I had started writing on the subject: “In political games, what surfaces is not truth and what is truth never surface!” But it was more complex than I had originally thought and so, not to overtax my already tired brain, I have put it on the back burner and opt instead for the much easier task of reporting the news that did not make the news.

Legal luminary to be honoured by UWI

Dame Bernice Lake, DGCN, QC, a legal luminary and a most distinguished Anguillian citizen, will be conferred with an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Laws, at the UWI annual graduation ceremonies, at the Cave Hill campus, Barbados, in October. The conferral is in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the region. To quote a UWI release, dated 18th June 2007: “This University College of the West Indies graduate has given more than 35 years service to the legal profession and the West Indian community. Dame Bernice is a passionate human rights advocate and is committed to securing a climate of constitutionalism in the region.”
Dame Bernice has long been recognised as one of the best legal brains in the Caribbean and Anguillians everywhere are grateful for her sterling contribution to their own development and are confident that she will continue to make their island proud.

Chief Minister issues strong warning

It was a bitter Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, who told the House of Assembly on Monday 3rd September 2007 that he was tired of his name, and that of his colleagues, being dragged through the mud. He warned all those who were engaging in that sort of activity, that he and his colleagues would meet them in court. He said most emphatically: “It is wrong to destroy people’s name . . . when these members (of government) are here working their backs off, to run a country – to provide the funding so as to pay for education, pay for health, pay for roads and you out there smearing people’s names. It’s wrong. It’s wrong for a man to stand on the platform and call me a prostitute. It’s wrong . . . I get emotional about this because when people destroy your name it’s hard to get it back. It’s wrong . . .”

He continued: “It’s true that I try my best to live a Christian life. I want to. But be damned if I am going to stay in Anguilla and have them destroy my name and get away with it. I am telling you, I am making it very clear: all of the accusers and all the people that drag my name, and my colleagues’ name, in the mud, we will meet in court. And put it on record . . . All the ones who call me a prostitute, all the ones who said that we are corrupt, take note – we will meet in court! And God will have to forgive me, if I am wrong, but I think that even him, the God above, protects his name.”

The Chief Minister also thinks that his many critics are extremely ungrateful, because instead of thanking his government for the unprecedented economic growth which the island is experiencing they had resorted to assassinating the characters of its members.

Speaker of House chastises members of the Opposition

Speaker of the House of Assembly, David Carty, chastised members of the Opposition at the House’s meeting on Monday 3rd September 2007 for not taking their responsibilities as parliamentarians more seriously. He did so because he had observed that, despite the many changes that were taking place in Anguilla, the opposition members did not have a single motion, or question, on the House’s agenda paper. This is what the Speaker said to them: “I do not think I need to remind members that the House of Assembly serves many functions, but it has two primary functions. One is to sustain the government in power and to allow the majority to rule. The second is to scrutinise that government and to provide as much oversight as possible of that government in the conduct of its affairs and its policies. And I am somewhat surprised that it seems to me that this is the first sitting, in my recollection, of any House of Assembly that we have neither question nor motion from members of the opposition. It is not for me, as Speaker, to suggest to members what they should, and should not query, or discuss, but the fact that our House meets so infrequently, and the fact that Anguilla is undergoing such tremendous change, I would have thought it appropriate that members of the opposition would do their utmost to execute that second component of the mandate of the House which is to scrutinise the government. I will leave that for your consideration gentlemen . . .”

That was the first time in the history of our House of Assembly that its Speaker had to remind members of the Opposition of their responsibilities and to chastise them for not doing their work.

Ministers of Government will take home their official vehicles on retirement

When the House of Assembly met on Monday 3rd September 2007 Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, announced that he planned to seek approval to enable ministers of government to take home their official cars/jeeps on their retirement from government. He told members : “I will take a paper to the House, and to the Executive Council, to ensure that . . . no minister who has worked for this country so hard, who has taken the blows, [will go home without a motor vehicle]. And everybody knows about the blows we have received over the last two months. Everybody knows. Everybody knows. I will ensure, with their support – they might be fraid – but I am not afraid to recommend that every member of government in this honourable House, who is a minister of the government, when he leaves that job he goes home with the vehicle he drives. I am going to do that. I have not put it in the papers. I am telling you all openly . . . Any member . . . if you are a minister of government, and you are driving a government car, and you leaving to go home for good, go wid the car.”

The Chief Minister stressed: “I will recommend you be treated like Winston Churchill was treated. When John Major saw him on the road, standing looking for a ride with a pipe in his mouth . . . Harold Wilson . . . [he] took him from there, gave him a new car and a driver until he died. The reason why I am saying this, Mr Speaker, is because the elected members, including the members on the opposite side, all of these people work hard for the country and they should not be treated like dogs. There is no question, Mr Speaker, that as it stands now, the disrespect, the name calling that people gave us today is wrong, is disrespectful and I think that it behoves all of us to stop it.”
Most famous of revolutionary heroines seriously ill

Miss Doreen Duncan, one of the leading stalwarts of the Anguilla Revolution, and the most famous of the revolutionary heroines, lies seriously ill at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. I visited her on Saturday night and my heart wept.

Doreen had put her life on the line for the Anguilla cause. She was one of those women who set about “to build a new Anguilla” in the difficult days of the 1960s and contributed significantly to laying the foundation on which was built the prosperity that all Anguillians are enjoying today. Doreen is highly deserving of benefiting from that prosperity and, in this regard, I trust that our Government is ensuring that she gets the best medical attention possible, free of cost. Olive Hodge, herself a heroine of the Revolution, shares that view. But I will go further and say that whenever her sad passing comes she should be given a State Funeral. If there is one woman in Anguilla who is deserving of a State Funeral she is Doreen Duncan. She was steadfast in her commitment to the building of a better Anguilla. Let us remember her in our prayers.

Constitutional Reform Team held meeting

It was reported on Don Mitchell’s Blog, Corruption-free Anguilla, that “the Chief Minister’s Constitutional Reform Team” met at Paradise Cove Resort on Friday 7th September 2007 to discuss the way forward with respect to the reform exercise [now in its fifth year]. Don attended the meeting and gave a synopsis of what transpired. He reported (on his Blog) as follows:

“It was a good meeting, I thought. Nothing of substance was discussed or decided. It was more of a strategy meeting. We discussed, for example, whether it was better to go for individual amendments to the Constitution that would have the cumulative effect of Anguillians claiming the right to full internal self-government. That was the way the Commission thought Anguillians want it done. Or, would it be better to come out and demand the right. Some thought one way and others thought another. In the end, it was the consensus that it would be better to establish the principle and let the individual amendments hang from the central column. The Commission was concerned that that would be mere flag-waving, and decided against it. We will see!

“What the Chief and Hubert want us to do now is to look at a number of self-governing Constitutions and pick and choose what we think is best. Eddie is strong that regardless of what we think is best, it must be for the people to decide whether they want self-government or colonialism or independence. He wants a referendum on the choice first, and then the picking and choosing can come later. We are to meet again in two weeks time to continue the discussion.”
And that’s the end of the news that did not make the news.

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