Anguilla’s Governor, His Excellency, Mr. Tim (Timothy) Foy, OBE, believes that this far-flung tiny British Overseas Territory of some 14,000 inhabitants, is the best place he wishes to be serving in at present. He has a declared caring love for the island and its people and relishes the fact that he is held in high esteem by all and sundry. He travels across Anguilla with ease and confidence selling the idea that not only him but Britain, the Mother Country, cares for the island and its people and that he is working in Anguilla’s best interest.
He took the Oaths of Office and Allegiance as Governor of Anguilla on Monday, August 21, in the Atlin Noraldo Parliamentary Building. This week he made himself available to media representatives, including the Editor of The Anguillian newspaper, Mr. Nat Hodge, for an interview about the first year of his appointment.
Some two weeks after his swearing in, the Governor experienced what must now, and probably in the foreseeable future, be his biggest challenge in Anguilla. Down came Hurricane Irma in all its fury and destruction on September 6, 2017 – the affects of which he is still grappling with – successfully. Read on in this question and answer interview about many aspects of his work and his aspirations, to date, for Anguilla and its people.
Governor Foy, what was your first reaction on learning of your appointment to Anguilla?
I applied for a couple of posts within the region and in making the applications Anguilla was always the one place that stood out where I thought I had the best qualifications that suited the role. When I first found out that I was the leading candidate I was really excited and delighted. It was a long process which first had to go to the Prime Minister and then to the Queen.
I knew a little bit of Anguilla because I had followed British post-colonial history and anybody who followed those years, after World War ll, can’t possibly omit an understanding of Anguilla and St. Kitts. Yes, I was really delighted and thrilled and was looking forward to an opportunity to do the best I could for Anguilla.
What would you say was your focus as you assumed the governorship of Anguilla?
Trying to understand what Anguilla expects out of its relationship with the UK; to help people here, particularly working closely with the Chief Minister, as I do, to understand what the UK’s concerns are, and to keep that relationship in a mature, respectful and productive manner. I think you can talk about specific issues and themes but ultimately it is about maintaining the relationship in a positive and productive way, and one that works for both sides. That was the aim I had.
Did Hurricane Irma somehow hasten some of the things you had in mind in terms of that relationship?
First of all, the hurricane was a dreadful event. It is coming up for its anniversary and I think we should all pause. This is not only to congratulate ourselves on what has been achieved, but also to remember that there are a great number of people who are still suffering.
I don’t think I needed to push the UK Government too hard to respond to Irma. As the Chief Minister said, on many occasions, Boris Johnson was on the telephone within a couple of hours. We had our first visit from RFA Mounts Bay within 24 hours, and I think the extent of the devastation was such that the UK Government felt…that it wanted to be as supportive as it could be. I think my principal role was spending time helping UK Ministers, and Senior Officials, to truly understand what was needed and to understand that Anguilla was making very good progress on the ground. We had done well; we hadn’t lost law and order and we didn’t have to impose a state of emergency; and people were going about their business very well. It was also about helping the UK Government to understand that Anguilla needed a specific type of assistance which was very different from the assistance which was needed elsewhere. We primarily needed cash and some technical assistance to help us get some things right. That was where most of my time was spent.
Governor, what would you say were some of your successes after Irma?
I wouldn’t say they were my successes, Nat. I would say it was the result of working very closely with some very dedicated public servants, in particular, during that dreadful time. It was a pleasure to be able to work for and to secure UK assistance: to get the necessary generators to allow the schools to reopen in the first or second week of October which was a remarkable achievement. That was because the Education Department and the Planning Team had worked so well to be able to find solutions. But to provide that little bit of assistance that was necessary, in terms of generators, was great.
I think being able to work with the Health Authority of Anguilla to provide the immediate additional assistance to get the Princess Alexandra Hospital back up and running was also great. But again, we were working with a very strong team.
What I thought had the greatest visible impact was working with the very good people in ANGLEC alongside the CARILEC people and bringing in the Canadian linesmen. We did achieve ANGLEC’s aim – not the UK Government’s aim – but ANGLEC’s aim to have 100 percent power restoration within 100 days.
Those are some of the things I look back on and think how lucky the UK was to be able to have a very competent and effective administration in Anguilla to work with. One of the things I often say to the Chief Minister is that, having spent a long time working in international development, the countries that people want to work with aren’t necessarily the countries that are most needy. It is the countries that are the easiest to work with. I think over the past twelve months, the UK has found Anguilla an easy country to work with. It has been very clear in terms of what it needed. It can be forthright on occasions, as it should, but a very good and competent public administration has been able to use the assistance which has been offered.
Would you please comment on the funding of projects destroyed or otherwise severely compromised by the hurricane?
I look at Irma in two ways. There is physical damage that was done to buildings such as schools, the police station and so on, but there were also the economic consequences because our tourism and trade were badly hit. I think we have to recognize that there is still a work in progress. I want to pay testament to the private investors who have stayed with Anguilla and kept the hotels open, and invested in them, because that sector will take a little bit longer to get to full recovery. I think we will probably only see that in December/January [of the new season] so a lot of people are still having a hard time.
I think the UK’s assistance has started to flow. There was an initial amount of close to seven million pounds sterling that was spent prior to the release of the sixty million. There is a small amount of 1.9 million pounds that is coming to do some emergency rehabilitation work in terms of hurricane preparedness, so you have seen a lot of concrete being poured on hurricane shelters which is very good. This also includes things like the [damaged] Crocus Hill water tank, which was a great risk, being taken down.
We are now starting to really spend the sixty million pounds grant. Work so far has been focused on four big projects including the completion of the Princess Alexandra Hospital; work on the Morris Vanterpool School; work on The Valley Primary School; and work on the Adrian T. Hazell School. The next phase of work is now in the planning stage, including the interim fix at Blowing Point which will be the development of a temporary building. That will be better than the tent we have. It will be happening in the next month or so ahead of the longer term development. And I very much look forward to seeing the proposals that the Government will present about the redevelopment of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School which is so important in Anguilla.
Sir, while Anguilla was initially grappling with the effects of the hurricane, there was a need for the approval of the national budget for 2018. Please comment on some of the difficulties with regard to correspondence and negotiations between Lord Ahmad and Chief Minister, Mr. Victor Banks, and how the thorny issues have now been satisfactorily resolved.
It is a good point you raised. The basis of the relationship between the UK and Anguilla has to be that both sides can actually say what they feel and what they mean. I give credit to The Anguillian for publishing that correspondence. It is very important that the public sees the nature of that relationship and that’s the basis for an honest and productive relationship. The result of that correspondence, I believe, was that both sides understood the position of the other and were able to identify what was the best way to meet both dimensions of the relationship with a bit of give and take. I think the UK very clearly saw the immediate problems and difficulties that Anguilla faced, in terms of its revenue position, and understood that Anguilla was not going to be able to balance the budget in 2018 – and that some additional borrowing would be necessary. So the UK Government changed its position on that and agreed to allow the additional borrowing – and that has all happened.
At the same time, I think that the Government of Anguilla, in a very responsible and matured way, developed a Medium Term Economic and Fiscal Framework recognizing that we have to move on; and that, in order to be sustainable in the future, we have to look at additional revenue sources. Without that, we are not going to be able to provide people with such services as health, education and roads that the people rightly need.
Governor, from the standpoint of a number of onlookers and commentators, you appeared to have been a good referee in those difficult and perhaps disruptive days of negotiations.
Well, I have never put up myself as a referee but I think we are in a position whereby we can encourage both sides along the way. People sometimes write things they don’t necessarily understand how such things will land with the person that reads them. I think I have always had the opportunity to be able to help people to interpret what the other side is thinking. I think one of the happiest events I was pleased and proud to be associated with was Lord Ahmad’s visit to Anguilla. I think it was particularly a very high point. People saw the man and recognized that he was a very genuine person who feels passionately about the relationship with the UK. I think, as individuals, both he and the Chief Minister get on extraordinarily well which is good because they both respect each other. Yes, there were some interesting times but what relationship does not have interesting times in it? I am coming up for thirty years of marriage now and Anguilla’s marriage with the UK has been 368 years – much longer.
And, Your Excellency, that good relationship with Britain continues today and going forward?
Yes. I think so. I don’t speak for the UK Government but the UK Government’s position will always be as it is until such time as the people of Anguilla wish to change it. The UK Government will continue to have that sense of self-determination at the forefront of its approach. While Anguilla wishes to have a relationship with the UK, the UK will stand by and deliver its responsibilities as the Administering Power. I think Hurricane Irma did really reignite a sense of understanding in the UK Government and with the public.
I think some of our athletes and our beauty pageant queen [Miss Universe Great Britain] have certainly helped to raise the consciousness of people in the UK about Anguilla, and Anguilla’s contribution to the British family.
What comments do you have on Lord Ahmad’s observation at Government House about your popularity in Anguilla?
My view, as a public servant, is that it is what I am. I am here to serve people and their best interest in everything I do. That might not make you popular with everybody all the time, but I do think the UK/Anguilla relationship is a mature one. It is not a colonial relationship – at least I hope it is not. The Governor’s role is to serve the people of Anguilla according to what the Constitution says I am responsible for. As we discussed, on occasions before, if that means me having to tell the UK Government something they may find unpalatable, I am not going to shy away from doing that.
The Anguillian newspaper’s interview with Governor Foy also touched on the UK Government’s support for development and investment in Anguilla; electoral and constitutional reform; and Anguilla’s position after Brexit including its relationship with neighbouring St. Martin/St. Maarten which is not expected to change. These matters will be addressed in another segment of the interview in next week’s edition of The Anguillian.
