Crown Jewels

Selling the Crown Jewels on eBay. This woman tells a story that she could not have made up.

“I acquired this medallion in 1995. It came from accountant David Stevens of Rutland, VT. He got it from a diving expedition off the coast Anguilla. The claim had not even been filed yet, he did provide us the name of the ship and Captain. El Buen Consejo “70 guns”, headed by Julis de Urcullo. It sunk in 1772.

My boyfriend at the time, Scott Young, was working in construction, did a job for David and was rewarded for a job well done with 4 of these medallions. Scott gave one to me. I put mine in my banks safe deposit box, and it has been there ever since.

The link to El Buen Consejo: http://www.spanishgalleon.ai/

I believe the saint pictured to be St. Camillus de Lellis: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=265

I have found reproductions of this medallion for sale from 80-600 dollars.”

Does anyone in Anguilla remember the terms on which David Stevens and Bull Webster and their friends were permitted to excavate the ruins of Anguilla’s most famous shipwreck?

Does anyone even care that Anguilla’s crown jewels are being sold on eBay?

OCTA

Overseas Countries and Territories Association. Oscar Ramjeet has published an interesting article on the upcoming conference in Cayman Islands starting next Wednesday. From it, we learn that OCTA was designed in 2003 to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information for the mutual benefit of members. The Association exists to recommend action to member governments, develop effective working relations with European Union institutions, and to defend the collective interests of members. The Association has its own secretariat, and even a website. Anguilla is one of the 17 OCT members.

One of the most important topics for discussion is the future relationship between Anguilla and the other OCTs and the European Union. The EU has produced a green paper on the subject. It covers such areas as environmental issues, vulnerability, diversity, and the trade regime. Participants will learn how to apply for EU development funding for projects. It idea is to help us to become more efficient at preparing and submitting project proposals so that they will pass the appraisal and stand up to review as the projects are implemented. The Green Paper was released on 25 June. It was intended to spark public debate on how to modernize the EU’s relations with its 21 OCTs. The various aid and trade clauses governing our relations expire on 31 December 2013.

The big issues for us include hydrocarbon rights and responsibilities, use and regulation of our maritime economic zone, and the maintaining of responsible standards of public behaviour.

Neither the Green Paper nor the upcoming conference may, strictly speaking, be matters for the British government to bring to our attention. Their interest is to keep us in the OTs docile and quiet. But, surely, our own government ministers and senior civil servants, who have been circulated by the EU with all the relevant documents, ought to be discussing them publicly? Why are they not putting the documents and discussion papers on their useless and boring Anguilla government website so that we can be made aware of the issues that will affect Anguilla?

Are we going to be represented at the conference? If so, how do our representatives know what we think about the subject, since they have never submitted the Green Paper, or any of the topics to us for discussion. What mandate do they think they have to make any kind of presentation on our behalf? None! They have not even issued the usual pre-conference press release. The plan is probably not to tell us about it until it is all over.

None of these issues have been or are being discussed in Anguilla.

No journalist or opinion maker in Anguilla has ever expressed any interest in these matters, or has even demonstrated an awareness that they exist.

The public remains in the dark as usual.

The screams of “foreign exploitation” and “imperialist domination” will rise to a crescendo only when the decisions that we neglected to join in formulating really begin to bite.

By then, as usual, we shall be too late.

Baccarat

What Happened to Baccarat Anguilla? Andrew Calvo has a US commercial real estate developer’s take on the latest developments at Flag in Anguilla. Anguillian readers may be interested in what he has to say. He writes on his blog today:

“I’ve been noticing an uptick over the past 30 days from visitors who have viewed my blog while searching for information on the Baccarat Hotel located within the Temanos Anguilla development project. Normally a story that I wrote months ago wouldn’t receive much interest day after day like this one has. It got me thinking though - what is going on with this project?

Originally announced in January of 2008, it was supposed to be the hotel component of Flag Luxury Properties Temenos Anguilla resort property. Originally to be branded as a St Regis (when the project was announced in 2004) it apparently ended up being changed to a Baccarat Hotel & Residences location. The hotel was supposed to be finished by the end of the year - but from what I’ve heard from a few locals who have emailed me, it’s nowhere near being finished (can someone update me on that fact?).

Once the initial announcement was made a website immediately went live - www.baccaratanguilla.com, and I expected to see over time additional components added to it - pictures, descriptions, condo layouts - but instead the website went completely inactive over the summer. Additionally, the BaccaratHotels.com page redirected to the main Temanos Anguilla website rather than the BaccaratAnguilla.com site. Now, the BaccaratHotels.com site doesn’t even link to or mention anything about Baccarat Anguilla. The Temanos Anguilla website now has no mention of the Baccarat branded hotel, all references to it have been removed.

What happened?

Barry Sternlicht and Robert FX Sillerman - the principal behind Flag Luxury Properties have a history of working together on projects. Barry was still a part of Starwood Hotels when the St Regis was initially announced for the Anguilla project, and they are both principals in Riv Acquisition Holdings - the company that owns a portion of and is trying to take over the Riveria Casino in Las Vegas, so its not like Baccarat and Flag Luxury had a relationship like most other developers/hotel companies.

I was all set to just write this off to another casualty of the problems with getting credit - Starwood Capital isn’t exactly going gangbusters opening up their new brands like they were initially expected too - but then I came across a comment posted to my blog earlier today which inferred that the project has financial difficulties - with the management some how misleading the property owners about some aspect of the project. (Maybe that the centerpiece component a Baccarat Hotel will no longer be a part of the development?)

So it still could be a simple issue due to the credit crisis, or it could be a more underlying issue with the way business is being conducted at the property (which I hope is not the case - since Flag Luxury is a reputable company).

No matter what the real reason is - it sounds like Baccarat is permanently out of the equation for the Anguilla property, and the actual completion of the property will not occur as scheduled for late 2008. As for why I’ve been getting so many visits related to the Baccarat Anguilla post - its could be related to the lack of news on a project that property owners have already made deposits for.

We’ll see what the future holds for this property.”

Little does he know what a disaster it all is. And, it all happened long before the present downturn in the economy. It has to do with bad planning, the bane of all development in Anguilla today. Bad planning in every sense of the word. Bad management follows closely on the heels of bad planning in explaining what happened at Flag.

We shall see if this project has any future at all.

Meanwhile, the bush is rapidly growing back over the recently abandoned golf course.

Sand mining

Coastal and Marine Ecosystems and the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. That is the title of a new press release from the Department of the Environment concerning our coastal and marine environment. They are to be congratulated on listing some of the problems.

"But marine and coastal biodiversity is under threat: habitats are being destroyed to make way for buildings; water is being polluted by sewage seepage and dumping, sand is being mined, bays are being dredged, anchors are being dropped on corals; reefs and seagrass beds are being suffocated by excessive algal growth and sediment from land and beach erosion; fish stocks and other marine organisms are being over-exploited; and the health of the island all of its inhabitants are being compromised."

The article jumps around a lot, and doesn’t really reach any conclusion. I think what it says is that “greater awareness”, and the publication of an underwater guide, are going to stop the people who are destroying our environment. I am not sure.

Because sand mining was causing acute problems at many of our beaches, certain areas were designated as protected beaches. This, of course, left other beaches Unprotected, resulting in the total destruction of Sile Bay and Windward Point Beaches. The protected beaches are not even protected by prosecuting those who steal sand from them. We do not want to criminalise good God-fearing Anguillians. As a result, you can find trucks collecting sand from the beach and dune at Cove Bay almost every day, if you go early enough.

After our Revolutionary leaders wisely chose the dolphin as our national symbol, we allowed and encouraged a Mexican company to imprison and exploit them in Anguilla for profit.

There are some who believe that we need to pray for the sand miners to bring them to righteousness. Still others believe that greed can be stopped by education. When well we admit that these procedures have failed? We need to do things that are effective. We need to enforce our existing laws.

Corito

The Hole. Just south of the power station at Corito, there is a very large hole that was excavated when a million cubic yards of fill were needed for the airport extension project. The hole, known by the construction workers as "The Hole," used to contain a million cubic yards of fill, before it was a hole. If my numbers are correct, it is a million cubic yard hole.

Shortly before the 2005 election, there was speculation about The Hole and its effect on The Valley Aquifer. Government outsourced information about The Hole to opposition candidates and allowed misinformation, lies and stupidness to circulate freely for several months. Then, a spokesman for the United Front announced on the radio that the Party had an innovative solution for The Hole, but they were not free to talk about it until after the election. I don't make this stuff up; I heard it with my two ears.

That was three years ago. The Hole sits there pretty much unchanged except you can no longer see the water at the lowest point because it's been covered with garbage, including toxic waste such as old batteries and television sets, slowly leaching into the aquifer.

Is it time for a change in Anguilla, or is it only for the USA?

Only a few short months for Anguillians to make up their mind where they are going.

TCI

The most corrupt British Overseas Territory. That is the unenvious reputation that the Turks and Caicos Islands have enjoyed internationally over the past thirty years. Yet, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office kept saying for years that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing at the top of the TCI government. They refused to investigate any of the complaints that were made to it by citizens. “Unless you produce the evidence, we will not look into your complaints to see if there is any evidence”. That was their mantra year after year. Meanwhile, the citizens of the TCI observed their islands being sold out from under their feet.

Now that the Foreign Affairs Committee has basically ordered the FCO to investigate the allegations, Sir Robin Auld has been appointed for that purpose. He has been calling on the TCI public to produce evidence to his committee. He has requested Ministers to disclose and reveal all their assets. They have been playing hard to get, and refusing to cooperate with him. He has now announced that he will be summoning the Premier and his Ministers before him to give evidence on oath. That means that the penalties for perjury will apply, if they do not tell the truth.

Things are now hotting up. It seems that what the Europeans call “Higher Supervision” is about to be imposed on the TCI. The latest news is that two British administrators are being sent to oversee all financial operations of the incumbent government until further notice.

The Premier has already for the year allocated as much money for hiring a plane for his travel as he has for hurricane relief. It has been suggested that the provision of these two British administrators is a direct result of “voodoo economics” practised by the Premier and his Deputy. It has even been suggested that the British should dismiss the elected government and appoint an Interim Government as soon after publication of the Commission’s pending report as practicable, if not before.

Are yu, look a wuk!

Or, our Cruzan friends would say,“What a pistarkle!”

Child Abuse

When a senior Civil Servant stands up for right, we should all stand up for her. The UK has produced a Report that contains critical information on a wide range of children’s issues, including child abuse. The Report is titled The Risk and Vulnerability Facing Children. It was designed for all the Overseas Territories as part of the UK’s commitment to comply with its Rights of the Child Convention obligations across its territories. The Report included a strategic plan for dealing with the issues. It was submitted to all the Overseas Territories in March 2007.

As usual with all important social reform initiatives that were not thought up by a politician, the Report appears to have fallen into the black holes that exist at all our Ministries of Health.

Last September, the British Overseas Territories were asked to provide a status report on the implementation of their strategic plans to carry out the recommendations of the Report. Anguilla is one of those territories. Child abuse and neglect is no less a serious and widespread problem in Anguilla than it is in the Cayman Islands.

I wonder whether Anguilla was honest enough to admit that no action has taken place since the Report was submitted. But, we shall never know. That information is, as usual, confidential.

Deanna Look Loy of the Cayman Islands is one brave woman. She is their Child and Family Services Director. She had been calling in vain on her Ministry of Health to implement the Report. To date she has not received a reply. Then she began demanding that immediate action be taken by the Child and Family Services Department to implement the Report. Still no response. Now, she has gone public.

Deanna Look Loy

You might say that she has ratted on her Permanent Secretary.

If she was a senior public servant in Anguilla, she would have been transferred to our equivalent of the Gulag by now.

The cynical would say that Ms Look Loy must be very close to retirement age for her to dare do such a thing. Her photograph shows that nothing could be further from the truth. She is just one brave woman.

Health

Free specialist medical treatment in the UK? I always thought it was a bit cheeky of us. A year ago, at a meeting of Chief Ministers and FCO officials in London, our Chief Minister delivered a paper, “Access to UK Health Care”. We have previously been granted the privilege of sending up to five persons unable to obtain specialist medical treatment in Anguilla to England to get it free of cost. That means at the cost of the English taxpayer. It appears that we were not satisfied with that number. The Chief Minister was calling on the FCO to pay for that number of patients to be substantially increased for Anguilla. If you do not remember, you can read all about it in the Anguillian Newspaper.

There are many Anguillian patients who need specialist medical treatment that is not available in Anguilla. Such treatment is almost certainly available in nearby Barbados or Puerto Rico. England seemed a bit far to go. And, why were we asking the British taxpayer to fund our medical bills? I could not understand. Surely, it would have been more appropriate for our taxpayers to fund deserving cases? And, why not send our medical patients that we are paying for to Puerto Rico or Barbados for treatment? The convenience of the shorter travel distance, and the probability of the cost being no greater, seemed to me to be the clinchers in the argument.

Anyway, I heard nothing more about the issue. The Chief Minister came back from London and reported that the British Minister of Health was looking into it. Well, it seems we got our answer in the House of Commons yesterday. As Dawn Primarolo, Minister of Health, explained, there is no limit to the amount of Anguillians allowed to travel to the UK for health care. But, they must stand in line and pay for it like any other overseas visitor. Nor are there any plans on the part of the UK government to review the quota of patients that Anguilla can refer to the UK. Quite right too! Any Minister who answered otherwise should be fired immediately. Any political party that authorised her to answer otherwise should be dismissed from government at the next elections. It seemed pellucidly clear to me.

If it were to be otherwise, I have a proposal for ensuring reciprocity and saving our pride. We in the wealthier Overseas Territories such as Anguilla ought to invite impoverished English medical patients to spend time in our sunshine to help them to recover their health faster. After all, it is free for us. It does not cost us anything to share it. We might as well throw in the airfare and board and lodging for the duration of their stay. All paid for by the Anguillian taxpayer, of course. And, let us see how that suggestion would fly with the Anguillian taxpayer.

NBA

National Bank of Anguilla. The only bank I bank with is NBA. NBA is my bank. So, whatever I write that might appear critical is to be taken as but a child reproaching a parent.

I have been following a story recently. The story is officially about banking secrecy. More importantly, it is about the competence and reliability of West Indian banks. The part of the story that interests me is about NBA. The author claims that he had emailed various West Indian banks with the following question:

“Dear bank rep,

I have some questions about banking secrecy at your bank. I hope you’ll be glad to answer them. Here they are:

Under what conditions will the bank share information on its clients?

Does there have to be a government investigation underway? Does that matter?

If so, who can conduct this investigation?

Does it take a court order? Is an official request good enough?

Thanks and I hope you’ll answer my questions as best you can.”

He says that only two of the several banks in the West Indies that he wrote, particularly Griffon Bank of Dominica and Caye Bank of Belize, replied. National Bank of Anguilla, among others, did not respond. He writes:

“The rest of the Banks I contacted have not answered because, as everyone knows, it’s very hard to answer an e-mail if you’re only given one week. Or maybe they’re just lazy or don’t know how to type and click buttons, or they’re just not very service oriented or non-client friendly …or the benefit of the doubt: they’re so used to keeping their mouths shut that they did not answer my e-mails.”

I do not mind that he is talking about Grenadian or Antiguan banks. I do mind that he is talking about my bank.

The answers to his question were not difficult. One only had to be honest. One correct reply would have been:

"Who would be so naïve as to believe today that there exists any such thing as banking secrecy? It was approximately ten years ago that Switzerland surrendered banking secrecy to the US State Department. That was the end of banking secrecy internationally. Only banks set up with the specific intention of stealing our money still promise secrecy. The higher the level of secrecy offered by an offshore bank, the more confident the offshore “bank” will be that you will not complain when they disappear with your money."

Why would it have been so difficult to explain such a basic fact to a correspondent? Better by far to be accused of excessive compliance with intrusive regulation than of incompetence or laziness, I would have thought.

Trinidad

The Abbey School, Mount St Benedict, Trinidad. That is where I went to primary and secondary school from the years 1955 to 1964. The monks tried very hard to make me a Christian. They succeeded while I was a boy. And then, as St Paul admonishes us, I became a man and I put aside childish things.

Don as an Abbey School student

Last weekend, we had our second school reunion since I left Trinidad in 1964 to continue my studies.

If you have ever driven from Piarco to Port-of-Spain, you may have seen my old School on the hillside in the Northern Range above Tunapuna village. The white painted structures stand out as clearly as a beacon against the green hills. Even Fidel Castro noticed them as he drove past when he came to Trinidad in 1958, and could not resist a visit. I remember him, bearded and wearing his military fatigues, and all of us little boys standing waving on the road side in awe of the great man.

The Abbey School as it looked when I was there

It was good to see the old buildings again after the passage of nearly fifty years. We were permitted to visit the school on Saturday morning. Guided by management, we explored every room and passageway. The institution is now turned over to serving as a drugs rehabilitation centre. It has finally found a socially redeeming purpose, you might say.

School building from the basket ball court

Front of the school

The front corridor of the school

Roof over the Small Boys' Dorm

The view over the Caroni Plain was as breathtaking as I remembered it.

View south from first floor corridor

The Abbey viewed from the Clinic

The forest around the school was my playground. Six strokes on my backside with a cane every Monday morning at 9:00 am for five years was my punishment for refusing to have anything to do with cricket and the cricket field. Instead, I spent the free time running wild in the bush.

White Stones on the left, with Mt Tabor on the right in the distance

Forest to the north-east of the school

The oldest of the climbers among us was seventy-three years old. I knew I was a spring chicken by comparison. The plan was to climb up to White Stones, the mountain that towers above the school.

The Abbey seen through the trees on the way to White Stones

Sitting on a white stone at White Stones

Conquerors of White Stones

Finally, we found the ruins of the original Monastery at Mt Tabor, high up above White Stones.

Don leaning on the foundations of the abandoned Monastery at Mt Tabor

Kitchen oven at Mt Tabor ruins

On the Sunday, the Khans entertained us all to a picnic lunch at Mayaro Beach. I was particularly charmed by the sight of a column of demure Indian girls wading out to sea in their saris, casting fruit and flowers about them as they went. A fertility ritual, I imagined. Personally, at my age, I am only capable of considering Lashmi in her aspect of Kali, the old crone, the goddess of destruction!

Offerings from a Hindu fertility ritual at Mayaro Beach

More offerings

“Sic transit gloria mundi”, as Thomas a Kempis warned in his memorable Imitatio Christi. I must have been about twelve when I read the translation.

And, “Never be entirely idle: but either be reading, or writing, or praying, or meditating, or endeavouring something for the public good”.

Archives

To read any post together with all comments posted to it by readers, just click on its headline in the right-hand panel under “Archives”.

Clicking on a picture will enlarge it for easier viewing.

Archives building about to be converted to a mess hall for members of the House of Assembly. There's been some talk on anguillatalk.com and the radio about what would become of the Forest Bay Customs House when the Conch Bay, now Fairmont, project is built. We have to pretend it's going to be built, because they claim to have sold $70 million worth of property.

On page 3 of last week's "Anguillian" there are some pictures of the proposed Blowing Point terminal that looks like it was designed by some people in Canada who don't understand hurricanes.

It also looks like something they'd build in Canada.

Do we want arriving tourists to think they're in Canada? Will putting two palm trees in front of the building change that? Is promoting traditional Anguillian design elements any of our business or should we outsource such issues to whatever loudmouth wants to use them to trash someone on a talk show?

And, now I hear that the archives building at the Court House is to be turned into a restaurant for the Members of Parliament's convenience. Is this progress or not? I suppose that we want them to be comfortable. Who cares about some old papers, anyway?

In 1980, I was walking across the Government Secretariat when I noticed Evalie Bradley burning some papers in a small bonfire. I asked her what she was doing. She said, “Col Roberts told me to burn the files from the Revolution to clear an old filing cabinet for him to use”. I went to see Ronald Webster and spoke to him about the importance of retaining Anguilla's archives for the future. He agreed and ordered the burning to stop. He appointed me Anguilla's first official archivist, on condition that it would not cost anything. Later that year, I had a line item of $1.00 inserted in the estimates for preserving the archives. I used the judicial department budget to purchase two filing cabinets. I filled them with the collection of the “Anguilla Beacon” donated by Atlin Harrigan, and other archival material. So far as I know the archives are all stored in the building in the Court House/House of Assembly complex to this day.

I fully expect they will now complete the job started, but left incomplete, by Col Roberts.

To post your own anonymous comment to this or any other post, click on the highlighted word “comments” at the foot of the post and type your comment in the box provided.

Select “Anonymous” before you send.

OTCC

Overseas Territories Consultative Council. This year's OTCC in London has come to an end. Anguilla's representatives will shortly be flying back home. What did they accomplish? Quite a lot, as we can see from an FCO press release dated yesterday:

The UK and the Overseas Territories represented at the Consultative Council agreed the following:

• Recommitment to the principles of good governance agreed in 2006. [See below for the Good Governance paper from the 2006 OTCC]

• The Overseas Territories Consultative Council in 2009 should include a forum to discuss the 1999 White Paper ten years on. The Forum would include key stakeholders, would examine progress and what remained to be done, and would agree how to take forward the White Paper agenda.

• The UK would, where appropriate, support the Territories to meet their international obligations.

• Target dates of October 2009 for extension to all the populated Territories of ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women. To consider the options available to meet international obligations on sexual orientation.

• The importance of maintaining effective regulatory and law enforcement systems in order to combat money laundering and terrorist financing and to tackle corruption and bribery in line with international standards. In this regard, to work together to deliver the Financial Services Strategy and to implement agreed Action Plans.

• The importance of engagement with international initiatives in the area of transparency and the need for early progress on the signature of Tax Information Exchange Agreements with the UK and other OECD states.

• The UK would assist the Territories to keep them informed of progress on EU and other international agreements relating to financial services.

• To maintain and improve close dialogue between the Territories and the UK on the relationship with the European Union. To co-ordinate an approach to the EU/OCT Forum meeting in the Cayman Islands in November 2008.

• To work together to address the potential impact of climate change in the Overseas Territories and to promote sustainable environmental policies in the Territories with additional support from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

• That regional initiatives and co-operation between the Territories in areas such as disaster management, the environment and criminal justice should be encouraged and supported.

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And, just in case we have forgotten what the paper on the principles of good governance referred to in the first paragraph above was, let us remind ourselves:

GOOD GOVERNANCE: A paper issued by the FCO at the 2006 OTCC

1. Although it is a phrase that has gained currency in recent years, the concept of governance has been with us as long as there have been systems within societies which determine the process of decision making; and the process by which decisions are, or are not, implemented. Good governance is simply doing this well.

2. Good governance is part of the partnership between the UK and its Overseas Territories set out in the 1999 White Paper, which highlighted the importance of providing governance of a high quality. It is essential that the UK and its Territories subscribe to high standards of human rights, openness and good government. Good governance builds trust amongst citizens of a society in its institutions and assists social cohesion. It encourages domestic investment; promotes higher rates of growth; and enables a society’s development to be shared equitably amongst its citizens. And it also promotes greater confidence amongst potential external investors. Moreover, good governance is a key element in ensuring sustainable development, another important area highlighted by the White Paper. For without good governance, the potential for sustainable development is severely undermined.

3. This paper seeks to set out what is good governance. The best way to do this is to identify what are some of the most important elements. Perhaps the key element of good governance is the rule of law. Good governance requires legal frameworks that are enforced impartially. This means the full protection of human rights, and particularly those of people belonging to minorities. Impartial enforcement of laws requires an independent judiciary immune from any external influence; and a police force which treats all individuals equally, without fear or favour. It also requires a public service free from political interference in its appointments, discipline and dismissals, which implements policy in accordance with the rule of law and internationally accepted standards. This provides the certainty, and sense of security, which are both essential for economic prosperity and social stability.

4. This leads on to the second element, which is transparency. This means that decisions by both the executive and legislature should be taken (and be seen to be taken) and implemented in line with defined rules and regulations. It also means that (subject to limited exceptions) information must be freely available and directly accessible to those who will be affected by such decisions and their implementation. It also requires the provision of an appropriate level of information, in an easily understandable form, by government and the public service to the public, and media.

5. The third key area is accountability. Not only Government institutions and the legislature, but also the private sector and civil society organisations, must be accountable to the public and, where appropriate, to their institutional stakeholders. Each organisation or institution should also be accountable to those who will be affected by its decisions or actions. This means that institutions should be subject to checks and balances, including scrutiny by the legislatures, committees of legislators, and other appropriate bodies. This also involves a well-developed civil society, with strong independent media free from political interference; and representative NGOs to defend the rights of individual interest groups. Institutions should in general be accessible, and open to the public and the media, so that confidence can be built up within society that these organs are functioning properly and in the general interest.

6. Crucially, these three issues are interlinked. For accountability cannot be enforced without transparency and the rule of law.

7. A further key element is the responsiveness of institutions. Good governance requires that institutional processes should serve all stakeholders within a reasonable time frame. And they should do so according to defined and acceptable standards. Another guiding factor is equity and inclusiveness. It is important that all those in a society feel that they have a stake in it, and that they do not feel excluded from the mainstream of society, or access to Government and services. This requires all groups, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have the opportunity to maintain and/or improve their well being. But most importantly, it is about ensuring that there is equality of opportunity for all in society; and that services and benefits are made available on this basis, without either politicians or public servants giving preferential treatment because of family ties, friendship or political allegiance.

8. Another significant factor in good governance is effectiveness and efficiency. It is important that processes and institutions produce results that meet the needs of society, while making the best use of resources at their disposal. This is particularly relevant in ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources and the protection of the environment. Political decisions need to be taken with the long-term interests of society in mind, to ensure sustainability. And it involves ensuring sound financial management. Good governance may mean taking on entrenched interests, and judging how strongly to lead from the front. And finally, good governance means participation, including an organised civil society; and ways to ensure that the views of the most vulnerable are taken into consideration in decision-making.

9. Good governance is important, therefore, because it is the basic foundation for a successful, prosperous, well-ordered and sustainable society. It is about ensuring that the resources of a society are used to the best and most durable effect; and to the benefit of the greatest number of the population. These are aims to which both the UK and the territories aspire. The FCO makes available finance from its OT Programme Fund to help promote activities to this end.

10. Achieving good governance poses a series of challenges for all involved. What has been described is a counsel of perfection. No country, including the UK, completely meets all the criteria. But it is something the UK and the Territories must strive to achieve. The White Paper makes clear the importance which the UK attaches to meeting its commitments, including the implementation of its international responsibilities; protecting itself against contingent liabilities; and ensuring good governance. Therefore, the UK Government will work with Territory Governments on these issues. Both the Overseas Territories and the UK Government recognise that Governors have a key role to play in this process. The UK is sure that, for the reasons outlined, Territory governments share the UK’s concern that these objectives and standards are achieved, and will work with the UK to achieve them.

There is a lot to chew on there. How serious are our representatives in making any of this come to a reality in Anguilla? Only time will tell. We have only until the next elections due in early 2010 for the present administration to prove to us that they ever meant to introduce any measures at all to ensure good governance in Anguilla. Up to now, and for the past eight years, they have done nothing to convince any of us that they are interested in openness, good government, trust amongst the citizens of this society in its institutions, or to enable society’s development to be shared equitably amongst its citizens.

Let us listen to what they have to say when they return. More important, let us see what they will do. Then, we can make up our own minds. If they continue to fail us, people may begin to suggest that it will be time for a change.