Anguilla’s Chief Minister, the Hon. Osbourne Fleming, told reporters on Wednesday this week that the Government was relieved that it was in a position to pay the salaries of civil servants and other public sector workers this month, September. “Going forward, we cannot say what will happen. However, I believe this will be an ease to a lot of our people to note that there will be no problem in accessing their salaries for the month of September,” he stated.

L-R: CM Osbourne Fleming, Hon. Victor Banks and Hon. Evans Rogers

Mr. Fleming reported that the Government had informed the British Government of the island’s grave financial situation. He said that last Friday he had the opportunity [at a conference call] to speak with some of the officials in London in connection with a letter sent to them earlier that week about the island’s financial position. “They assured us that by Monday or Tuesday this week we would get a letter from them stating what they were prepared to.” He said no communication had been received up to Wednesday, but he believed that some word would come during the week.

The Chief Minister stated that the Government had used its past financial experience to arrive at a position to pay civil servants at the end of September.

Minister of Social Development, Evans Rogers, commented that while the payment of salaries in September was clear, “the financial storm had not been past.” He said the Government “still had to be vigilant and to continue with its creativity, mindful that October, November and December are still to come.”

Mr. Fleming was concerned that hundreds of passports owned by foreign workers, who had requested extensions to remain in Anguilla, had not been collected from the Immigration Department. He warned that failure to collect them would suggest that the persons concerned were illegally in Anguilla and he urged them to pick them up.

He referred to the Cap Juluca MOA regarding the further development of the property and the criticisms being leveled at the Government about the terms and conditions of the agreement. “It seems to me that it is being blown out of proportion and nobody understands that with all that is being said about the MOA, there are over 400 persons working at Cap Juluca,” he pointed out. “The Government must find ways and means to ensure that our people are gainfully employed, but at the same time must ensure that whatever we do is done in the interest of the people of this country.”

The Chief Minister expressed concern about the bad behaviour of a number of school-aged children from overseas who were engaging in acts of violence. He warned parents to seek to supervise and contain the behavioural patterns of their children as any continued unruly behaviour could result in deportation. He said the Government did not take pleasure in sending out anyone from the island, but referred to a case where a Dominican national has had to be deported. He stated that he would ask the Immigration officials to publish the names of persons asked to leave Anguilla.

Mr. Rogers, who joined the Chief Minister in calling for discipline among students from outside Anguilla, said there was a need for a collective effort involving the parents of the children, teachers and Government to deal with the matter. “Some of our own Anguillian children are contributing to this situation as well, but from an Immigration and Labour standpoint, the warning to send back children to the land of their birth is a warning to let parents know that they have a responsibility for their children’s behaviour,” he stated.

Mr. Rogers also spoke about his regrets of other acts of violence and crime on the island. He noted in particular a fire at the Orealia Kelley Primary School and the theft of windows from a well-protected storage area at the Football Stadium, now under construction on the grounds of the Webster Park annex.

In other matters, Mr. Rogers said efforts were being made to fill a number of vacancies in the Health Authority to handle the supply of pharmaceuticals at the Valley and Welches Clinics. He regretted that the shortage of staff had affected the level of service there.

The Chief Minister was pleased to report that he had obtained some information from the Viceroy project about the employment numbers there. “It tells me that at present, Viceroy has employed 89 full-time Anguillians and 11 persons who are not Anguillians at the hotel; and there are 66 Anguillians working in the construction aspect of the project. This does not include the number of Anguillians at Viceroy working for Anguillian contractors. It means that we have over 250 Anguillians who are gainfully employed at Viceroy.” He said the Government was heartened to see the progress of the project and would ensure that the people of Anguilla were the ones to benefit most from the project.

Mr. Fleming continued: “Everybody here seems to be very alarmed over the number of Chinese workers in Anguilla. We too are concerned about it. To that end we are in discussion with the Ministry of Immigration and Labour and we will make suggestions that we will curtail the issuing of work permits to any more Chinese. We have nothing against Chinese…but if the numbers are moving so fast, we have to do something about that. It is a concern of a lot of Anguillians recently and so we believe that the time has come when we must take some stance against this.”

Mr. Fleming reported that the Elected Member for West End/Long Bay, Albelto Hughes, and Special Assistant, Kenswick Richardson, had recommended that a number of residents there should be honoured for their contributions to the district, by naming village roads after them. The suggestions are for the names to be the John Hodge Drive; the Rupert Carty Drive; the Anderson Fleming Drive and the Belto Road. “My colleagues and I are very happy to deal with these requests,” the Chief Minister said. “I thought to raise the matter here to show you that these two people, Kenswick and Belto, continue to show their interest in the village and also a desire to honour people who have contributed significantly to the development of their district.”

Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, dealt with a number of matters touched on to some extent by the Chief Minister and the Minister of Social Development. “All public service members and statutory bodies have all received their funds and we are a little more comfortable for the month of September and certainly part of October, and we will look forward to what will happen when salary times come in October,” he said. “That will be a challenging period and it will rest on our ability to implement our financial strategy which includes borrowing.”

Mr. Banks observed that the 2010 budget would be a critical issue. “I propose that the budgetary process would be a bit different because we will have to make some very serious decisions,” he went on. “It will be necessary for us to involve as many people from the community and from all sectors and stakeholders as possible. The Ministry will put together some presentations showing the budget situation as it relates to revenue, expenditure, capital development and other long-term policy goals. It will include some fiscal measures both on the expenditure and revenue side and we will encourage the community to also make some suggestions.”

The Minister of Finance spoke to some extent on the continuing debate on the Cap Juluca MOA and Government’s efforts towards the further development of the property to ensure that it is restored to its former standard under the new developer. He noted that the Government “took a lot of abuse, criticism and to some extent ridicule” for what it was trying to achieve.

Mr. Banks said that among the benefits to be derived by Anguilla from the agreement were a national park of close to 100 acres; a beach strand of about 1200-1300 feet also as a national park; ownership in the property; and the Government was able to reduce the number of rooms on the original agreement of the 1980s. “Most of all, we were able to put in place an owner company that has been able to bring the property back on stream, to deal with the huge amount of litigation that was involved in the whole process over the years and continues to be involved,” he stated. He added that he had to congratulate the owner, Adam Aron, for his courage in undertaking the venture, given the vast amount of litigation that impacted his investment.

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

World News