The Anguillian takes this opportunity to welcome the island’s newly-appointed Governor and Mrs. Alan Huckle and to wish both of them a most rewarding sojourn and experience among our people.

Over the years some Governors have taken up their appointments in Anguilla at interesting and exciting times with certain challenging issues at hand. Others have come at quiet times with no particular matters of state presenting immediate headaches. For Mr. Huckle, there appears to be much coming on the table but, having served in the region before with responsibility for Anguilla, he is no stranger to the island in some respects.
Since his stint at the Dependent Territories Regional Secretariat in Barbados, there have been many changes in Anguilla socially, economically, politically and even constitutionally. Yet in all of these areas there is now agitation for improvement. There are new challenges and demands for greater economic development, increased employment opportunities for our teeming numbers of young people, the crime rate has soared dramatically putting pressure on the small Police Force, a responsibility of the Governor; and there are calls for better political representation, governance and other forms of state-craft.
Mr. Huckle has arrived on the island on the eve of the Anguilla Day celebrations, now in the 36th year. The historical significance of the event cannot be over-emphasised. It speaks about the will of the people to break loose from an 1825 political union with St. Kitts, a constitutional humbug and an economic stranglehold that inhibited their self-determination and progress and reduced Anguilla to a near desert and a backwater in the Caribbean.
Now having achieved formal separation in December 1980, and eventually becoming an Overseas Territory, with its own local Government, the island wants further constitutional development. Even the powers of the Governor are challenged with calls for more autonomy for elected representatives as well as for the posts of Deputy Governor and Attorney General to be filled by capable Anguillians. Against all this, there are certain disagreements in London with some of the local proposals for constitutional reform and at present the process is either on hold or has reached as far it can now go. There is a need for rejuvenation and to restart the effort. This is one of the matters which should interest the new Governor.
Mr. Huckle has also come at a time when the island is gearing up for a general election without the hoped-for electoral reform that was spoken about. Already new parties and independent candidates are being named and over the coming months an active election campaign is expected to commence in real fashion. The campaign is not what matters. It is the Government that will emerge and will be expected to work in harmony with the Governor to take Anguilla to a new dimension in leadership and achievement. It will be the responsibility of the Governor to ensure good governance, with such qualities as openness, transparency and accountability. Mr. Huckle must be aware of his own role in balancing his responsibilities as Governor for Anguilla, working in the interest of the people of the island and Governor looking at the interest of the British Government. Certainly, the Anguillians will expect much of him both at the community level and at the level of his office.
Another matter that must not escape the attention of the new Governor has to do with law and order which takes in his responsibility for internal security. Thankfully, there is a lull in the level of crime that up to recently had been plaguing the island and causing much disquiet among the people. There are yet two unsolved murders with one case, some 15 months old. No one has come forward to give any tangible evidence in either case and calls for Scotland Yard detectives to be brought in at this late stage have not come to fruition. There is a need to guard against crime getting out of control and for the hand of the Police to be strengthened to deal with the complex matters facing the Force which lacks the required expertise and resources.
The post of Governor of a far flung British Overseas Territory can be a glamorous one, though the gleaming white traditional uniform has been dispensed with in Anguilla. But, according to Baroness Scotland, with the glory comes the acceptance of the burden. It is the burden of the post which carries various challenges and difficulties which the new Governor will have to bear.

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