5th December, 2019
The Honourable Member for Island Harbour
Leader of the Opposition
The Anguilla House of Assembly
The Valley
Anguilla
Dear Honourable Member,
I acknowledge receipt of your open letter.
Your statement that the Clerk, other Members of the Assembly and I were complicit in arranging meetings of the Assembly with full knowledge of your absence is misleading. Your assertion ignores the context within which the meetings were planned.
In the absence of set dates, it has been the practice of this Assembly to seek to ensure that you and other key members are present when the Assembly sits. Initial correspondence would have been forwarded on the 21st November proposing a set of dates that took into consideration your travel to London to attend the UK Overseas Territories Forum on Public Financial Oversight between the 7-12 December; the desire of some members to travel for the holidays and the availability of meeting space.
The initial dates proposed would have been the 5th, 6th, 1th, and 20th December. “Neither I nor the Clerk of the Assembly would have had any knowledge of your travel to St. Kitts to attend the stated event until your assistant indicated this on the 25th of November.”
Indications would have been received from the Ministry of Finance that there was some critical pieces of legislation, some of which were time sensitive, which needed to be addressed by the Assembly. These included the Supplementary Appropriations Bill and the renewal of the Interim Stabilisation Levy. This information would have been forwarded to you and other Members. Additionally, there were various reports of the Public Accounts Committee, the progression of the Anguillian Status Bill, among other things that were outstanding. The Minister of Home Affairs subsequently indicated on December 3rd, that she would move the progression of the Anguilla Status Bill to the New Year, so as to ensure that you were present for the debate; this information was also conveyed to you.
The dates that you forwarded indicating your availability, the 16th and 17th December, after discussion with the Ministry of Finance was deemed to be too late in the year. This was in consideration of the time sensitive nature of the Bills, in particular the Supplementary Appropriations Bill. The Object of this Bill being “to authorise supplementary expenditure from the Consolidated Fund of Anguilla in excess of sums appropriated for the services of the Government of Anguilla for the 2019 financial year by the Appropriation (2019) Act, No. 10/2019”.
The current set of dates for the Assembly to meet, the 9th , 1oth and 13th December were circulated on the 28th November after no indication was received from you that you were prepared to change your travel arrangements or that you would have been otherwise available.
It is unfortunate that you cannot, or that you are not prepared to change your travel arrangements. I am quite certain that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association would be more than understanding of your commitments at home and would be prepared to waive any liability incurred by your commitment to attend the conference. Furthermore any liability incurred by your non-attendance is not a personal one on your part, but would be incurred by the Anguilla House of Assembly, as you are attending on behalf of a Committee of the Assembly and was nominated by the Assembly to do so.
My duty as Speaker is to ensure that the Business of the House can be conducted as efficiently as possible and within the rules set by this Assembly; that the majority of the Assembly is allowed to govern and that of course the opposition is heard. Your duty as you have stated in your correspondence is, “to attend sittings of the House of Assembly to ask questions and debate pieces of legislation that are tabled, in the interests of the people of Anguilla.” This cannot be done if you are not present. I have always made every attempt to ensure that as the Leader of the Opposition you are present and you must do the same.
I have considered your correspondence and the context within which it was written. The Assembly will meet on the 9th, 10th and 13th December. The nature of the Business at hand demands it. The business of the people cannot be thwarted by the absence of any member of the Assembly so long as there is a quorum.
Regards,
Terry Harrigan
Speaker of Anguilla House of Assembly
