With the new Anguilla Progressive Movement Government less than two months in office, the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the new Minister, Mr. Kenneth Hodge, has resumed local discussions on the island’s new Constitution. It is a follow-up from where the previous Anguilla United Front Government left off – and achieved several important amendments.
The new Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee, which comprises past and present members, held its first meeting on Tuesday, August 18, in the Conference Room at the Ministry of Home Affairs. The revamped Committee was brought up to date by the immediate past Permanent Secretary, Home Affairs, Mrs. Chanelle Petty Barrett, who was intimately involved in the previous discussions and achievements. She is now the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Development and Commerce.
Premier Ellis Webster, at the invitation of Minister Kenneth Hodge, expressed delight with the resumption of the constitutional talks. He looked forward to the time when the Government of Anguilla would be engaged in the final discussions.
Speaking prior to the meeting with The Anguillian newspaper, Minister Kenn Hodge said the constitutional discussions and proposals would not be a rushed undertaking, but a well-studied process with wide public participation.
He told the newspaper: “The constitutional talks were halted [by the previous Government] pending the results of the last general elections. Now that the elections are over, we are starting the negotiation process. We have set a meeting with the Constitutional Committee. There are a few new members and, at this point, I want to thank all the outgoing members for their contributions to this process – and will welcome the new members. We will be making an announcement as to the full composition of the team in the coming days.”
Mr. Hodge continued: “As you know, we had a situation with the composition of the House of Assembly recently when, because of an anomaly in the constitutional revision, we ended up with having to select the Deputy Governor as Deputy Speaker. So that is a matter of priority that we have to fix – and that will be occupying the attention of the Committee moving forward. There were quite a few areas of concern between the Anguilla team and the British team which, as the local team, we have to discuss and make a decision on the way forward.
“We are hoping to re-engage with the British Government sometime early in 2021. We want to use this time to really go through all the various areas, and outstanding discussion points, to ensure that we are in consensus before we do so. There may be a need at some point for us to go back to the general public for further consultation and discussion. We are not going to rush this process. We are going to take our time and get it done properly so that, at the end of the day, we will have a fit-for-purpose Constitution that will serve the people of Anguilla for decades to come.”
The Minister disclosed that Governor Tim Foy, OBE, had indicated that the UK Government was ready to resume the constitutional talks as soon as the Anguilla Government was prepared to do so. “As I said before, we are not in any significant hurry to rush this process through,” he repeated. “We are going to take our time with it. We have a lot of issues affecting us right now: Covid-19 – the financial situation. We have to take everything in context, so to speak. We will begin the process, as I said, and we are going to make it very thorough and detailed moving forward.”
Asked whether it was possible to disclose some, or all, of the members of the Constitutional and Elections Reform Committee, he gave the names of the following persons so far: Premier Dr. Ellis Webster; himself as Minister of Home Affairs; the Minister of Social Development, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers who is also a Barrister-at-Law; the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge; Retired Judge, Mr. Don Mitchell (who headed the previous Committee); the President of the Anguilla Bar Association, Mr. Thomas Astaphan (a previous member); Barrister-at-Law, Mr. Carlyle Rogers; Chairman of the Anguilla Evangelical Association; the Attorney General or his representative; and Dr. Aidan Harrigan, Permanent Secretary, Home Affairs.
