Due diligence

The Social Security Board is responsible for the safe-keeping of the Social Security Fund.  That is one of the reasons why the recent story about the Government of Anguilla consenting to the Social Security Board taking a particular loan is so disturbing.

Below is a letter from the Government of Anguilla to the Social Security Board.  It is in the public domain.  I found it posted on the website axareality.com.  It cries out for comment and for explanation.  It is dated 9 July 2010.  It was signed by the Hon Hubert Hughes, Chief Minister and Minister of Finance.  The Minister of Finance of Anguilla is the Minister for the Social Security Board.  The Board and its Investment Committee make their own investments, but the Minister has statutory power to oversee the Board’s activities.

The letter authorises Social Security to borrow up to US$200 million from United Investment Limited of Austin, Texas.  The letter authorises the use of the Social Security Fund to be the security for the loan.  I need not remind you that that Fund is the contributors’ money.  It is not the money of the government of Anguilla or of the members of the Social Security Board.  The Board has strictly limited powers to invest the Fund.  They are charged with what I consider a sacred duty to invest the monies in the Fund for the advantage of the owners, the contributors to the Fund.  Before they begin negotiating with a supposed lender about putting the Fund up as security, we would expect that they would do their due diligence to ensure they are dealing with a reputable institution.

For such a supposedly major financier, United Investment Limited's website is remarkable for the many grammatical and punctuation errors on its various pages.  Whoever the owners are, and despite the numbers they quote, they seem not to be big enough to employ someone to proof-read their website content.  You might almost think that their promotional materials on the website were written by a semi-literate schoolchild, rather than by the marketing department of a major financier.  It is also remarkably lacking in any solid information about the company or its work.

If you do a little detective work and investigate United Investment Limited further, this is what you find:

> domain:                          ui-ltd.com

> created:                         06-Apr-2006

> last-changed:                    07-Apr-2010

> registration-expiration:         06-Apr-2011

> 

> nserver:                         ns47.1and1.com 74.208.2.7

> nserver:                         ns48.1and1.com 74.208.3.6

> 

> status:                          CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

> 

> registrant-firstname:            Kirby

> registrant-lastname:             Gonzales

> registrant-street1:              660 Preston Forest center

> registrant-pcode:                75002

> registrant-state:                TX

> registrant-city:                 Dallas

> registrant-ccode:                US

> registrant-phone:                +214.6329531

> registrant-email:                info@dallasfestival.com

This tells us that the United Investment Limited website was created by one Kirby Gonzales in 2006.  In 2006, Kirby advertised the company as "an OEM manufacturer and Distributor of building electrical supplies and tools for constuction of housing, commercial, medical and educational institutes. We also sell Petroleum and Gas profucts." Yet, in the space of four short years, the company now claims the ability to lend or to arrange a loan of upwards of US$200 million.  That is quite an extraordinary accomplishment.

If you go to the corporationwiki.com website, you will find a list of other companies formed by Kirby and Stacy Gonzales.  From the addresses of their various companies, it seems that they operate out of Trinidad and Tobago.  It would appear to me that Kirby and Stacy are in the business, among others, of creating shell companies in Texas.  A shell company is one that is barely worth the paper its certificate is printed on.

Of course, the matter may just have been an advance-fee fraud.  This is a lucrative but dishonest business.  It involves a person calling himself an investment adviser pretending to desperate borrowers that he can find easy, cheap money for them to borrow.  All the borrower has to do is to pay in advance a fee of a few thousand dollars to be introduced to the lender.  It is usually demanded towards the end of the transaction when the desperate borrower feels the deal is about to close.  Once the fee is paid you never hear from the investment adviser again, and the lender mysteriously disappears.  In which case, we may have risked losing only a few thousand US dollars.  I am not suggesting that is what happened here.  Indeed, there is no evidence that any advance fee was asked for or paid. 

For the loan to have been authorised by government it would need to have been approved by the Executive Council.  Heaven alone knows how ExCo could have authorised the Chief Minister to sign such a thing as that letter.  The whole transaction should have been suspicious from the start.  It appears to have been a proposition that almost suckered in our Chief Minister.  Fortunately, the transaction seems to have been stopped by someone who did his due diligence.  In my opinion, the due diligence should have been done before the Chief Minister was asked to sign the letter. 

This is all very disturbing.  If you were unkind and wanted to be sarcastic you might say that this incident clearly indicates that Anguilla needs to declare immediate independence so that our leaders can work for the people without the interference of the “meddling British”.

Related posts:

Fevered

Secured loans

Hush-hush

Other committees and commissions:  The 1982 Constitution of Anguilla contains provisions that offend against transparency.  In particular it provides for the arbitrary and one-man execution of some of the processes that in a democratic country should be handled by independent local institutions. 

Let us take the absence of a Mercy Committee as an example.  At present section 76 gives the Secretary of State acting through the Governor the sole power to grant a pardon, either free or subject to conditions, to a convicted person.  Anguilla is not unique in this respect.  In most of our territories, the Governor has the Constitutional power to function without any local Mercy Committee to advise him on what to do.  Whenever the prerogative of mercy is exercised in the fashion prescribed by the Constitution, legitimate doubts will arise as to its propriety.  The question will be asked, what does a foreign politician or diplomat know about who in our prisons should have his sentence shortened or commuted?  The suspicion will be that he has relied on the advice of some unknown advisers lurking in the darkness around him.  The result is that no sensible Governor is likely ever take the risk of exercising the power, even in the clearest of situations.  It is either that or be prepared to face personal doubts and attacks over his motives if he ever does exercise it.  This is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs. 

The absence of a Boundaries Commission to ensure transparency in the placing of electoral boundaries to the various political constituencies is another vexed issue.  In some of our islands there has been no Boundaries Commission appointed for centuries.  As demographics have shifted, some of our electoral districts have become a small fraction of the size of others.  Good government demands that our people have more or less equal representation in the House. 

Related posts:

Mercy Committee

Electoral Boundaries

ExCo Secrets

Anguillians are not entitled to know what ExCo is doing on our behalf. Someone has pointed out to me why our Chief Minister has taken up giving his press conference on Tuesdays of every week. The Anguillian and The Light newspapers are published on Thursdays. The Cabinet of Anguilla, also known as the Executive Council, or ExCo, meets on Thursdays. The deadline for getting an article published in the local press is Wednesday at midday. If the Chief Minister is to meet the publication deadline, Tuesday is as good a day as it gets for holding his press conference.

At his press conference, he could address, as we have been demanding, the issues dealt with at the previous meeting of ExCo. But, he avoids telling us anything about what any meeting of ExCo has discussed or decided. Instead, he attempts to grab the headlines with empty rhetoric and patriotic posturing. Shameful propaganda. But, we understand his reasoning.

Anguillians are not entitled.

Why tell Anguillians what ExCo is doing on their behalf? We already know that it is none of our business, don’t we?

Hell, we aren’t even interested enough to have asked for this information before.

Anguillians have never previously asked to be let in on the secrets of ExCo.

Why start informing us now?

Besides, Anguillians are such dummies we won't even realise that his press conference is not about what government has been discussing at ExCo, but about what he thinks will make government look like they really care.

Secrecy

ExCo Decisions. We have over the years repeatedly asked the Chief Minister to open up the decisions of the Executive Council to fresh air and sunlight. We suggested that it was not appropriate for decisions of cabinet to be concealed from the public. Practically every other Overseas Territory has a post-cabinet meeting. Some authorised official, usually the Chief Minister or Premier, briefs the press and public on the most important issues discussed by ExCo. The public is informed generally of the major decisions taken on their behalf by their leaders. In this way, transparency and public confidence are built up and demonstrated.

Instead, the Hon Osbourne Fleming, our Chief Minister, has chosen to imitate the strategy of previous Chief Minister, Hubert Hughes. Each week for the last couple of months, he has been holding a Chief Minister’s Press Conference on Tuesdays to which members of the Anguilla press are invited. There, our “press” fawn and pay obeisance at the feet of the officiating ministers. They learned well under the previous regime. They would never to dare ask a critical question, or risk getting crunched up by Hubert's very effective mouth.

At these press conferences, not one of the ministers says a word about any decision taken by ExCo at its previous meeting. The Chief Minister uses the occasion to enlist the press in making him and his ministers look good. He, and a few invited ministers, speak about their great concern and love for Anguilla. They boast about their achievements. They exhort Anguillians to do more for the love of their country. The press lap it up and publish it with not a critical word. Not a word of dissent is published, even in an opinion column. Hubert did the same thing successfully for years while he was previously Chief Minister.

That is not what we asked for.

No transparency.

No accountability.

No good governance.

More Ministers

Increasing the Size of Executive Council. I may have misheard. It was on the radio yesterday as I was driving back from a most strenuous walk. I was not concentrating. It was the Hon Chief Minister speaking. He was saying something about going to London. He was explaining that the burden on the existing four ministers is unbearable. There is a need to increase the size of the Executive Council to share the burden of government. He was saying that he was going to “ask permission” to have a fifth Minister appointed.

I could not understand what he was saying.

Then, I heard him say that he wanted this done “before the Constitution was changed”. I was dumbfounded! I could not believe what I was hearing.

As every Anguillian schoolchild knows, section 23 of the 1982 Constitution of Anguilla says that ExCo consists of the Chief Minister and “not more than three other Ministers”. It is in the Constitution! The Constitution limits the maximum number of Ministers to four. The Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission has reported since August 2006 that a majority of Anguillians making representations to the Commission want to see ExCo increased in size. They also are clear that this is on one condition. The number of Ministers must never again exceed fifty percent of the elected members of the House. To do otherwise is to completely gut the House of Assembly and make it useless as a check or balance on the Executive branch of government. There are only seven elected members of the House. Most Anguillians want to see that number increased to thirteen. Then, there can be an increase of ExCo, or Cabinet, to five or six. See paragraph 37 of the Report [link here]. The correct balance will thus be maintained.

The Hon Chief Minister is no dummy. He well knows that no one can increase the size of ExCo without changing the Constitution. Not even the British Government can alter this. Not even the Queen can authorize such a change without changing the Constitution. The Constitution cannot be changed without the consent of the people of Anguilla. The people have spoken through the representations they made to the Commission during the year 2006. The only way that the number of Ministers can properly be increased is by following the voice of the people as heard in paragraph 37 of the Constitutional and Electoral Commission Report.

Of course, I may have completely misheard. Worse mistakes have happened!

Crown Lands

Constitutional Discussions 22: Disposal of Crown Lands. Opportunities for official corruption by local administrators in a colonial setting are limited. The External Auditor reports to the Governor and the House of Assembly on the spending of public funds. He ensures that it is difficult, if not impossible, for senior government figures to dip their fingers into the public purse and remain undiscovered. There is thus an external check on waste of public monies. Not so in the case of public lands. There are no checks and balances when it comes to wheeling and dealing in public lands. This lack has long been a cause of public ferment and distrust in Anguilla. It is a subject on which several representations were forthcoming to the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission during the public discussions leading up to its August 2006 Report.

Section 75 of the Anguilla Constitution presently provides that the Governor is the person who signs legal instruments dealing with Crown land. He is obliged to do so on the advice of the Executive Council, or cabinet. This two-step strategy ensures some degree of control. Most Anguillians believe that is not sufficient. It does not give the Anguillian public the full assurance that it demands. A Governor will not be sufficiently aware of local affairs to be able to question a dealing that is inadvisable but that is being pressed on him by Cabinet. One suggestion for reform found wide acceptance. It was to require all dealings in Crown lands to be the subject of debate in the House of Assembly. This strategy would act as an additional control on wasteful dealing in public land. The fear of public exposure would limit the temptation to deal improperly in public lands. The Commission recommended at paragraph 162 of its Report that section 75 of the Constitution should be amended to provide that all future dealings in public lands in excess of one acre be required to be approved by a Resolution of the Assembly.

It is a matter for regret that both the supporters of Government and of the Opposition meeting in caucus at Limestone Bay Café disagreed with the recommendation of the Commission. They all preferred that the present provision remain as it is.

We are left to wonder why!

Salaries

Curacao’s Example.

Aruba is notorious as being the most corrupt country in the West Indies. For decades it has been owned from top to bottom by the New Jersey Mafia. Not to be compared with St Maarten. That is owned by the Sicilian Mafia. In Aruba, no serious crime is committed except with approval of the bosses. Gratuitous crime is bad for business. The massive casinos and houses of prostitution that are the basis of Aruba’s tourist industry might suffer an unacceptable drop off in income. Anyone guilty of an unauthorized crime is seriously punished. And, I do not mean through the courts! That is one reason why the murder/disappearance of the silly little blond US chick on Spring Break in Aruba a few months ago was so shocking. It was bad for business, and clearly had not had official approval.

Second to Aruba must be Curacao. It has been run by its own home-grown mafia for generations. Even St Maarten and Aruba could not stand it any longer, and sought and gained separation. So, we read the Curacao press usually with disbelief and dismay. Their political confusion is normally too complex to understand.

A correspondent recently sent me a Curacao story from the Friday August 17 issue of the Daily Herald. It had me spellbound. The new government in Curacao has repudiated a recent increase of salaries for government ministers. That salaries increase had been instituted by the outgoing government. The article read:

WILLEMSTAD--The Council of Ministers has decided to revoke the proposed hike in salaries and new pension agreement for Members of the Island Council and Executive Council in Curaçao. The decision of the Island Council on June 28 to approve the hike is against the general interest of the Netherlands Antilles, Prime Minister Emily de Jongh-Elhage said. Approval of the salary increase immediately sparked widespread criticism from political parties and various sectors in Curaçao. Consequently, Lt. Governor Lisa Richards-Dindial did not sign off and publish the island ordinance.

An editorial in the same issue of the newspaper was even more revealing:

With its decision to revoke the salary hike and new pension scheme for Curaçao’s Commissioners and Island Council members, the Council of Ministers has gone a long way in reassuring the public that the Netherlands Antilles can adhere to principles of proper governance. Once the Advisory Council stated that the June 28 decision by the outgoing Island Council three days before the new council took office was against the penal law, the Islands Regulation ERNA and the general interest, it was clearly the only way to go. Some doubts had risen about the incoming PAR-led governments at both the federal and island level having the guts to reverse the much criticised decision by the former FOL-led coalition, mostly because FOL is also a member of the new coalition with PAR and PNP. The fact that several controversial appointments by the outgoing FOL-led Executive Council were not reversed added to the concern. There was some discussion on forming a committee to look into that matter, but so far little else

Stories appearing on various websites and in newspapers have suggested that in recent times Anguillian government ministers and members of the House of Assembly have increased their salaries on two separate occasions. The most recent one when a general salary increase of 20% was announced. To quote my correspondent:

When we in Anguilla look to Curacao as an arbiter of ethical governance, we're in big trouble.

I am reluctant to post anything about integrity in government when I am under threat of legal action by government Ministers. However, this is such a revealing story that it deserves more air-time. Besides, the purpose of this Blog is to discuss just this sort of issue. It would be very sad if a threat could silence this Blog. But, I ask you to be careful in your comments. My lawyers tell me that I must not be thought of as encouraging malicious comments.

What is your view? Do you believe that we can learn anything from Curacao? Do you believe that our Ministers acted in the interest of the public when they increased salaries?

Cabinet Meetings

Constitutional Discussions 9: Cabinet Meetings. The UK has an “unwritten” Constitution. Citizens of the UK cannot rely on a document called a Constitution. That does not mean they do not have a Constitution. They have a highly developed Constitution. It consists of various separate laws and parts of laws, and, more importantly, various conventions and practices that are as fundamental and as binding as if they had been written in a document. Anguilla, like most of our West Indies, has a democracy that is very new. Adult suffrage only dates back to the 1950s. We have very few conventions. Where they exist, they are not yet well established. We cannot rely on our leaders to always do the right thing. It is important to put down in writing some of the rules that in other, more developed, countries they keep as conventions.

One of these important rules is that Cabinet must meet frequently to discuss the affairs of government. The practice in Anguilla is for the meeting to take place at the Governor’s office every Thursday morning. The Governor sends out the notice and in theory has the power to set the Agenda. The Commission recommended at paragraph 67 of its Report that the section be amended. Anguillians would prefer our Constitution to provide for regular weekly meetings of a Cabinet, to be summoned by the Premier, and with the obligation that he must do so if two or more Ministers require it.

Members of the Assembly disagreed. They prefer to leave the provision as it is. They are happy for the Governor to be responsible for summoning Cabinet meetings.

God alone knows why!

Bermuda

Leadership Qualities in Bermuda. A correspondent recently sent me a remarkable article. It comes from the Royal Gazette of Bermuda. It is a newspaper, not the same thing as our Official Gazette. It contains a scathing indictment of the Premier and the Governor. The story of the investigation of the Premier for being involved in stealing money out of the Housing Corporation is now well known. The police have written a report on his involvement. The Premier has gone to court in an attempt to squash the story. The island’s Auditor General has been arrested for leaking the story to the press. It is very sordid. But, what really caught my interest was this quote from the article:

The Bermudian capacity for self-deception is staggering. So long as affluence provides its anaesthetising padding, why should any of us be impacted by dishonest representatives, when an honest one has become so increasingly rare.

Why worry about integrity or morality? Have these become not just outdated meaningless words, but dispensable qualities? We live in a society with one of the world’s highest per capita incomes, but one of the lowest educational standards.

We accept the continuing rape of our land for its commercial rather than intrinsic value. We are reliant on an industry that wouldn’t have the slightest hesitation in relocating if its profitability were more advantageous elsewhere.

Isn’t it clearly time to clean up our mess? Shouldn’t we dispense with those who are besmirched by their greed and disgraceful intent? Shouldn’t we think about encouraging those who are honest, whose work is genuine and whose aim is to produce long-term benefits for this island and for every individual who lives here?

Just replace “Bermuda” with “Anguilla” in the first paragraph. Do we see some relevance?

Water Bills

Public Water. While I am on Anguilla’s public water supply, let me get one matter off my chest. That is the payment system for public water, or lack thereof. While I was gone from Anguilla between the years 1999 and 2004, working in neighbouring islands, I diligently paid my Anguillian water bill every month. Even when I was not there to use any water, I paid. I had been told that I had to pay for the meter rental. Whether or not I used any water, I had to pay the monthly minimum. I paid. I considered it my civic duty, indeed a legal obligation. It was only years later that I learned that the mains pipe from the water tank at Old Ta to North Hill village, into which I had a connection, had been abandoned several years previously. I had been paying for water that not only I had not been using, but that had ceased to flow in that mains pipe for several years before. I could not have used it even if I had turned on the tap! The Water Department was considerate enough to cancel my last bill and discontinue the billing.

It turns out that there is no legal obligation to pay for water in Anguilla. Most people who are fortunate enough to receive a supply of piped government water do not pay for it. Only suckers pay. That’s official. I have learned that a consultant’s report several years ago revealed that, even then, at least fifty percent of all the public water supplied in Anguilla was being stolen. I understand there was an effort to prosecute one or two of the biggest offenders, people who took government water and even resold it. Nothing came of the effort. The Attorney General’s Chambers advised the Water Department that no prosecution could succeed. The reason why? Apparently, the law of Anguilla still was that only the secretary of the St Kitts Water Board could prosecute. And, since there was no St Kitts Water Board, nor any secretary of it, in Anguilla, there was no one authorized to prosecute persons who stole Anguilla’s public water. The Water Department tried cutting off the water supply to offenders’ homes. The culprits simply got a plumber to hook up unofficial connections to tap into the public supply. Not one of these offenders, of whom I understand there are several hundred, was ever prosecuted.

So, why did government not just introduce a law in the House of Assembly and create a new Water Board to enforce Anguilla’s water laws? They were advised to do just that. I am told that a draft new law was even Gazetted for discussion several years ago. But, then our brilliant and far-thinking Ministers had second thoughts. They withdrew support for the proposed new law. The reason? They did not want to “criminalize” stealing of water. Why not? Because, it turns out, some of their biggest supporters were the major offenders. The reason why their excuse for inaction is stupid is that everyone knows that they could have announced an amnesty and given every one of the thieves a chance to get their connection recorded and legalized. It would only be the most deliberate and stubborn of offenders who would be “criminalized”.

Meanwhile, I have checked the law. What the Water Department was advised by the Attorney General’s Chambers is no longer true, if it ever was. The Watercourses and Waterworks Act does provide for an Anguilla Water Board. It consists of the Water Engineer and four other members to be appointed by ExCo. All that happened is that ExCo failed to appoint the four members. They seem to have deliberately not put in place the Water Board that the law provided for to enforce Anguilla’s water legislation. If this conjecture is true, it is evidence of absolute negligence on the part of ExCo!

Needless to say, I long ago stopped paying for government water. I rely on my cistern and the water I collect on my roof. I have to do so. There is no functioning water mains anywhere near my home. I still cannot get public water even though I want to pay for it.

This post was an aside. I want to continue considering some health hazards in the next few ones.

Water Hazard

Water Quality. Basic to a nation’s health is the quality of the water available to its public. When we drink a glass of water we expect that “the authorities” have ensured that it is safe to drink. I have received a number of emails recently that suggest that is not the case in Anguilla. I have gone around asking questions.

How do you know that Anguilla’s water is safe to drink? Because, it is tested at the Water Lab and the tests indicate that it is safe. But, Anguilla has no functioning water lab. We have not been able to test water in Anguilla for some years now. There is a building going up adjacent to the Environmental Health Unit near the NBA roundabout in The Valley. It is designed to be the new Water Lab, but it has not yet been handed over to government. I visited it yesterday, and there were two men working in it. At the rate that two unsupervised men usually proceed with construction, it will be many months if not years before it is ready to be commissioned.

We have a trained and qualified water technician at the EHU. She was not authorized to answer my questions about the quality of Anguilla’s water supply. So, I can only tell you what people who should know have been telling me. I hope you have a strong stomach for some of what I shall be passing on to you in the coming days. My concern is that if something is not done urgently about Anguilla’s present environmental hazards, the gastroenteritis outbreak that we experienced last year is going to be a joke in comparison to what we can expect.

It is not as if our Ministers of government are insensitive to the issues. Perhaps the loudest round of applause that greeted any of the Chief Minister’s announcements on the Park on Wednesday was for his promise that the Dolphinarium would not be permitted to be relocated to Sandy Ground. You must know that an area of the sea outside the old Mariners Hotel was to have been fenced off and turned into a dolphin cage. They would be fed there, and they would use the sea as their toilet. The Anguilla National Trust had written a well-researched and strongly worded plea against this installation. They had pointed out there had been no Environmental Impact Assessment. There had been no consultation with the residents of Sandy Ground. There had been no study of the impact on the animals of the oil, noise and traffic from the nearby cargo jetty. Unbelievably, the Planning Department had gone ahead and given planning permission. Not a soul in Sandy Ground had been consulted. No member of the swimming public knew that their beach was about to be turned into one big dolphin toilet. I have been the recipient of a surprisingly large number of astonished emails enquiring how our government could have allowed such a thing. Osborne and his ministers redeemed themselves in the eyes of many when they took this bold and correct decision to prohibit the relocation. They have some more steps they need to take in the same area of public health and welfare.

Executive Council

Press Briefings. On 20 April the government of the Cayman Islands gave a “post-cabinet press briefing”. It is an example to us in Anguilla how an Executive Council can involve the people in good governance issues. It is a matter of regret to many of us in Anguilla that government, despite recent efforts, continues to shield us from knowledge of the important issues they are tackling. How are we to respond when we find out only after the fact?

Here is what the Cayman Net News published on 23 April:

Cabinet Ministers demand say in key Government agencies
Monday, April 23, 2007

Elected members of Cabinet are insisting that they be involved in national security matters involving the Royal Cayman Islands Police Services, HM Customs and Immigration Department. Currently, these responsibilities fall under the Governor’s reserved powers in the Cayman Islands Constitution. . . Cabinet members . . . told last week’s post-Cabinet press briefing at the GIS they wanted a change in the status quo . . .

“This is just not right, we are the elected representatives, we are the people held accountable irrespective of what the Constitution says,” said Mr McLaughlin, stressing that it is his personal opinion on the matter . . . Mr McLaughlin said he was not prepared to support funding for the police if Cabinet did not form part of the discussions.

“It is fundamentally wrong and I have made it clear that I am not prepared to support funding or anything to do with the police if I am not apprised of the basis of that funding and if the elected Government is shut out of the discussions about it,” said Mr McLaughlin. “This is a constant battle and constant tension and we are seeking to have at least one elected member of the Cabinet part of these discussions.”

Mr McLaughlin warned that there could be a crisis if Cabinet is left out from discussions involving the three agencies. “From my perspective they are either going to involve the elected Government or they will have a crisis on their hands,” he said.

Is this not a refreshing change from how our Executive Council fails to publicise its difficult issues?

Of course, we in Anguilla are in complete control of our Customs and Immigration Departments. They fall under the Chief Minister’s portfolio. But, we have no local institution in charge of the Royal Anguilla Police Force. They are presently a law unto themselves. They are essentially unregulated. You cannot call having the Governor in charge a form of regulation. The Governor of Anguilla has repeatedly over the past decades abdicated all responsibility for ensuring standards in the police force. Only if we have a local agency, such as the Police Service Commission as recommended by the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission in its report of 25 August 2006, in charge of the RAPF will there be any movement away from the present near-disastrous situation.

That’s not just my opinion, but the opinion of a majority of persons who made representations to the Commission. Would it not be wonderful if we really had regular press briefings like those given by the Cayman Executive Council? How much we would learn about the problems faced by our government! How much more support we could give them!

Complaints Procedure

Why are we not considering a complaints procedure in Anguilla? If we are mistreated by a government department who do we complain to? Can we appeal to anyone if injustice is served out to us by a public servant?

Falkland Islands is doing something about it. See the article in the Falkland Islands News Network. It is a summary of what was discussed in their Executive Council on 29 January 2007. I am reading it today, 30 January. That is the day following their Executive Council meeting!

Why do we not get told even a week later what was discussed in our Executive Council? Why is everything so secret? What are they ashamed about? Why can we not have a little transparency in our government? It is not a legal requirement that Executive Council minutes be kept secret. It is only a bad habit that we have grown accustomed to.

It is not as if we do not have the resources to be more transparent. Our Chief Minister has a Special Assistant PRO, Curtis Richardson. He has also recruited Wycliffe Richardson to hold Curtis’ hand. What are the two of them doing? Why do we not hear from either of them what the government is saying and doing on our behalf?

Then, there is the government website. See if you can find anything interesting on it. It has got to be one of the most boring government websites in the entire West Indies. The Chief Minister could change all that by ordering a summary of every Executive Council meeting to be published on the website immediately after every meeting.