We are in critical times in Anguilla. There is the devastating recession/depression casting its poisonous net over all of us in Anguilla. This dire situation is being compounded by the UK Government's dictatorial and unjustifiable Imperialistic attitude towards Anguilla, and is further exacerbated by the Flag Nightmare.

FREEDOM? OR ARE WE NUMB TO REALITY?

The UK Government, comprised of persons who cumulatively do not have the Legislative or Executive experience of any of Mr. Osbourne Fleming, Mr. Victor Banks, Mr. Hubert Hughes, Mr. Edison Baird or Mr. Kenneth Harrigan, much less of them all together, are dictating to our Government that before our Government can obtain the UK Government's approval to take out loan ( approval which as I pointed out in my previous letter, is not required in Law ) our Government must satisfy them that our Government will have in place an Income Tax Regime by December of this year to recoup the monies borrowed, and a plan to CUT Government spending. They are even sending in a Team from the U.K to examine how the Government can “broaden the tax base”. This from a Government which has presided over the UK's Debt to GDP Ratio reaching 100%! This from a Government languishing in crisis after crisis of its own making, with no discernable way out. This from a Country which is a Failed Empire; where there are no waves left for Britannia to Rule. This from a Country pregnant with racial and cultural conflict, with nothing left in its intellectual vaults with which to commend it. A ranking Third World failed Industrial Nation State grasping at the faded ghostly wisps of a distant failed Empire; like Don Quixote charging with his psychotic thrusts at the illusory windmills, stuttering forward on jaded memories of days long gone; much like an automobile sputtering on the bare fumes in its empty gas tank. Physician, heal thyself! [See: The Gospel according to St. Luke Chapter 4, Verse 23]

Let the Record show that the UK have NOT contributed to the Anguilla Recurrent Budget since 1985, and where it has contributed to its Capital Budget it was on a "Matching Basis" where we were required to match each "dollar" given with one of our own. "Dollar" is in quotes because invariably they gave no currency, but provided the services of Consultants, Architects etc. (always British) and charged their costs to our account as their contribution, while our Government has had to find the raw cash for the projects. The way those things work for each "dollar" value the British "contributed" our Government had to contribute between two and three actual dollars to complete the projects. See for example the Courts/Parliament Complex which was obsolete before it was completed, thanks in no small measure to the British Government repeatedly reducing its scope to cut their “costs”. Ditto the Prison. The last such Capital contribution was, I am informed, in the early 90's. Yet they want to dictate to our Government and People as to how we must govern our Country, and as to how our People must live. “Bollocks”, as the British would so aptly put it.

The British have time and again made it clear that their allegiance is to themselves and to their international obligations. They show that when they side with the G7 and the G20 against their very own Colonies (which they renamed "Overseas Territories" in an attempt to call a mango a snapper) and demand changes to the Laws of these subjugated countries without regard for the People of these countries, so as to complete their and their fellow "First World" Countries heinous plans of continued and even more repressive Economic, Political and Cultural World Domination.

Clearly, when a British Government Minister can demand that the Government of Anguilla CUT spending in a Recession, an absolute recipe for certain Economic disaster, (See: John Maynard Keynes, Prof. Robert Reich, et. al) we KNOW that the time has come for us to bid farewell to Great Britain, because it is reckless to demand that the Government of Anguilla shut down the Economy by reducing Public Spending, when the exact opposite is needed to stimulate the Economy, save existing jobs and create new jobs. This from a Government which just in the last year spent Billions of Pounds (MOST, IF NOT ALL OF IT BORROWED) bailing out Banks and other Companies in the U.K. to save THEIR Economy: Food for Massa; Slave eat cassava. La Plus ca change, la plus c'est la meme chose! [ Forgive me if this is not correct French, but you get the point].

We as a People must take responsibility for our own affairs and tell the British to concentrate on their own affairs. We are eminently more qualified to manage our own affairs than they are to do so, and we would never be so presumptuous as to tell them how to manage their own affairs.
The time is long past when some person in Britain has the right to exercise power over us here. Slavery was abolished. “Colonialism” was abandoned. Freedom was birthed by the blood, sweat and tears of our forebears. Heroes who we celebrate twice a year, like Mr. Ronald Webster, Mrs. Daisy Wong Richardson, Mr. Atlin Harrigan, Mr. Bob Rogers, Mr. Collins Hodge, Mr. Mitchell Harrigan and many, many more, risked their very lives to free Anguilla of the Colonial yoke. We have retrogressed. We have betrayed their efforts. Time to do Justice to their sacrifice. Time for a Free and Independent Anguilla to take its rightful place in the comity of Nations, for We are no less a People than the barbarian tribes which not too long ago, in historical terms, were butchering each other, and which now constitute “Great Britain”.
They treat even their own with disdain. See: Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Repressed Peoples all! How do you expect them to treat us? They preach to us about “Good Governance”, yet their Prime Minister just had to repay money for questionable expenses charged to the House of Commons. Their illustrious Attorney General had to pay a five thousand Pound fine for employing an illegal alien. They, as a Nation, are as financially strapped as we are. They borrow like crazy, and are in debt up to their ears. Their Exchequer has no cheques to ex! Yet they insist on dictating to us, telling us that we cannot borrow; that we must increase the tax base; introduce Income Taxes, and order us to pass Laws which are inimical to our best interests.
Perhaps we all need time to consider the following admonition from a very well known source: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4. Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5. Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” [Christ’s sermon on the mount. The Gospel according to St. Matthew, Chapter 7 verses 1 to 5.]

When our Politicians and aspiring Politicians approach you to solicit your support in the upcoming General Elections DEMAND of them an irrevocable commitment to pursue meaningful Constitutional change AND Independence all within 24 months of the next Elections. Accept nothing less. Anyone who tells you that we are not now capable of full Self-Government is telling you that they themselves are incapable of governing, and you therefore must not vote for them. They will be confessing to you their lack of ability to govern, and you will be committing suicide to even consider voting for them. Anyone telling you “We ain’t ready yet “ ain’t ready themselves.

Because of Anguilla's Status as a subjugated colony of Britain, the Government of Anguilla cannot develop meaningful relationships with other Countries. This leads to many lost opportunities for economic and cultural development in Anguilla. For example, we cannot have any discourse with Taiwan not only because Britain does not recognize Taiwan as an independent Nation - they side with mainland China – but because we have no say in “external affairs” regardless of the impact on us. An Independent Anguilla can decide for itself which of the two holds greater manifest benefits for Anguilla and establish relations with that one.
We cannot benefit from Venezuela's special economic relationship with the rest of the Caribbean, which, incidentally, has quite positive financial ramifications for those Caribbean countries that enjoy such a relationship. Likewise Cuba. We dare not suggest that Anguilla establish any relationship with Cuba lest Britain puts the cane to us. Other Caribbean countries enjoy enormous benefits in the fields of medicine, healthcare, education and agriculture as a result of their relationships with Cuba. For example, Cuba gives many scholarships annually for Citizens of those Countries to study medicine, engineering, dentistry etc. at no, or no significant cost to the students or their countries. Every day citizens of those countries fly to Cuba to receive major eye surgery etc. Again, at little or no cost to them or their countries. In fact, I have been told that Cuba sometimes even pays the travel expenses in appropriate cases.
We cannot sit across the table from Representatives of other States and search for meaningful areas of mutual benefit. Britain does that supposedly for us. The fact is they never do it for us. They do it exclusively for themselves. Time that we do it for ourselves too.
We cannot access the multi-billions of dollars available in International Aid, a minuscule amount of which would make Anguilla financially viable given that we have a very small Economy which does not take much to positively impact it.
We cannot have our athletes take part in the Olympics because you must now be an Independent State to become a Member. Our athletes therefore suffer the indignity of not being able to compete for their Country. Ask Ras Bucket. He will tell you. Ask young Miss Proctor. She will tell you.
We cannot sit down with other States and demand the Respect and enjoy the Dignity that Independent People are endowed with by their Creator. Britain is in charge of even this inalienable Right.
We have no say in the passage of Laws which Britain deems to be in their best interest regardless of the consequences for the People of Anguilla: as witness the recent passage of the "Proceeds of Crimes Act" and its hasty amendment designed to create a regime heretofore unknown to our Laws; an animal by the name of "Civil Forfeiture". In a nutshell, this empowers the Government to take your property in circumstances where there is no Criminal conviction. It creates a presumption in Law that your property is tainted with illegality. YOU must then prove a negative. This Act and the amendment were railroaded through the House by the British Government so that they could go to the recent G20 meeting and boast that they have brought all their "Overseas Territories" ( here read: Insignificant politically enslaved sub-humans ) in line.
To be fair, when the Bill was passed into the Act, the Elected Members on the Government side of the House did not accept the clause which created the gravest threat to the Property of Anguillians. They fought and won a change in its language. I was there during the discussions on that particular Section. So too was Mr. Lolita Davis-Richardson. I was proud of the fortitude exhibited by our Representatives in the face of stiff opposition by unelected non-Anguillans from the Attorney-General's Chambers, all faithfully serving the interest of the British while at the same time communicating with a British gentlemen by telephone to ascertain if what our Elected Representatives were insisting on being/not being in the Act was acceptable to him and Britain. Nobody voted for that Englishman either, but he had the last say on what our Act must contain. He worked here some years ago. His expertise is not, to the best of my knowledge, information and belief, Legal Drafting. They were resisting the Elected Representatives of the People of Anguilla strenuously. The Elected Reps. prevailed then. Last month, the week before the G20 Meeting the Act was amended to change what our Elected Reps. had fought for. This time they did not prevail; they gave in; possibly because of the obscene Sections in the Constitution which give the British unfettered power to pass Laws in Anguilla by the stroke of the Governor's pen EVEN WHERE OUR DULY ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES HAVE VOTED AGAINST IT UNANIMOUSLY. The British have that same power to "disallow" Laws duly passed unanimously by our Elected Representatives. That served Britain’s interest, not Anguilla's. The relevant UK Minister then had the audacity to write an article in a UK online newspaper boasting that he had gotten all the "Territories" to enact the Legislation which the G20 had mandated its Members in April this year to have enacted in their colonies/Territories/dependencies/subjugated peoples, before the G20 meeting took place last month in the U.S.A.

It is time for us to embrace our Destiny. It is time to staff our critical offices with Anguillians. I know that certain persons will take issue with my views. Some of these persons are the same persons who approached a Governor volunteering to serve as an Advisory Council to that Governor on Financial and Investment matters, to the exclusion of Anguilla's duly elected Government. They are of the view that because they are from “ First World “ countries, and may have some experience there in business etc., they know what is best for Anguilla, and our Elected Representatives do not. All of these persons are non-Caribbean Expats. To his credit that Governor sent them packing. An audacious lot, they would oppose Anguillian Independence. That is the quarter from which resistance to our Independence will come. They and their ilk, together with some of our very own wannabes, will do all that they can to frustrate our Destiny for they still abide the refuted notion of the superiority of the people of temperate climes.

An Independent Anguilla should not be a Member of Caricom. An Independent Anguilla should not be a Member of the OECS. We must be free to enter into bilateral Agreements with whom we wish; always in the best interests of Anguilla. We cannot be subject to the will of St.Kitts, Trinidad, Jamaica, Guyana, and Barbados, St.Vincent etc. at the Caricom level where policy is dictated by majority rule and without necessarily attending to the needs, priorities or individuality of Member States. We do not need Policy being set for Anguilla in Castries or Georgetown; in Kingston or Bridgetown; in Port of Spain or Roseau; in Kingstown or St. Georges; in Basseterre or Charlestown. Our Policy must be set, not in London, but in The Valley! By persons elected by us and answerable to us. Regional bodies govern their affairs in the strangest of manner. It is like a marketplace with bargaining and horse trading etc. At the end of the day decisions tend to favour the biggest/richest/loudest clique. The rest are left in the cold. If you do not believe me, ask Rommel Hughes. Our interests are best served if we are free of the shackles of Membership of these Organizations; we will then be free to negotiate one on one in our best interests. Why should we be subject to the Caricom Majority vote on Economic integration with its concomitant immigration nightmares? Same with the OECS? Why should we “integrate” our economy and society into a system of great imbalance where the burdens would far outweigh the benefits to Anguilla? Better if we dealt with each country individually. In those circumstances no other country or group of countries can impose their will on us, and we can ensure that our best interests are always served.

We cannot have our monetary Policy and Banking Policy dictated to us by the Central Bank in Basseterre, an institution which, perhaps not incidentally, is heavily biased in favour of the Windward Islands in the personnel it employs. We do not need to have the E.C Dollar as our currency. We can choose freely which currency we will adopt for use in Anguilla. It may well be to our advantage to look to the U.S Dollar, the Euro or some other currency. The point is that Anguillians can decide what is best for Anguilla and not be forced to accept decisions geared towards what is best for Antigua or St.Kitts or St. Vincent or Grenada or St. Lucia, etc. These are decisions WE ought to make. Not Dwight Venner and his colleagues at the Central Bank. Not Gonsalves of St.Vincent, Douglas of St.Kitts-Nevis, Mitchell of Grenada, or any other person elected to Government in their own countries, who serve the interests of their countries and are not answerable to us. To be quite frank, I trust Anguillians to make the right decisions for Anguilla. I do not trust any outside institution to do so. The Anguillians would be answerable to us. We can vote their backsides out if we are not happy with them. We cannot vote out Dwight Venner, Ralph Gonsalves, Patrick Manning, David Thompson, Denzil Douglas or any of them, regardless of the impact of their decisions on us. Same with the British.

Naturally, our West Indian Brothers and Sisters will have a special place at our table; just that they will not determine the Menu. They will be our guests, not our Masters.

We need to set up our own Court System. We derive no advantage being a Member of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court which we otherwise cannot enjoy. We pay our fair share of the expenses so paying for our own Court system will be nothing new. I will discuss the details of this another time, but suffice it to say that we can institute a system of Constitutional checks and balances to ensure justice and fairness and to give comfort to Citizens that Justice will be blind.

We also need to dismiss the System of Government forced upon us by the Colonists. We need a true Democracy. Not a system like we now have, where the majority of the elected candidates rule both the Executive and the Legislature. They should be two separate and distinct Branches of Government, like in the United States. As it now is the Legislature is a wasted Institution because the Opposition cannot influence Legislative Policy. We would need two Houses, one elected by Island wide voting – the Upper House- the other by constituencies – the Lower House. The Executive should be elected by Island wide vote seeing that they constitute the body vested with responsibility for the day to day management of the entire Country. A system of recall should be in place so that any elected person can be recalled by the voters if they deem it fit to do so. After all, it is a Democracy we are talking about. Any significant legislation can be subject to Voter nullification by ballot. In essence, we can establish a true Democracy where the People actually rule. We are a small population so it would be much less difficult to achieve this than say, Trinidad with a population of about 2 million. The details can be worked out. The concept is, I submit, indisputably sound if we are to constitute Anguilla as a truly Democratic Nation.

We are fortunate to have among us a noble Anguillian who is the Caribbean’s foremost Constitutional Lawyer in the person of the venerable Dame Bernice V. Lake, Q.C. We therefore shall have the very best possible Constitution and Judicial and Legal System for Anguilla. Dame Lake, our National Treasure, will ensure that.

Anguilla is a Nation of accomplished, educated, talented, resilient and bright People who are quite capable of successfully administering their own affairs. History confirms that.

Last year our Government raised 205 million dollars in indirect taxes from this Island’s small population. The British now insist that the Government introduce Income Tax. Then Minister Bryant orders us to broaden our “Tax Base”. It is like a situation where you live in your own house, paying all your bills yourself, but I could tell you what you can and cannot do in your own house. I could order you what to do or not to do. I could make Rules for your house, whether you like it or not. I could tell you who you may talk to, and to whom you may not speak. I insist that I control all the matters relating to your household and I make all decisions for you. You think you could live with that? Well guess what? That is exactly how we living as a Country with Britain dictating to us. If the Hon. Mr. Victor Banks, Chairman of the Anguilla United Front Party which presently forms the Government of Anguilla, and his slate of hopeful candidates want to go home at the next Elections they will accede to this outrageous demand. If persons offering themselves as candidates in the next Election think that it is ok for Britain to continue to rule us, they had better keep their present jobs. This brings me to the next problem which, unless addressed firmly, decisively and quickly by the Government will have similar consequences: FLAG!

FLAG: The Flag lies limp in a windless sky
This failure hangs like an albatross around the Economic neck of this small country. The consequences are widespread. People are in difficulty because of the loss of jobs, the nonpayment of debts due from Flag and the direct consequential negative impact of the shutdown of Flag on our Tourism arrivals: no golf course has led to cancellations in hotel and Villa bookings since last year, with the ripple effect affecting hotel employees. Why has there been no resolution to this grave problem? Why have not the Government moved to Compulsorily Acquire the Project as yet? Why has the Government been giving Flag more time to come up with a solution despite the passage of one year and three months of the Project being shutdown, and the numerous unsuccessful attempts? We are now into the middle of October and yet again the water has been shut off thereby ending the attempts by Cap Juluca to have the Golf Course rehabilitated in time for the upcoming Season. In fact, I am informed that the Cap Juluca crew which was working on the rehabilitation were ordered off the property on Sunday, the water having been shut off on Thursday last.

There is a reason for this. Flag ordered it. They have the right to do so because they own the Project. But we the People of Anguilla have an equal Right to know why because (a) it is on Leased Crown Lands owned by us, (b) We, through our Government, gave that company massive Fiscal Incentives to develop the Project, at a cost to us as taxpaying Anguillians, and (c) the shutdown affects all of us by its negative impact on the Economy. If Flag can no longer carry out their commitments under the MoA, the Lease and the Aliens Landholding Licence, it is time for them to go.

We have a Right to the completion of Projects permitted by our Government and underpinned by our Fiscal Incentives Gifts to the Developers. That is the bargain. We gift you the Fiscal Incentives, you complete the Project. Fiscal Incentives are money in the bank to Developers. [If you do not believe me check this: “Owners have recently concluded negotiations with the Government of Anguilla for a 25 year bed tax concession. Savings of 98 million over 25 years” See: Page 4 of July 2009 document, viewable on Don Mitchell’s Blog.] Developers should not come back asking for more, and then for some more. And then more again. Keep your side of the bargain.

It is now time for this Government to end this unacceptable situation and Compulsorily Acquire the entire Project without any more “negotiations”, or time wasted. We have no time left. Full Stop!

At the end of the day this United Front Government will be held accountable by the People of Anguilla for the status of this Project come the next Election. It is their baby. Their “political intellectual elite” fathered and mothered it. They nurtured it. These parents were key to the conception, gestation and birth of this baby. They even “midwifed” it. They will have to stand, or fall by it. Well, the mighty Project has fallen: Quo Vadis?

Let us be fair to them all: we experienced nearly a quinquennium of economic boom caused directly by the FLAG Project. We all benefitted. But that was not the bargain. We were not to benefit only for five years. It was to be forever; that is why we gave so much of our resources in Fiscal Incentives. Not just for five years. Forever! Enough reason for the Government of Anguilla to Compulsorily Acquire it right now. Our Government must be lauded for getting that Project on stream. We will laud them even more when they Compulsorily Acquire it. They will. They have been patient with Flag. They have bent over backward to accommodate Flag these past 16 months. Flag has failed to take advantage of that generosity. We will now see who “...has balls…” to partially quote the gentleman at the New York meeting. I said in one of my letters to you Sir, that I know our Government Ministers to be “...men of balls...” That gentleman will now see that he was wrong, and I am right on this issue of spheres.

The maintenance of the Status Quo will be the ticket to Political oblivion for the United Front Government; a brave, bold and swift compulsory acquisition would breathe new life into their electoral prospects. This is the reality they face as politicians. We the People continue to suffer economically while the Flag/Temenos Project remains shutdown. This is the reality we face as a People! The ball is in the Government’s court. Let us see what shot they play. Will they square cut Flag over backward point for six? Or will they grope tentatively forward, not to the pitch of the ball, and edge it to second slip into the waiting hands of a consultant? The former, they Win; the latter, they Lose! I am willing to bet that we will be cheering a square cut; well played by the Government, and then we all will be able to sing out joyfully: “ FIAT LUX “!

Tommy Astaphan
Little Harbour
Anguilla

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