A Proclamation issued by His Excellency The Governor, Mr. Timothy Foy OBE, brought into effect the Anguilla Constitution (Amendment) Order 2019 on Tuesday, May 14. The Proclamation was signed and certified with the Public Seal by the Governor at Government House on May 7. The Order in Council was made at Windsor Castle in London on April 10, 2019, by Her Majesty The Queen with the advice of the Privy Council. The details of the Order and the Proclamation are published in the inside pages of this edition of The Anguillian newspaper.
The announcements of both the Order and Proclamation were made at a Government of Anguilla press conference by Premier Victor Banks, whose title has now been officially changed from Chief Minister. This is one of the eight amendments to the previous 1982 Anguilla Constitution – the oldest in the British Overseas Territories. The amendments have now brought the Anguilla Constitution in line with the restyling of the position of the Leader of Government Business in the territories.
The Explanation Note attached to the Order, states as follows:
“This Order amends the Constitution of Anguilla. It changes the title of Chief Minister to Premier and introduces a limit of two consecutive terms for the Premier. It substitutes the term Anguillian for a person who belongs to Anguilla, and revises the categories of people who qualify as Anguillians. It also makes some changes to the qualifications for elected membership of the House of Assembly and the qualifications of voters, and enables the establishment by legislation of an island-wide single electoral district in addition to the single-member electoral districts into which Anguilla is divided. With effect from the next dissolution of the House of Assembly, it abolishes the office of nominated member of the House of Assembly.”
During the Government’s press conference, Premier Banks requested the Minister of Home Affairs, with responsibility for Constitutional and Electoral reform, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, to further explain the provisions of the Constitutional (Amendment) Order 2019. According to her, there is a formula whereby the number of Ministers of Government could be increased from four to five – and even six depending on the total number of elected members of the House of Assembly. A point of much satisfaction to the Anguilla Government is that grandchildren born outside the island to Anguillian nationals now have the opportunity to be recognised as Anguillians with full rights and privileges.
Premier Banks made the point that the Anguilla Constitution was partly amended to bring into being the above, and other, changes in a timely manner – and that a fully revised Constitution will be pursued and brought into operation later on.
During the press conference, there were short reports on the functioning of their ministries and departments by three other Government officials. They were the Minister of Social Development and Health, Mr. Evans Rogers; the Minister of Infrastructure and Communications, Mr. Curtis Richardson; and the Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism, Mr. Cardigan Connor.
