Two matters dominated the Anguilla United Front Government’s press conference on Tuesday, January 26, shortly after the House of Assembly meeting. One was the State of Education Report 2014 – 2015 which was delivered in the morning in an all-embracing and comprehensive power-point presentation by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Chanelle Petty Barrett. The second was the delayed 2016 national budget, still awaiting approval by the British Government about which Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Victor Banks, spoke at the afternoon press conference, following his comments on Mrs. Petty Barrett’s delivery of the Education Report.
On the State of Education, the Chief Minister said in part: “We just came back from the Anguilla House of Assembly where we dealt with a number of matters, but I think one of the foremost presentations had to do with the Education Report by the Permanent Secretary of Education, Mrs. Chanelle Petty Barrett, with an introduction by the Minister of Education, Honourable Evans McNiel Rogers who is here with me right now.
“It points to the fact that despite the fact that we are having a number of concerns about our young people, and the state of the social sector, there are a lot of successes that need to be commended in education. There are a lot of initiatives taking place that I think are in the best interest of Anguilla going forward to ensure that our young people are placed in a position of advantage so that they can be competitive with their counterparts in other parts of the region and within Anguilla. Education is important for ensuring that the future of a country is secured. We have always said that money spent on education is money well spent because, at the end of the day, if we have educated and qualified people, there are two aspects of society that they can fill. One will be to contribute to our society by participating and using their skills; and [two], by understanding the issues, make for a better community…”
The Chief Minister was followed by Minister of Education and Social Development, Mr. Rogers, who said: “There was a presentation for the very first time in the House of Assembly by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Chanelle Petty Barrett, with respect to the State of Education and the Report on Education for 2014 – 2015.
“There is no question that education is one of the cornerstones of a very productive and sustainable society. While we still have a lot of challenges, a lot of issues to address, too often we tend to highlight the negatives and downplay the positives. As a country moving forward, we will highlight all the positives in the education system and throughout Anguilla – and we will make it our priority to address some of the negatives and correct them.”
The Minister earlier made a number of other pertinent points, particularly in his introductory remarks in the House of Assembly (with some repetition at the press conference). These are reflected in the Education Column in this issue of The Anguillian.
It was also at the press conference that Chief Minister and Minister of Finance, Mr. Banks, made reference to the 2016 budget which has been delayed by the British Government and which is a matter of much concern in Anguilla.
“The budget has not yet been assented to [but] we have received assurances that it will be done in the next two weeks,” he informed the media. “That is what we have been told. I am concerned that if it continues to linger…it gives certain persons the opportunity to speculate and make all kinds of statements which would suggest that they are happy with the situation as it is – not for the good of Anguilla but because of their interest that this Government should fail. That is not good enough in my estimation and I think we all should be concerned that this process is lingering.
“As I have said, on a number of occasions, there is absolutely no reason why the budget should not be passed. We did everything that was needed to be done to ensure that we have a balanced budget in 2016 and we have put measures in place to ensure that happens. We believe that we should not be linking things together especially when it comes to the effective management of Anguilla. There are, of course, some provisions that we can spend required money to ensure that salaries of persons are met and certain services are delivered.”
Mr. Banks added that the delay in the approval of the budget had caused an unnecessary cloud of uncertainty in the community despite the real situation whereby the Government “had done everything we can do so that, at the end of the day, there will be no suggestions by the British Government that we should really change anything in terms of our budgetary expense.”
