Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Info For Craft Swap Partners
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Silly Season
Silly Season. That's what the press calls the month when all the important people go away on holiday. 
There is no news to report. So, they report silly stories like, “Man bites dog.” It is now only June, but it is silly season in Anguilla. There is nothing worth reporting in the newspapers. Nothing on the radio.
No one has emailed me with any new stories about maladministration in the public service. Nothing about any of the projects being about to fail due to wasteful management. Nothing about the test results on Anguilla's water table.
Was I mistaken, or did I hear on radio a boast from the new water corporation that we are going to abandon the use of desalinized sea water? Desalinized well-water will be cheaper, I heard. We have been consuming desalinized sea water for the past couple of years. Some sixty-five percent (65%) of it is said to be wasted. Illegal hook-ups that we do nothing to prosecute is part of the problem. Leaking joints due to faulty plumbing causes the rest.
Instead, we are going to use the water in Anguilla's water table. I thought we abandoned that resource years ago due to the pollution. Going back to that source will somehow cure the leaking joints?
Hopefully, the leachate problem has been solved. Either that, or, ten years after the change-over, increasing numbers of babies can be expected to be born with three legs and no brain. That won't be silly at all.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Favours
Is it Ever Acceptable for an 
Attorney to Ask a Minister to Do a Favour for a Client? I do not normally respond to jibes and insults. Any blogger who opens fire in the direction of others must expect to be fired back at. However, there was one comment posted on ‘Big Chief” that requires a response. The anonymous commentator, among other things, said,
“All of you, including Brent, have on occasions requested some Government Minister to address a problem you faced from the Civil Service Staff. To assist you in a situation not to your liking but which may have been in strict compliance with a Law or Regulation. You were all granted your assistance. Its no different now.
Why the sudden ‘Virtue’?”
It is a corrupt form of government that permits a Minister to bend the law for a favoured supporter. It is dangerous and corrupt for a lawyer to ask a Minister for a special favour. That is unacceptable conduct under any system of government. Ours is a small society. There are so many petty spites and hurts. There are so many cousins and supporters who come seeking a favour. It is a particularly pernicious and evil system in a society such as ours.
Our representatives are elected to the House of Assembly to represent all the people’s interests. They select the Executive branch of government from among themselves. The Executive branch develops national policy. They bring that policy to the members of the Legislature as a Bill or Motion. The Legislature debates the Bill, and passes it into law, or rejects it. The Judges adjudicate when there is a dispute between citizen and citizen, or citizen and government. The Public Service reads the law passed by the Legislature. They apply that law impartially and fairly to all citizens. They make no exception, except within the bounds set by the law. That is our Westminster-style Constitution at work in its ideal form.
No Minister is permitted to contact a public servant and tell him or her to make an exception for a favourite of the Minister. Nor, can a Minister ring up a public servant and tell him or her to treat one citizen more severely than another. We are supposed to have a system of government of laws, and not of men. That is how we ensure government works fairly and equitably.
What Brent was complaining about is that in
We would not have a system of government by law and not of men if a foreign employer were to fire an Anguillian employee for stealing, and the Chief Minister could tell the employer that he either re-hires the employee or he loses his work permit. That is a system of government that Anguillians want to avoid.
That is the system of government they have in Antigua and
I cannot speak for Brent. I can only speak for myself. I practiced law in St Kitts between 1971 and 1976. I never approached a Minister and asked him to make an exception for a client.
I practised law in
Ministers of Government came to my office for legal services. I charged them a fee. I never performed free legal services for a single one of them. I would not have wanted them to think they owed me a favour.
I would be ashamed to think that a single present-day lawyer in
The comment in question quoted above is not only not true, it reflects badly on whomsoever wrote it.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Shallowness
Tell the People the Truth!
There is a joke among lawyers. It is supposedly advice on strategy being given by an old lawyer to a young one. It goes like this.
“When the law is against you, rely on the facts. When the facts are against you, rely on the law. When the facts and the law are against you, attack your opponent’s integrity.”
It is only partly a joke. It is a good description of the tactics frequently used by unscrupulous lawyers to confuse the adjudicator. The reason the tactic is used so often is that, transparent though it often is, unethical as it always is, it so often succeeds. Otherwise intelligent people fall for it over and over again. So, I was not surprised when someone anonymously posted a personal attack on me as a “comment” on my latest post below. He or she wrote in part,
“It is quite obvious that you are pro-colonialism. Are you suggesting that
It is a rhetorical question, of course. It does not expect an answer. Its purpose is to attack the loyalty and patriotism of the author of this blog. Accusing a West Indian of being “pro-British” is one of the easiest ways of condemning him in an uncritical public mind. Persons who look at skin-colour and stop thinking may be easily persuaded to believe the worse. The misrepresentation of what I have been warning about needs no comment. It will be transparently clear to anyone who has been reading my posts.
The Westminster-style Constitution traditionally places a minimum of emphasis on creating and installing institutions and mechanisms to secure integrity, transparency and accountability. That system has been described in the past with some justification, because of its lack of checks and balances, as a dictatorship of the Prime Minister. No matter how gentlemanly our present representatives are, we do not know who our government will be in the future. We need a system that will guarantee our freedoms if our future leaders turn out to be not what we expected. We must have a system where increased power in the hands of our ministers is checked by procedures to correct any mischief that might occur. Those twin objectives would have been achieved if the recommendations of the Anguillians contained in the 2006 Report of the Constitutional and Electoral Reform Commission had been implemented.
It is noticeable that the BVI and the TCI have negotiated, just last year, new Constitutions that significantly reduce the power of the FCO to interfere in internal matters and transfer to local institutions most of the powers previously enjoyed by the Governor. But, they neither demanded nor received “full internal self-government”. They are enjoying the benefits of a modern Constitution and a modern relationship with the British. No doubt, when they are ready, they will seek full political independence. But, they recognise they are not ready for it.
The British have said that we must not come to them with a demand for full internal self-government unless we are prepared to accept a short timetable for independence. Our representatives have repeatedly told us that they are not interested in political independence at this time. But, they will demand full internal self-government for
In 2006 the Anguillians said that it was time to reduce the powers of the British in
Will our leaders come to their senses and negotiate for what amounts in practice to full internal self-government, without waving that red flag in the face of the bull? That is what the people said they want.
We patiently await the draft of the promised Constitution. When we see that, we will know whether our leaders are honestly preparing to negotiate in our best interests. Or, we will see whether they are selling us a pig in a poke that will only increase their own powers over us.
Either way, I’ll be sure to tell you what I think.
No more shallow thinking, please.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Politics
All Members of the House of 
Assembly Form a United Front. Everyone in
Momentum is building up. Village and constituency meetings are being held all over the island. For the first time since the last elections, significant crowds of citizens are coming out to hear and support the speakers and panelists. A sort of election fever is heating up. The chorus of “full internal self-government” is now being sung loudly and clearly and in unison. The issue that is gaining everyone’s attention is opposition to continued rule over the island’s affairs by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. All the elected representatives are singing the same tune. Down with Orders in Council! Unity runs so high that bills and motions proposed by government representatives are taken up enthusiastically by members of the opposition. Not a word of opposition is heard, in or out of the House.
So, the question today is, what is happening?
Those of us who have been around for a few years will not have failed to notice that general elections are just around the corner. The House of Assembly’s life comes to an end in early 2010. Elections must be held by April of that year at the latest. What is a politician’s most powerful motive? To get reelected, of course! A popular platform is a sure help in this process. What better subject than “freedom from the foreign oppressor”? After all, it has proven successful in the past all over the world. The book is a best seller. It is a song the words of which are known by heart.
The FCO can be relied on to feed the fire. They have repeatedly stated that they will not entertain a move for full internal self-government, except within the framework of a short timetable for independence. Both government and opposition members of the House have stated that they are not interested in political independence for
It was noticeable on Anguilla Day that the crowd in the stands sat stoically while the police band played the National Anthem. Only the dignitaries under their special tent felt obliged to stand up. The crowd in the stands only jumped to their feet when the tune of the National Song began. The evidence is clear. The message is sinking in. There is a common enemy we must unite against. And, thank God, they are foreigners! This is so much better for a country’s soul than an internal dispute and a fragmented nation!
It is going to be an uphill battle for the new crop of candidates. Not only do they have to struggle against the natural advantage enjoyed by the incumbents. The old war horses have begun to paint themselves as the radical patriots. Will the young and coming politicians find an alternative issue that can capture the imagination of the electorate? To have any hope of success in the coming struggle, they will have to find a platform of their own that will distinguish them from the present crop of representatives. They cannot be seen to oppose “full internal self-government”. That would be to tar themselves with the charge of lack of patriotism. A young politician does not win an election by swimming against the current.
What does it all mean? The next two years are going to be difficult ones for the relationship between the FCO and the Anguillian people. Turmoil is coming. What will be the long-term effect? Will our leaders be able to control it? Will they succeed in using the issue to win another term, and then let things calm down? Or, will matters get out of hand, and political excitement turn into civil unrest? That is not in the best interests of anyone of us trying to earn a living and pay our mortgage.
We shall just have to wait and see.
