motorcade crowd
It is just days after Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster led his Anguilla Progressive Movement to an impressive victory in the general elections. He has now taken over the leadership of the island from Premier Victor Banks and his Anguilla United Front Government.
The newcomer Government leader, his ministerial colleagues and supporters, climaxed their election victory with a public holiday and a massive motorcade on Wednesday, July 1. The motorcade began at 2 pm at the airport lawn, commonly referred to as “Freedom Park”, and wended its way from west to east, terminating at the Island Harbour Pond fill in Dr. Webster’s District 1 constituency.
It was there that he spoke to The Anguillian newspaper over deafening sounds of voices, music and parting.
The first question to him was about his visit on Tuesday, June 30, to the Governor’s Office – and his telephone conversation there with Baroness Sugg, the newly-appointed Minister for the Overseas Territories who succeeded Lord Ahmad.
APM Chairman, Mr Alkin Rogers and the Bryan Sisters 
“Yes, I spoke with Baroness Sugg, the Minister for the Overseas Territories,” he replied. “She congratulated me on being the elected Premier. We talked about Anguilla during this covid-19 pandemic – in relation to the situation in which we are right now with the finances and with the [2020] budget already done. With tourism being our main industry, it is the understanding that the economy was slowed as a result of covid-19. We talked a little bit about the MOU that was signed by the outgoing Premier, and where the UK Government would provide some budgetary support up to a hundred million dollars. We talked in general about Anguilla’s situation and the relationship between Anguilla and the United Kingdom; a little bit about the Constitution and [agreed] that, at some point, we would meet to go over the other things. But, right now, it was more than ‘a get to know me, and I get to know her’ discussion.”
The Anguillian newspaper asked Dr. Webster what were some of his immediate plans were to begin administering the island.
“The Ministers will be meeting with the Permanent Secretaries to get a basic state of affairs in each department under the ministries,” he responded. “Once we get that information we will then know where we stand. I already know the financial situation because the Governor had me come in, on Tuesday morning, and gave me an idea of where we were in terms of our financial position.
“Among the things we want to certainly get done is to tackle access to healthcare. We feel that is important, and it was the number one issue that Anguillians had prior to the elections. We feel that’s why they elected me, and the Anguilla Progressive Movement, because they want that addressed. They want more access to healthcare and more affordable healthcare.
“The other thing we want to address right away is renewable energy because we feel that can decrease the cost of living – whether by wind, solar or both. It will be something we will want to do with outside investors. We don’t want to sell ANGLEC or the shares in ANGLEC. We feel that ANGLEC is an essential part of Anguilla.
“Another thing we want to tackle is our fishing industry. We want to expand that because we have 200 miles of water, and we want to make sure that we can utilise that in order to have another industry in Anguilla. This is because when tourism is down, as it is right now, and after hurricanes, that we can continue to bring money into Anguilla and have money circulating in the economy.”
Asked how his Government plans to move forward on reopening the tourism industry, Dr. Webster replied:
“This is certainly a good question. We know we have to do a reopening of the country to get the economy jump-started, and that is something that I will be meeting with the Chief Medical Officer, the Ministry of Health, and the Governor’s Office about – and we will come up with a reopening plan. It certainly will have to be phased and the paramount importance has to be the health of our people. But we have to make sure that we can get tourists to come back and for Anguillians abroad to be able to come back. In that way, we can get the economy going again. And, because our hospitality workers have been home now since March, we certainly feel that it is necessary to get the economy going.”
In the final question, The Anguillian newspaper pointed out to Dr. Webster that, at the swearing ceremony and the assignment of responsibilities to Ministers, it was not clear who will be responsible for tourism – and under what portfolio. His explanation was as follows:
“We are still working out the kinks. Since Hadyn has a lot of experience in tourism, when he was Parliamentary Secretary under the past AUM Administration, we feel that he should be involved in tourism. We have Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers who has a lot of international experience. She has been Miss Anguilla and Miss Universe (Great Britain) and we feel that she can contribute to tourism. Quincia Gumbs-Marie, our Parliamentary Secretary, has a lot of experience as she has studied the hospitality industry. But, overall, we will allow Hadyn to be the Minister responsible for tourism. We will have Quincia Gumbs-Marie as his Assistant in addition to her responsibilities as Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Development. We will also have input from Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers who is going to be our Minister of Social Development and Education.”
