Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/1081/-1/135/

FLEMING: THERE'S FREEDOM IN ANGUILLA Louisy: A Peril To Ignore Voices

Anguilla’s Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming praised the Caribbean Centre for Development Administration (CARICAD) for choosing Leadership for Good Governance in the 21st Century as the theme of its Seventh Annual Public/Private Sector Policy Forum in Anguilla. He thought it was a topic of much interest in small island states like Anguilla and regretted that all the politicians on the island were not in attendance at the forum held at Cocoloba Beach Resort on April 28 and 29.

Anguilla Government officials among regional delegates

The forum brought together representatives from various organisations throughout the Caribbean as well as delegates from the Department for International Development in London and the International Labour Organisation.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr. Fleming told the delegates that leadership and governance issues were at the heart of the Government’s sustainable development efforts as a way of life and as a democratic society. “I trust that your deliberations will produce the enlightenment necessary for you to return to your home countries more aware of the critical relationship between the quality of leadership and good governance in the advancement of the peoples of the region,” he said.

The Chief Minister continued: “CARICAD’s model of addressing the development issues of the region through public/private sector and civil society forums is exemplary. This model must be adopted and implemented at the national level. In Anguilla, we subscribe to this philosophy and there are practical examples to show our commitment, openness and tranquility in the private sector. For example, in Anguilla, the liberalisation of the electronic media and the unrestricted talk shows and discussion programmes are conducted unmolested and freely.

“Our island is 35-square miles. We have about 13,500 people and six radio stations and that tells you how free our people are to express themselves. In Anguilla we also have town meetings to discuss every major piece of legislation and policies. We also have the inclusion of non-governmental organisations and civil society on committees and boards that manage various aspects of our development particularly tourism and the environment.

“In addition to these efforts to promote good governance, we will continue to give priority to the development of our human resources so that while the leadership is always available as a guarantee of good governance, the latter must come from reality and not a dream.”

Keynote Speaker, Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor General of St. Lucia, spoke on various matters relating to good governance and leadership. She noted that the expansion of information and communication technologies was one of the key characteristics of the modern age which leaders had to contend with. She observed that citizens, social partners, shareholders, employees, stakeholders and other persons, now had improved and greater means of access to their leaders, board of directors and corporate partners through the use of electronic mail and other mechanisms of information and communications technology.

“They have greater access to what is happening elsewhere and can use that as leverage to influence the decisions taken by their leaders,” she advised. “Better governance in this area of globalised communications will call for more transparency, accountability and more popular participation in major decisions. Information, confidential or otherwise, criss- crosses our global neighbourhood daily with unprecedented ease via intimate emails and chat rooms in such volumes that to disregard such is to do so at our own peril.”

Other speakers were Dr. P.I. Gomes, Executive Director of CARICAD, who said that the choice of the theme for the forum was deliberate in order to emphasise its importance in the region; and Permanent Secretary in the Department of Public Administration, Julian Harrigan, who chaired the opening ceremony.

Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming, St. Lucia’s Governor General Her Excellency Dame Pearlette Louisy, Governor Peter Johnstone, Julian Harrigan and Dr. P.I. Gomes

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