Many of the figures contained in the statement regarding the financial position of Anguilla, circulated at the Government’s public forum at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium on Thursday, March 11, have been refuted by Leader of the Opposition, Evans McNiel Rogers, who was a Minister in the previous United Front Government.

Hon. Othlyn Vanterpool and Hon. McNeil Rogers

Mr. Rogers questioned the figures at his first press conference at the AUF headquarters, where he was accompanied by his fellow elected colleague, Othlyn Vanterpool. In declaring that the figures were either mistakenly, deliberately inflated, or misquoted, he told reporters that he intended to approach the Ministry of Finance to express his concern about their publication as they were not representative of the true picture.
“Since the last election on February 15…., I had promised that I would stay quiet for at least 3-5 months to allow the new Government to settle in and acquaint themselves with a number of things that would necessary,” he told the newsmen. “However, after listening to the recording of a meeting to inform the public about the financial state of affairs in Anguilla, I needed to explain to the public that there were a number of inaccuracies in what was said at that forum. I don’t know whether those inaccuracies were deliberate, misleading or whether they were a result of not having enough time to prepare the statement.”
He said there was nothing new about how dire the financial situation of the island had been. He recalled that former Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, always stated that the Anguilla Government “was limping along from a financial standpoint. He also said that Mr. Hughes, the present Chief Minister, had remarked in the House of Assembly that Anguilla was bankrupt and that the Treasury was empty. “It is amazing to me that the present Administration, and to some extent their supporters, are alarmed at what this present Administration met in office,” he said.
“I was pleasantly surprised when the Minister of Social Development asked the Permanent Secretary, Finance, to explain how the former Government had assisted the two local banks. The Permanent Secretary stated that the Government had loans with the two local banks and that those loans were refinanced by Scotia Bank and FirstCaribbean Bank and as a result it had eased the liquidity situation on the two local banks…I was also pleased to hear the Permanent Secretary explain that the loan of 12 million dollars, which we all heard so much about during the political campaign, was not from Dominica, but from the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. She also explained how the money would be paid back from a [grant] expected from the European Development Fund.”
Mr. Rogers questioned where was the plan which Chief Minister Hughes said he had to get Anguilla back on track and how long the former Government would continue to be blamed for the island’s financial situation.
Back to his charge that the information in the financial statement was misleading and probably deliberate, Mr. Rogers referred to part of the document as follows: “In the expenditure for 2009, it said that the Special Assistants’ salaries amounted to $1,964,560.20. Someone needs to explain to the people of Anguilla that this is misleading, erroneous and a distortion of the truth.”
On this point, Mr. Othlyn Vanterpool, who was one of the Special Assistants, said in part: “If that figure was correct, then it would be saying that each of the seven Special Assistants would have been paid an average of over $23,000 a month. That is outrageous. That figure on average is inflated by over three times.” He was not certain what other figures were calculated in the money, but stated that anyone looking at the purported figures, would have a right to be alarmed if the assistants were paid over $20,000 individually.
Mr. Rogers questioned a number of other figures including the subvention of 21 million dollars to the Health Authority of Anguilla, the subvention to the Albena Lake –Hodge Comprehensive School and the salaries of Public Servants. The press conference was held in the lead up to The Anguillian’s printing deadline and so this report has had to be much abbreviated.

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