Public Boards and Committees

Public Boards and Committees. We have a bad habit in Anguilla of being very generous and forgiving. It is a bad habit because we are dreaming if we believe that we are still living in the days when we were all so poor that it was no point in stealing from our friend or neighbour. In those days, we excused their peccadillos and peculations because they were all our close relatives, and “there but for the Grace of God . . .” That state of affairs is now over. There is money and land to be wasted if not stolen. A generous and forgiving nature must be surrounded and protected by vigilance. We must demand the highest standards of those entrusted with public funds and interests.

Prominent among these are the different boards and committees. Some were committees set up by government. Some are statutory corporations. Some are the boards elected by the shareholders of public companies. There are other public institutions of all kinds. All of them are invested with the public trust in relation to public property and assets. Some of them are responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars. In some cases we have entrusted them with hundreds of millions of dollars.

As a start, it might be worthwhile to do a little study of the public boards and committees of Anguilla. We ought to know who they are, what they are paid, and what they have done recently to justify their existence. They are in receipt of public funds one way or another and they are saddled with a duty of trust to the public.

During last year, we heard from time to time of the following, in alphabetical order:

Airport Project Board

ALHC School Board of Governors

Anguilla Animal Rescue Foundation

Anguilla Archaeological and Historical Society Ltd

Anguilla Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Anguilla Community Foundation

Anguilla Development Board

Anglec Board

Anguilla Health Authority

Anguilla Mortgage Company Ltd

Anguilla Social Security Board

Anguilla Social Security Investment Committee

Belonger Commission

Boat Racing Committee

Caribbean Commercial Bank Ltd

Carnival Committee

Land Development Control Committee

Malliouhana-Anico Insurance Co Ltd

National Bank of Anguilla Ltd

National Investment Company of Anguilla Ltd

Poor Law Board

Ports Board

Public Service Commission

Public Service Integrity Board

Red Cross

Tenders Board

Tourism Investment Committee

Tourist Board

Webster Park Committee

The lizard’s seeing-eye that illustrates the top of this post indicates that I am asking you to be my seeing eye. This post requires any helpful response you can make. Am I missing any boards or committees? Do you have any information on who are their present members? Do you know what they are paid? Have you any idea what they have done recently to justify their existence? Is there any shadow surrounding any of their activities?

Please send me an email at the above address. We will then look at them one by one in subsequent postings.