Webster was asked how he saw the Anguilla Constitution developing going forward.
“What I anticipate will happen is that the parts of the Constitution that were agreed upon by the UK Negotiating Team and the Anguilla Negotiating Team will be the foundation of the Constitution,” he said. “We will get a draft that will be sent back by the British and the concerns that we did not come to consensus on in the Anguilla Negotiating Team – that we will get together to discuss and we hope that this can happen. But certainly we don’t want to rush it.
“I think that, given that we are in an election phase, this has to be handled after the elections. That would give a chance for the new administration, whoever is elected to represent the people, to be able to do the negotiating. I think the team that we have right now is a good team that can get together and flush out any issues that we have. But I want it to happen after the next election just because we don’t want a distraction, right now, causing us to make decisions on the Constitution that later on might not be in the best interest of the people.”
