A Discussion Site for Good Governance and Corruption in Public Life Issues in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla in the West Indies, moderated by Don Mitchell CBE QC, of PO Box 83, Anguilla, British West Indies. Email me with your comments and contributions at: idmitch@anguillanet.com.
21 April, 2009
Governors
Some Governors have it easy.In the early days, when he was still talking to me, I asked Andrew George what he did before he became Governor of Anguilla. He told me he ran the health desk at the FCO.I understood by that that he checked the health insurance of his fellow department officers.Which goes to show what sort of grade the FCO chose for governor of Anguilla at that time.A clerical officer could only be appointed Governor of Anguilla if his superiors expected nothing positive of his administration.Nothing, except the traditional one of sweeping anything unpleasant that might crop up in the colony under the carpet.The main job of a Governor of a BritishOverseasTerritory in the West Indies was to ensure that the Foreign Secretary suffered no embarrassment as a result of his overall responsibility for the island.It has been so for hundreds of years.Governor Smiley, as he was fondly known to us here, has gone off into retirement with a glow of success surrounding him.He was given a rousing send off and applauded by local Ministers for having done a good job of protecting them.
The FCO will not make that mistake again.Not since the Foreign Affairs Committee Report of last year showed up the bankruptcy of the previous “hands off” system of FCO governance of the Overseas Territories.That is why the FCO have announced they are “upgrading” the position of Governor.Anguilla’s new Governor comes with a distinguished curriculum vitae.He has immense diplomatic experience in some of the most difficult hot spots of British international relations.From this, I understand that there has been a considerable “upgrade” in the type of FCO officer sent to be Governor of Anguilla.I deduce from this that we can expect that Governors now will demand the highest standards of behaviour in public office from members of the Executive Council.Misconduct will no longer be tolerated, we can hope.Alistair Harrison CVO arrived in Anguilla on Sunday to begin his term as Governor of Anguilla.He will be sworn in today in a televised ceremony at the House of Assembly.He is in for a tough assignment over the next three years.I wish him every success, but he will face many challenges on this little island.
Elections are due next year for the latest, more likely in a couple of months' time.
And, then, there are the miscellaneous minor matters of a dysfunctional education system, a demoralized public service, a divided and paralysed governing political party; a mortally wounded Health Authority of Anguilla, the collapsing economy, and the proposed new Constitution of Anguilla that has not as yet been shared with the public.
"We reiterate our conclusion of March 2006 that the FCO should bring itself into line with the rest of Whitehall, by recruiting more professionally qualified, experienced people to top and middle roles in management and we recommend that in its response to this Report the FCO set out what it is doing or will do to achieve this."
House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee "Annual Report 2005–06 on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office"
"Elections are due next year for the latest, more likely in a couple of months' time.
And, then, there are the miscellaneous minor matters of a dysfunctional education system, a demoralized public service, a divided and paralysed governing political party; a mortally wounded Health Authority ..., the collapsing economy..."
Sounds like Britain to me from the last time that I read the British Newspapers!
And, 35 Chinese at Flag, despite the promises of the Chief Minister that they would be gone by now.
His contractor friends need the Chinese to do their tiling and finishing work. They only charge US$10 per hour. Cheap, and four times the productivity of an Anguillian tiler.
I'm sorry, but I can't help a little "be careful what you wish for", here.
Does Anguilla really *need* copiously-educated, insightful, articulate, career-driven *bureaucrats* telling it what to do in such exquisite, and inevitably minute, detail?
It's like the old libertarian joke: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to *help* you!"
"Help" can be such a, heh, fungible, verb. Like the late and now-prescient Gerry Ford once said, any government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have...
On the other hand, and to mix metaphors like a dead horse :-), maybe Don's right, they're just sending in a ringer from the varsity team to jump-start .ai's constitutional ground-game.
Either that, or they're sending a starting pitcher down to the minors for a little practice on that occasionally errant fastball... ;-) .
WELL IF WE LISTENED TO HE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH YESTERDAY HE SAID HE WOULD NOT BE THE BOSS & THE HON. CM WOULD NOT BE THE BOSS EITHER ... WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO US. LET HE WHO HAS EARS I HOPE HE HEARD... AND HE WHO HAD UNDERSTANDING I PRAY THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD.
EVERYTHING IS GOING AWRY ... AS GYPSY SAID "CAPTAIN THE SHIP IS SINKING, CAPTAIN THE SEAS ARE ROUGH" WHETHER IT BE CAPTAIN GOVERNOR OR CAPTAIN CHIEF MINISTER ... THE SHIP SINKING!!!
WE WILL BE AND ARE LIVING IN VERY EXCITING TIMES ... GOD SAVE THE QUEEN AND ALL HER HEIRS AND LOYAL PEOPLE.
He also said, and I am quoting from his remarks published at http://www.anguillalife.com/news/stories/local/12243.php. Very interesting times.
"I started by talking about history. The first Governor of Anguilla William Watts went down in the history books with the judgement that, "he exercised no effective control of events in Anguilla". I obviously do not want that kind of legacy. So I pledge sincerely to devote myself throughout my posting here to the service of Anguilla and of its people."
Speaking of Indian construction "expats" far from home: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html
It makes me wonder how many passports are currently in the "possession" of employers on Anguilla...
easy. In the early days, when he was still talking to me, I asked Andrew George what he did before he became Governor of Anguilla. He told me he ran the health desk at the FCO. I understood by that that he checked the health insurance of his fellow department officers. Which goes to show what sort of grade the FCO chose for governor of 
It's not all bad, Don. There are 695 happy construction workers from India working at Viceroy.
ReplyDelete"We reiterate our conclusion of March 2006 that the FCO should bring itself into line with the rest of Whitehall, by recruiting more professionally qualified, experienced people to top and middle roles in management and we recommend that in its response to this Report the FCO set out what it is doing or will do to achieve this."
ReplyDeleteHouse of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee
"Annual Report 2005–06 on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office"
"Elections are due next year for the latest, more likely in a couple of months' time.
ReplyDeleteAnd, then, there are the miscellaneous minor matters of a dysfunctional education system, a demoralized public service, a divided and paralysed governing political party; a mortally wounded Health Authority ..., the collapsing economy..."
Sounds like Britain to me from the last time that I read the British Newspapers!
To Anonymous at 11:34
ReplyDeleteAnd, 35 Chinese at Flag, despite the promises of the Chief Minister that they would be gone by now.
His contractor friends need the Chinese to do their tiling and finishing work. They only charge US$10 per hour. Cheap, and four times the productivity of an Anguillian tiler.
I'm sorry, but I can't help a little "be careful what you wish for", here.
ReplyDeleteDoes Anguilla really *need* copiously-educated, insightful, articulate, career-driven *bureaucrats* telling it what to do in such exquisite, and inevitably minute, detail?
It's like the old libertarian joke: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to *help* you!"
"Help" can be such a, heh, fungible, verb. Like the late and now-prescient Gerry Ford once said, any government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have...
On the other hand, and to mix metaphors like a dead horse :-), maybe Don's right, they're just sending in a ringer from the varsity team to jump-start .ai's constitutional ground-game.
Either that, or they're sending a starting pitcher down to the minors for a little practice on that occasionally errant fastball... ;-)
.
WELL IF WE LISTENED TO HE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH YESTERDAY HE SAID HE WOULD NOT BE THE BOSS & THE HON. CM WOULD NOT BE THE BOSS EITHER ... WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO US. LET HE WHO HAS EARS I HOPE HE HEARD... AND HE WHO HAD UNDERSTANDING I PRAY THAT THEY UNDERSTOOD.
ReplyDeleteEVERYTHING IS GOING AWRY ... AS GYPSY SAID "CAPTAIN THE SHIP IS SINKING, CAPTAIN THE SEAS ARE ROUGH" WHETHER IT BE CAPTAIN GOVERNOR OR CAPTAIN CHIEF MINISTER ... THE SHIP SINKING!!!
WE WILL BE AND ARE LIVING IN VERY EXCITING TIMES ... GOD SAVE THE QUEEN AND ALL HER HEIRS AND LOYAL PEOPLE.
He also said, and I am quoting from his remarks published at http://www.anguillalife.com/news/stories/local/12243.php. Very interesting times.
ReplyDelete"I started by talking about history. The first Governor of Anguilla William Watts went down in the history books with the judgement that, "he exercised no effective control of events in Anguilla". I obviously do not want that kind of legacy. So I pledge sincerely to devote myself throughout my posting here to the service of Anguilla and of its people."
Speaking of Indian construction "expats" far from home: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/the-dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html
ReplyDeleteIt makes me wonder how many passports are currently in the "possession" of employers on Anguilla...