Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
Please allow me a moment to respond to Minister Baird’s statement. I will respond mainly to those aspects of his press statement that is related to me.
Firstly, Minister Baird claimed that both Minister Roberts and I do not understand how decisions are ‘now’ made in the Executive Council. He also labeled both of us as slaves and reliant on outside instructions from a number of unelected people.
Fellow Anguillians, in my three (3) plus years in Government, I have studied and learned the rules, regulations, policies and procedures of both Government and that of the Executive Council. Although I would admit, both Minister Baird and I do have a reliance on our Permanent Secretaries as both of us depend on them for advice, and the preparation of our Memorandums that are taken to EXCO. All of us cannot and will not be elected but every one of us – those elected and those unelected has a voice and unlike Minister Baird, I have decided to be a servant for those persons who are unelected and have not offered themselves for political office to be elected. After all, it is the people – those people who have elected me to serve them, and serve them I will!
Minister Baird stated that decisions are made by what he claimed to be ‘majority dictatorship’. This reminds me of his time in office in the 1999 when he made a similar statement about Chief Minister Hughes. He said that the Chief Minister at the time ran a Yeltsin style Government and again today, he is claiming that the three other Ministers in Government are running a majority dictatorship. There is no dictatorship in this Government and here is where the problem lies.
I want to place on record that Minister Baird has not attended Cabinet meetings since August 22nd 2010. In two months, this will be three years since he has attended Cabinet and this is a matter of public record. In these Cabinet meetings, disagreements were respectfully hashed out until we agreed the way forward at EXCO the following day. Due to his insistence in distancing himself from the rest of the elected officials in Government, including the then Minister of Home Affairs, we do not know how he would ‘vote’ in EXCO on many matters. On the contrary, Minister Roberts joined the Government in June of 2010 and immediately started attending Cabinet meetings which he does to this day.
At no time during the Appeal process did I ever become agitated or blurt out that I was in support of the Dolphin project for Anguilla. It was commonly known that the entire Government including former Minister Richardson and Parliamentary Secretary Hughes supported the Dolphin Discovery project. If it were not so, the licenses would not have been granted.
As a matter of fact, Minister Baird never expressed any opposition for the Dolphin project for Anguilla prior to June 13, 2013. In fact, the Dolphin project came to Anguilla under the Government of Chief Minister Hubert Hughes, Former Ministers Banks and Albert Hughes and the same, Minister Baird. At no time is it recorded that Minister Baird opposed the Dolphin project either in Anguilla or around the world as he is now stating. What I did in EXCO on the day in question was asked a few questions and made a few comments which resulted in Attorney General Wood asking for a time out. He indicated that I had spoken too much and I suggested that I would say no more. On the next EXCO meeting, the Governor insisted that I recuse myself from the meeting because ‘I had showed my hand’. He stated that the Appellants had concerns about it and my remaining could cause legal challenges for Government. In the end, I had to recuse myself from the process although I wanted to be there to vote. Taking everything that Minister Baird has said in his address, I would like to state that the rules allows for one to abstain from voting and Minister Baird could have taken this option as he did with the Parliamentary Counsel decision. No one forced him to vote against the Dolphin Discovery.
It is known throughout Anguilla that Minister Baird has attacked every member of this Government, those elected and those unelected in the public domain. Working with Minister Baird has been a difficult task and throughout it all, I have remained humble and have not challenged him and in my three years in this administration, I have realized that it is unimaginable that Minister Baird can work with any Government now or in the future.
I want to place on record again, that I am in full support of the Dolphin Discovery and I believe that the process of Appeal was flawed. The Dolphin Discovery should have been allowed at the appeal to hear the argument against them so that they could have a chance at remedy if necessary. With that said, I also believe that all is not lost as the people have demonstrated their desire to have this economic vehicle remain against Minister Baird’s and the Governor’s opposition.
After all, aren’t we elected to carry out the wishes of the people as their servants?
May God continue to bless Anguilla.
22nd June, 2013
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
