The debate continues following my questioning the use of funds from Social Security for government and other projects. Following my questions in the House of Assembly last week, we are no clearer as to the state of affairs.
Chief Minister Victor Banks’ non-answers were an exercise in stalling and deferring. In the House, he said the obvious – how the laws that govern the social security system are set up and how the authority for borrowing should be exercised. And yet the clear point of my question was to get to the bottom of how well we are exercising governance on these issues.
As I write, we are none the wiser, in spite of the endless speculation in the public domain. Chief Minister Banks did not categorically deny claims of poor governance and, perhaps worse, the misuse of some of the funds.
Richardson himself appears to be of the cultural mindset that the Social Security Fund can be his piggy bank to fund his personal political ambitions, his “good work” (as he describes it in his recently circulated and vainglorious recording), regardless of whether the projects he seeks to undertake are efficiently and properly executed and for the long-term benefit of Anguilla. It appears he has no regard for the procurement laws either; they too serve only to impede him from “coming down” and are to be disregarded in his view.
What is clear is that for this government, “led” by Banks and bullied by Richardson, transparency and accountability are bad words – words “whose name cannot be spoken”.
The need of the government to raid the Social Development Fund speaks to some broader questions, including whether the reckless raiding can continue if the Social Security Fund is to remain solvent and able to pay people their benefits when they need them. The Chief Minister has encouraged us to meet with the Chairman: another ruse to avoid addressing the hard questions. Will the Social Security Fund rebound from the present crisis and serious abuse?
The second issue speaks to this government’s mismanagement of the local economy to the point where its back is so against the wall that Social Security becomes its Go-Fund-Me apparatus.
And even if the projects undertaken are desirable, the other question is whether we can trust this Hurricane Banks administration to properly manage the people’s money, given its history and its track record.
The British government and various aid agencies gave our territory millions of dollars in the aftermath of last year’s hurricane for the purposes of recovery. Are we satisfied that we have received or shall receive value for money? And is the British government satisfied with the way it is being managed?
One of the inherent problems for the people of Anguilla, it seems to me, is that the British Government is too easily satisfied and retreats into its comfort zone with insufficient determination to ensure good governance. Sooner or later perhaps good governance and accountability will take on broad international judgment. It is unlikely the British “show” will divert the scrutiny
Has this government engaged in inefficient, ill-advised and perhaps even reckless spending? Did we get all our priorities right? And is the state of our schools one of the glaring examples that we should debate? Have the five million dollars borrowed from Social Security for the Blowing Point facility been used judiciously and appropriately? Have they been disbursed and, if so, to whom? And what is AASPA’s role in this? When it comes to this project in particular, we fear that the devil is in the detail – detail that neither the government as a whole, or the Chief Minister in particular, are in any hurry to divulge to us. We wonder about hands lurking in the dark – or grasping under the table – if social media chatter is to be believed.
Was it necessary to completely demolish the structure at Blowing Point, rather than a more cost effective option of repairing what was there? And did Minister Richardson always act with the full knowledge of the cabinet of ministers? Can the Chief Minister vouch for his Infrastructure Minister? And can he categorically state that he was abreast of all the plans, all the way, and signed off on them?
Is Minister Banks just content to save his political skin? Or has become afraid of the over-ambitious Richardson? After all, Richardson was the protégé of Banks’ colleague and rival, former Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming. They all discussed challenges to Banks’ authority and qualifications and that must remind him now of the painful quarter century he endured as a victim of that practice.
And what do his fellow Ministers make of all of this? Aren’t Anguillians thinking they are being taken for a ride on the rootless boastfulness of Richardson; and the ineffective leadership of Banks? Some people say that there are more questions than answers. But maybe the answers are there – blowing in the wind somewhere; although when it comes to this administration, we can never be sure.
And even if they continue to dodge the questions in the House of Assembly, they cannot forever dodge the questions being asked on the streets. In our democracy, the people in the end provide their own answers. And the bible-speak only helps to point out the angels poised to “fall with broken wings”. One can only talk from both sides of the mouth for a limited time. Change is coming.
