‘Change can’t wait’ is the slogan that saw the Anguilla Progressive Movement (APM) sail to a resounding victory at the Polls on 29th June, 2020. It follows, therefore, that the electorate should expect change. Is this expectation being realised?
According to the Honourable Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, in her recent evaluation of the APM’s first year in office, the APM has failed to deliver on many of its promises of change. But are there pockets of change seeking to manifest themselves – and are they to be welcomed?
The Honourable Minister of Social Development and Education, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, has shown an inclination to make a change in relation to the appointment of persons to government related boards. While the inclination is apparent – the methodology being used, and the apparent silo-like approach, raise questions.
It is understood that generally, ministers, acting in consultation with their permanent secretaries, identify individuals considered suitable to serve on the board under consideration. Since assuming responsibility for Social Development and Education, when appointments to boards under her remit have become necessary, the Honourable Minister Kentish-Rogers has requested persons to submit an expression of interest, if interested in serving on the relevant board. For Anguilla, this is somewhat of an unorthodox step, which one anticipates is intended to ensure equality of opportunity and an opportunity to ensure board appointees are genuinely interested in serving and properly qualified to serve. One also assumes that this new process is intended to dispel the long held belief that nepotism and cronyism are rampant in respect of the appointments to boards by politicians.
While this perceived noble intent must be admired, it is unlikely to be achieved as currently being rolled out. So far, the Minister has called for expressions of interest in relation to appointments to the Social Protection Board, the Child Justice Board and, most recently, the Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School (ALHCS) Board of Governors. In each request, for expressions of interest, persons have been advised of the requirements to serve, the stipend offered and to whom they must submit their expressions of interest. It has not escaped notice that there is no indication of how successful appointees will be selected, and in each instance interested persons are required to communicate their interest directly to the Minister, via her email address. There is no requirement to send expressions of interest to her permanent secretary or to the Ministry’s email address.
The cynics among us might question this apparently noble intent, and suggest that while giving the appearance of greater integrity in the appointment of boards, it is merely an illusion, as what will stop the Minister from extending personal invitations to persons she wishes to appoint, and appointing them, after receipt of their requested expressions of interest. I am of the belief that the Minister needs to go a step further and consider establishing a selection structure that can withstand careful scrutiny.
The Minister’s apparent noble gesture would also have greater credibility if it was understood to be a policy change to be reflected across the whole of government. This does not appear to be the case. In fact, the apparent policy change appears to be a work in progress, even within the mind of Minister Kentish-Rogers. This is seen in the recent revision of the call for expressions of interest to serve on the ALHCS Board of Governors. The previous indication of a stipend for members has been removed – and interested persons are now expected to offer their services pro bono due to the severe budgetary constraints that are affecting the Government and the Ministry of Education. The sceptics among us will, in the face of contrary actions by Government, question whether this is indeed necessitated by budgetary constraints or is simply a devaluing of Education.
Is Minister Kentish–Rogers seeking to effect meaningful change or is she simply making a grand gesture? If the Minister’s sincere desire is to effect meaningful change she would do well to remember that – good ideas if poorly implemented will not bring about meaningful change.
