Dr. Ellis Webster
Fellow Anguillians, let me take this opportunity to offer heartfelt condolences to the family of the Hon Leroy “Roy” Rogers, Speaker of the House of Assembly. His service to Anguilla was commendable and honourable. May his soul rest in peace.
I received notification of a public consultation today on proposed Constitutional and Electoral Ammendments. While I commend the Government for the initiative and appreciate that the administration is seeking rare public consultation, I share the view of Justice Don Mitchell, QC, Chairman of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Committee, that the proposals adopted by the Government are purely political. Be assured that I have no objection to grandchildren of Anguillians, or children born in Anguilla, regardless of their parents’ citizenship, being Anguillian. I even have no objection to calling Mr. Banks, Premier. However, the goal of any Constitutional Reform should be to advance the people and pave the way to further self-determination. None of the recommended changes accomplish this requirement. In his letter to Lord Ahmad, Minister of State for the Overseas Territories, Chief Minister Banks calls for a two-phase process. I propose that it would be better to implement Constitutional change in one fell swoop, after full deliberation and negotiation, otherwise it may take another 28 years to get to phase 2, given that Anguilla’s last Constitutional Review was in 1990. Therefore, I cannot support the limited constitutional changes proposed by this AUF administration.
Additionally, I am opposed to the proposal to increase the number of elected members in the House of Assembly at this time. I am not opposed to having at-large seats, in fact, given our small society, it might be beneficial to have all members elected island-wide. However, it is not fair to adopt the only one recommendation of the Electoral Reform Committee which the Government feels is to their advantage. The proposal to have a new enumeration year and create a new, clean Voters List should be a mandatory requirement of Election Reform prior to the next General Elections in Anguilla. The date of the election is fast approaching and now is not the time to confuse the electorate by introducing a new structure to the electoral process. Furthermore, I contend that with the high National Debt, it is not fiscally prudent to add members to the House of Assembly and increase the number of ministers, since this will pose a significant burden to the taxpayers, who are already over-taxed. In this depressed economy, it is necessary to limit expenses. It is unconscionable for this administration to consider a proposal to cut the Civil Service, while suggesting expanding the number of politicians in the House. I am still confused by a statement made in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, by the Minister of Home Affairs, Hon Cora Richardson-Hodge, where she said that the reason for adding 4 at-large seats is that with 4 ministers the decisions in Executive Council cannot be overturned in the House of Assembly. This would suggest that having additional members would change that occurrence. Absolutely not! It will take at least 6 elected persons to form the Government. The proposal is for 6 ministers, who will all be part of the Executive Council. The decisions made in Executive Council must be unanimous to go to the House of Assembly, therefore, the Ayes still have it. The Government must have a better explanation than that. I await their rationale for adding this expense to the People of Anguilla.
Thank you for your time and attention. May God bless Anguilla.
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
