One of the things that the newly-elected Anguilla United Movement Government can boast about, with much legitimacy, is that it was swept into office by the popular vote of the electorate. Another feather in its cap is that it was later joined by Jerome Roberts of the Anguilla Progressive Party, when he crossed the floor from the Opposition side of the House of Assembly however that action was regarded on the island and elsewhere.

The temptation to feel powerful and secure is understandable, yet there is a certain level of humility and responsibility which the Government must not lose sight of. If it neglects that, even the people, in whose name it claims to act, may eventually call their leaders to account. Insensitivity, lack of good governance and authoritarianism must not be words that anyone may feel free to use to label the Government.

One of the matters to which special attention must be paid is the fact that the Executive Council is really the seat of decision-making in Government. If this is not respected, as a few cases have shown recently, there can be no validity in any acts or even statements by Government collectively or individually. The Chief Minister, with all his many years in politics and leadership, must be the one to lead his less experienced colleagues in doing and saying the right things. For instance, shouldn’t the Executive Council have given the Minister responsible for electricity the authority to call the recent special meeting of ANGLEC’s shareholders and to vote the Government’s shares, thus avoiding possible embarrassment? Shouldn’t EXCO be in a position to say that Viceroy was sold and that the matter had come before it for approval, the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding and the issuing of a new Aliens Landholding Licence? Shouldn’t EXCO have had some say in the appointment of Jerome Roberts in Government?

A matter still in the air is the Cap Juluca issue and the way it was handled. Wasn’t it better to have had a series of roundtable discussions with Adam Aron on the way forward for the property (as was eventually done), rather than for the Chief Minister to threaten a walkout of Executive Council if he (Aron) showed up there, or to take him to court for allegedly not paying taxes without finding out the reason? Even to refer to him publicly as “a speculator,” and not in fact a risk-taker regarding his investment in Cap Juluca, was out of order. Thankfully, despite all the election campaign and post election rhetoric, there now seems to be peace between the new Government and Cap Juluca. The hotel could have been closed or otherwise acutely affected as a result of financial difficulties on one hand and, probably on the other hand, lost of investors due to bad political publicity. This would have been to the detriment of the economy and the employment of almost four hundred Anguillians whose jobs have now been hopefully saved.

There is a need for someone in Government to take water to the fire rather than to fight fire with fire involving investors in particular. Any Government Minister prepared to do this, and all other things that are right, should be applauded and not accused of lack of cooperation as has been heard in one particular case. Doing the right things always, and respecting the decision-making process in Executive Council, will give the Government much credit not only personally, but even among its many supporters who catapulted it into office.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News