Two pieces of draft legislation – the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2014 and the Money Services Business (Amendment) Bill, 2014 – were withdrawn from the Anguilla House of Assembly on Friday, July 11. The withdrawal was done at the request of the Leader of Government Business, Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes.
He told the Speaker, Mrs Barbara Webster-Bourne: “Madam Speaker, there are two Bills which are here to have the second and third readings. Madam Speaker, before I decide to give any statement on these Bills, I appeal to you to permit the Leader of the Opposition to give me some direction as to what I should do with respect to these two Bills.”
Mr Evans McNiel Rogers, the Leader of the Opposition, told the Speaker: “In my tenure in this House, thus far, I have never been bombarded with so many calls in connection with these Bills. Madam Speaker, with regards to the amendments to the Elections Bill, there were a number of calls in relation to the insertion of the new section…” He read the proposed amendment which provides that “any voter … who fails or refuses to immerse his digit [in the electoral ink] the Presiding Officer shall destroy the ballot handed to him by the voter and shall make an entry in the poll book setting out the particulars in relation to the destruction of the ballot.”
Mr Rogers suggested that some way should be found to amend the insertion, and to obtain the views of the public as a number of persons were confused about the matter.
“With regards to the Money Services amendment, what I see here seems to be some amendments to the amendment.” He suggested that the amendment bill should also be looked at “and put out there” to the public.
Responding, Chief Minister Hughes said in part: “Madam Speaker, in all my conscience, I have a situation where people’s ballots may be torn up if they don’t understand … why we are trying to impose the condition where people would dip their finger in indelible ink so that they cannot vote more than once…
“I believe I should agree with the Leader of the Opposition that we should put this thing for greater consultation. Although we went to Executive Council some time ago looking at the electoral process in Anguilla, we decided, as a cabinet, that we would do these necessary amendments.
“One must take account of the fact that we have never properly consulted the Opposition…We failed to consult the Opposition in coming forward [with this] although it was a genuine effort to ensure that people don’t take advantage of a bad situation already. I think I would succumb, Madam Speaker, to the sentiments expressed by the Leader of the Opposition in allowing this to go out for greater consultation before coming back to the House of Assembly for a decision.
“In respect to the other motion [bill], Madam Speaker, again the Leader of the Opposition has some doubts about this Money Services (Amendment Bill 2014. He has expressed some doubts and would like to see some more research into the regional legislation and the amendments which followed. And, as he said, here are we suggesting that we are amending amended piece of document already. I think, in the interest of fair play…I think I would allow the Leader of the Opposition to do his research and we open this for more consultation also to the general population.
“For those reasons, I am gracefully begging your indulgence to put these bills out for more consideration by the general population, and particularly by the Opposition.”
Mr Jerome Roberts, Minister of Home Affairs, differed from the position taken by the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Minister. He told the Speaker that the Money Services (Amendment) Bill had already been gazetted for public information, and criticised the Opposition “for waiting until today to come to this Honourable House to ask for the Bills to be deferred.” He suggested that the Opposition should have held a public meeting about the Bills. Further, he stated that “there was an open door policy within this administration that if there is anything that the Opposition wants, they can get because we speak about transparency and openness.” He also said the Deputy Governor had issued a press release about the Elections (Amendment) Bill and that there were other forums in which the issues could have been discussed.
Mr Roberts acknowledged that the Chief Minister had afforded the Leader of the Opposition a say as it relates to his position on these amendments. “I respect his [the Chief Minister’s] position,” Roberts said, repeating that it was an issue which the Opposition could have taken to the present political campaign.
Minister Roberts, who was obviously incensed by the deferral of the amendment bills, left the House while Opposition Member, Edison Baird, was objecting to the two pieces of draft legislation. He later returned for the continuation of the meeting.
