Grim-faced and uncomfortable, but calm, Chief Minister Osbourne Fleming, told reporters on Tuesday this week: “This morning I phoned the Governor of Anguilla and told him that I was in the process of calling London today to find out what has become of the response we had been awaiting regarding our financial position. He told me that he would not recommend that I call because by tomorrow morning [Wednesday] we should have word from London.”

L-R; Hon Osbourne Fleming, Hon Victor Banks, Hon. Kenneth Harrigan

Mr. Fleming said the Government was anxious for a reply because “as the weeks go by the financial crisis in Anguilla worsens.” He continued: “We were very fortunate that we had been able to pay all our civil servants and statutory bodies for the month of September…We don’t intend to alarm anyone, but only to say that the response we hope to get from England would be one we expect or else we would be in a serious position as of the end of October. I do not believe that the revenue will perform sufficiently to provide the money that we need to pay our bills at the end of October.”

The Chief Minister warned the people of Anguilla that the financial situation was serious. “If you listen to what is happening across the world, it is alarming,” he stated. “There are layoffs all over and cuts are being made not only with governments but private institutions. Anguilla is not immune from that. We have seen over the last months a number of persons who have lost their jobs in all walks of life. It is not a pleasant thing to lay off anybody but the realities of life are such that these things happen.” He said his Government was alarmed to have heard that 15,000 Government workers had been laid off in Puerto Rico. He commented: “It shows that even Governments are taking the unpopular decision to do that, and I hope that we will never get to that, but there will be certain inconveniences in certain institutions in Anguilla if things do not get better. Understand that. People will have to take certain steps to ensure that their business survives.”

Mr. Fleming commended the civil servants in Anguilla who, during this difficult period, had agreed to the cuts in salaries without much upheaval. “It shows that our people are aware of what is happening in the world. And they understand what the situation is all about, but I don’t believe we have done enough as a Government,” he continued. “So I am going to suggest to my colleagues in the Executive Council on Thursday that we convene a meeting at the Rodney McArthur Rey Auditorium sometime next week when the Ministers of Government will have an opportunity to sit and talk to the civil servants. They might have ideas and concerns that will help us through. We have a very intelligent civil service and so I am going to suggest this to the Council on Thursday and I believe approval will be given whereby we can set aside a date next week to sit and talk with the civil servants in Anguilla.”

He was also of the view that another meeting should be held with the business community so that all could be abreast of the situation and to get ideas from economists and others of what the future looked like for all in Anguilla in 2010. “While it is true that the Ministry of Finance has a cadre of hard working people, I believe we can cross-fertilise our ideas with the business people as we look at the position together,” the Chief Minister observed.

Mr. Fleming commented on a statement made by Opposition Member, Hubert Hughes, in his press conference last week, that the Governor would not allow civil servants not to be paid. “Let me make it clear: the Governor has nothing to do with the payment of civil servants,” he explained. “The people who have to ensure that civil servants are paid…are the Ministers of Government. The Governor, through the British Government, does not have a Treasury here in Anguilla paying civil servants. The situation is that civil servants are paid by initiatives put in place by the members of Government.”

The Chief Minister went on: “It is a very uncomfortable position, for us as a Government, to be in at this time. It is a position where we are not able to meet our full commitments. We are not able to conduct the capital development that Anguilla needs. Today we are not able to start [the airport safety end] which must be started. We are not able to expand the size of the prison because of finance and these are critical areas that must be addressed.” He was however pleased to note that some security work was being done on the perimeter fence of the prison to prevent persons from throwing over certain objects to inmates.

“We are not all together comfortable, realising that Anguilla needs so much and the financial situation has put us in such a position that we can’t deliver,” he emphasised. “Secondly, our Social Welfare Departments are going through some serious stress right now. That is because of the number of persons who are not employed. We cannot answer all the calls because of the constraints that we are experiencing. I raised all of this to tell you that it is not a comfortable position for us to be in right now. We are not happy about it but we hope that something will happen.”

Bringing his Christian faith into perspective as a bolster, the Chief Minister added: “We still believe that through it all, there is a great person who is looking at Anguilla. There is some divine being that is looking at us and I believe, with God’s help, that Anguilla will come through it. I ask that we solicit the prayers of all of us, not just the clergy, to pray about the position that we are in and to ask God’s guidance and support through this difficult time.

Minister of Infrastructure, Kenneth Harrigan, who was present at the press conference after a long absence, spoke mainly on the legislation for the creation of a Port Authority. He noted that it had already been given its first reading and would be the subject of discussion at a public consultation this week at the Teachers’ Resource Centre. He thought that the time was right for the establishment of the Port Authority. He believed that the establishment of such an institution was needed to handle Air and Sea Port matters. He said that a shadow board was already in place for its administration and hoped that the Government would get the support of all Anguillians in this effort to ensure the Port Authority was set up right and eventually function well.

Mr. Harrigan joined the Chief Minister in lamenting the difficult financial situation in Anguilla and called for all Anguillians to unite to do all they could to ensure that “everything works to the benefit of the island.” He stated that the Ministers were hardworking persons concerned about Anguilla and its people. He called for the zeal, willingness and drive of the population to join him and the other Ministers in moving the island forward.

Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, commented that after days of waiting, communication with the British Government in responding to the financial situation in Anguilla had not improved up to Tuesday and he hoped that some word would be received the following day (Wednesday) as promised by the Governor.

Mr. Banks described the coming creation of the Port Authority as “a very significant step” that Anguilla was taking and that every Government in the region had already taken. “Port Authorities need to be managed on a commercial basis and they need to be able to do so, so that we can respond quickly to the needs of customers – the importers and exporters,” he explained. "Beyond just being an efficient and effective way of managing the ports, it will also allow the Government of Anguilla to free up its resources to undertake other activities.” He further said that all the borrowing done by the Government for port development would now be the responsibility of the Port Authority.

He pointed out that the formation of a Port Authority was also important in terms of the Government’s agreements with the European Union and the European Development Fund. “It is one of the pre-requirements and pre-conditions for the payment of outstanding monies owed to us under the Transport Sector Development Fund, and that also requires some urgency in moving forward, so that we can free up the 24 million [dollars] which should be coming to us. This also includes 40 million coming in the next four years.”

The Minister explained that, contrary to reports, customs duties would not be a matter for the Port Authority to handle as this would remain a Government of Anguilla function. “The funds that will be assigned to the Port Authority will be determined in the process of its establishment,” he pointed out. “Customs is not one. There will probably be Port Dues, Tonnage Dues and Pier Dues [going to the Port Authority]. He indicated that some Embarkation Tax might be passed on as well.

Mr. Banks told the reporters that the Opposition Members in the House of Assembly were very cooperative in the first reading of the legislation, and that they would now have an opportunity to sit with the technical officers from the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Public Utilities to discuss the Port Authority development and make suggestions in terms of the legislation. This will be in addition to the general public consultation.

The Minister of Finance also saw the planned meeting with civil servants announced by the Chief Minister to discuss the issue of salaries, and other related matters, as a useful exercise. Mr. Banks concluded that among other matters the Anguilla Government had to look at a financial safety net to assist persons losing jobs and income. “There must be a level of compassion in the way we deal with a lot of things,” he said. “If somebody loses a job... there is no way for that person to go on until they find another job. We are not alone in this. There are a number of countries in the Caribbean in a similar situation. That is an area of focus and there are payments involved which, from a position of social solidarity, we all have to put aside a certain amount of funds when we are working in case we lose a job because of the failure of a business and so on.” Employers would also be required to contribute to those funds.

Mr. Banks said that the establishment of a National Health Fund was also a matter being addressed by the Anguilla Government. He stressed that it required careful planning and implementation because once it was set up, it could not fail. “It will certainly be on the agenda of the Government of Anguilla moving forward and must be on the agenda of any Government coming to office after the next election,” he said. He also spoke about the coming public consultation on the 2010 budget. “The Opposition will be involved. Everybody will have a chance to talk. We will make presentations and we want them to be well-organised, to be managed properly and for everybody to contribute in a decent way,” he stated.

Commenting further on the financial situation, Mr. Banks said the British Government’s suggestion of raising taxes was something Anguilla could not do at this time. “As reasonable people we cannot impose taxes without consultation,” he stated. “We have to go through a consultative process. There are people in the Opposition who are saying to us that we need to impose taxes so I don’t think that it is a negative political issue; but in reality it is something that we just cannot do at this time.”

Mr. Banks was asked what impact a statement made at the recent ECCB Monetary Council meeting at St. Kitts had on Anguilla. It was suggested that indigenous commercial banks in the sub-region should amalgamate to help solve the financial crisis. He was of the view that while he supported that suggestion, the amalgamation of the indigenous Caribbean Commercial Bank and the National Bank of Anguilla would not be sufficient to withstand the financial environment in which the island and the rest of the region must exist. Chief Minister Fleming commented that while officials of the banks would be able to sort out the details of the matter, there was a need to educate shareholders about the benefits of such an amalgamation.

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

World News