With a general election coming up in Anguilla next year, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry is embarking on a series of interviews with leaders of political parties and independent candidates. The aim is to focus attention on various issues of national interest, to both the business community and the wider public, which may not necessarily be expounded on the political rostrum.
“We at the Chamber have heard from our membership, and other members of the general public, that, thus far, there have been no real substantive issues discussed in the series of [political] meetings that are being held,” President of the Chamber, Mr Keithley Lake, told reporters. “We have taken it upon ourselves to seek to address that concern and we are going to be holding a series of interviews beginning on October 3, 2014 through November 7. Every Friday morning the Chamber has a programme called What’s On Today and it is on Radio Anguilla from 11 am to 12 noon. We are going to be dedicating the next five weeks to hosting the series of interviews with the various candidates.”
Mr Lake, who was speaking at a press conference on Thursday, September 25, continued: “On October 3, we will be having Mr Sutcliffe Hodge [Leader of the Dove Party]; October 17, Mr Victor Banks [Leader of the Anguilla United Party]; October 24, Ms Palmavon Webster [Independent Candidate]; October 31, Mr Edison Baird [Independent Candidate]; and November 7, we will have the Hon Hubert Hughes [of the Anguilla United Movement]. These individuals will be questioned by a panel of three persons. We will try to reach out to different members of the community whom we think can bring real value to these interviews, so it will not only be from the Chamber’s prospective but that of the broader community. There will be a moderator for these programmes so that things can move along in an orderly fashion.
“The format for the programme will be as follows: we will have our opening theme; then the moderator will introduce the guests; we will ask the guests to give a brief opening statement not to last more than three minutes; then we will have a forty-five question/answer period to be managed by the moderator. At the end of the question and answer session, the guests will have an opportunity to do a two-minute closing. The moderator will then wrap up the end of the programme, summarising the various questions. We welcome members of the general public to send us, at our website, questions that they think are of importance to them.”
Mr Lake stated that from the Chamber’s perspective, some of the key areas of the interviews, to be brought to the fore, would include the economic wellbeing of its membership and the island on a whole; taxation; education and health; infrastructure development; and seaport and airport improvements. He noted that with tourism being Anguilla’s major industry there was a need to provide greater access to the island for visitors so that the tourism product could be improved.
The President of the Chamber said that the political candidates were now fully in agreement with the interviews. In addition to the radio programmes, the Chamber is planning to have two debates during the final few weeks of the election campaign. “The debates will be held at a location that would be akin to a town hall meeting,” he explained. “There will be a mix of questioners, and the general public who would be afforded an opportunity to have questions given to the moderator for any of the participants. We are looking at the CCN model in terms of how we will come up with that.”
The main moderator will be Mr Carlton Pickering, Acting Executive Director of the Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and, in one case, Mr Keithstone Greaves of Radio Anguilla. The panellists over the five-week period will be Mr Keithley Lake, Mrs Felicia Hill, Mr Andre Samuels, Mr Delroy Lake, Mr Frankie Hughes, Mr Claudel Romney; Mr Kyle Hodge, Mr Frankie Connor, Mr Marcel Fahie, Mr Conrad Hodge, Mr Mark Romney and Mr Daryl Thomson.
Meanwhile, a press release from Mr Carlton Pickering, Acting Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that “the Anguilla business community is rapidly changing into a highly complex and intense business environment.” It added that the Chamber “continues to strive in elevating businesses and business-related opportunities in Anguilla.”
