02 September, 2010

Montserrat 4


The FCO proposes to have the Constitution of Montserrat permit the removal of trial by jury:  The wording of section 6 of the draft Constitution makes possible the removal of the right to trial by jury.  There is no suggestion that the people of Montserrat consider this new development either advisable or desirable.  This proposal may have been stimulated by recent failures in prosecution mainly of sexual cases.  Such failures, from what I have been told, spring from patent weaknesses in the prosecution’s cases, and not to any perversity of the jury.
This is not the only assault on the fundamental right of the people of Montserrat to the protection of law.  The same section 6 contains a provision contemplating abolition of the right to appeal from some or all convictions in the Magistrate’s Court.  Such a drastic curtailment of this fundamental right is inappropriate without thorough consultation with and support from the people of Montserrat, of which there is no evidence. 
Such a proposal is so offensive as to be incredible in a draft Constitution proposed by an FCO legal team.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Don,

    just something posted on axareality. No need to repost it by you, just wanted you to read it as you are mentioned in it.


    corruption?


    Whenever corruption in governmenthas been suspected, there has never been proof given to substantiate the claims. What business other than tourism brings the most money to Anguilla? Construction, cement and heavy equipment rentals. Follow the money is always the way to find corruption, but as we are a tax haven, without probable cause, warrants for investigating private accounts are hard to come by.

    During the AUF government, much was made of Daddy Harrigans preferred treatment by the AUF government in securing lucrative contracts from developers. Millions of dollars in profits were generated.
    A possible scenario.
    Offs**** accounts could legally be set up in his name and funds paid to him for services rendered. Then, thank you payments could have been made to the politicos who steered business in that direction. Impossible to prove unless bank records were supplied.

    It would seem that now that there is a change in government the same is going on.A minister calls a hotel owner and tells him to only hire equipment from his son, thus awarding hundreds of thousands of dollars to one contractor without bids being made by others.

    Don Mitchell spoke about this in his past blogs.
    This is the only significant amount of money that comes into Anguilla that could justify a minister making that call. If that call had been taped, could the minister be prosecuted? If this was done in Europe or the US could he be prosecuted?

    Is this considered blatant corruption, or accepted business practice here in Anguilla? Do we condone this because sooner or later it will swing our way?
    How many millions of illegally gained dollars sit on offs**** bank accounts belonging to our ministers?

    Does England care? Are they a silent partner in this? Better let sleeping dogs lie? Could they muster the intelligence to find these accounts and expose the culprits?

    Do I give way too much credit to our politicians? Are they really capable of scheming to this high level?

    Too many questions and not enough answers. However it will be impossible for Anguilla to move forward towards independence until these questions are answered.

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  2. See Don. Nobody cares. too many people have a hand in it or if the tide changes could get one. Nobody want's to rock the boat. It comes from the cultural pirate heritage of Anguilla. Everyone here is out for themselves and thinks little of the community at large. It will take decades to change that mentality, if ever. You are trying to row upstrweam without a paddle.

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  3. A possible scenario?
    You expect someone to waste time responding to a possible scenario? As for our "cultural pirate heritage", most of the English pirates of old, did in fact return to England.
    Just in case you miss the point, the Governors have cronies just like the politicians. Do not be fooled by the mealy mouth uttering of the new brand of British pirates. The last thing the underbelly of the foreign office want in any of these "overseas territories" is good governance.
    Why is there no integrity legislation in Anguilla? It is because the BRITISH do not want any. How come the British refuse to assist the new government with a financial forensic audit of the last government? Why is there corruption in Anguilla (if any)? It is because the BRITISH like it so. How else can they claim bad governance, invade the islands, destroy the economy, bankrupt the country, take it over and integrate it into Britain?
    I am the proud Anguillian descendant of Africans who were enslaved and brutalized and I do not appreciate wise cracks about my cultural heritage. Neither do I appreciate the “black people cannot govern themselves” mentality of the foreign office operatives like Kate Sullivan and all the other hypocrites.
    VEXED ANGUILLIAN

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