Promises

Questions for the Hon Chief Minister. Elkin has announced that the Hon Chief Minister will be on his radio talk-show, To the Point, on Monday. He may want a few back-up questions for the Chief. Looking again at the last published political manifesto of the ruling United Front political party, which the Chief Minister heads, some possible questions spring to mind. They include:

1. One of the first promises made in the document was to:

“c) Re-establish good governance and excellence in the operations of the various institutions of the Government”.

Can you tell us what your government has done specifically to re-establish good governance and excellence in the various institutions of government?

Is it true that you as Minister of Immigration regularly intervene personally when the Immigration Department has ordered a foreigner who has overstayed to leave the island to change the decision?

Is it true that you as Minister of Lands intervene personally when the Land Development Control Committee and the Planning Department have made a planning decision to overrule the decision?

Does that mean that some people get a break based on their political connections, while others have to follow the rules?

Would good governance not be better provided if the rules were applied by an independent public service equally to all? Should these matters not be removed from political influence? Could you not change the law to create an independent Planning Appeals Board and an Immigration Appeals Tribunal to handle such matters?

2. Another promise was to:

“f) Increase the degree of transparency, openness and accountability to the people of Anguilla’.

Can you show us how there is more transparency now than under the previous Hubert Hughes Administration?

In what way is government more open now?

What steps have you taken to increase accountability to the people of Anguilla?

We who live in Anguilla believe that government continues, as it has always been, to have its foundations in secrecy. Our system of government is based on who is related to whom, and who owes whom a favour. Anguilla is a classic example of having a government of men, not of law. Anguilla falls politically and sociologically into the class of “frontier society”. That is the polite way of saying that we are a typical “third-world" country. No high standards of governance are expected from the leadership of such a country.

So, it would be interesting to hear if the Chief Minister can point to any improvement his administration has made to our long-standing system of poor government.

Or, is it just that I am being naive in expecting better from the United Front government, and that everyone knows that manifestos are designed and published to help win an election, and they are not intended to make any meaningful or serious promises?