The Editor
The Anguillian Newspaper
Stoney Ground
Anguilla

Dear Editor:

I write this letter in the company of “Shadow” and “Cleopatra” who are reclining in the comfort of their House to which I have been banished as a consequence of a certain revelation made by one Ijahnya Christian in her column “Heartically Yours: My Vote”, published in The Anguillian for Friday23rd. October 2009.

The revelation in question which caused me to involuntarily take up abode with my children’s Rottweiler and Schnauzer has to do with Ijahnya’s FedEx like efficiency at delivering those ubiquitous “love notes” to her sister when we attended Basseterre Senior High School, at a time when Ijahnya was still known as ‘Carol Rey’.

Ijahnya’s observation that I had “stopped short” in my letter with respect to the Constitutional Status of an Independent Anguilla was premature. I had in the very paper in which she wrote in such unearned glowing terms about me, promised to elaborate on the details of the Constitution, which in my view would be in the best interest of our country. I did intend to posit the Republican Status as being consonant with Anguilla’s place in the World today. I am grateful to Sister Ijahnya for establishing that I am not alone in my thoughts for a Republican Anguilla.

New System of Government: A synopsis

The new Anguilla Constitution must fundamentally change the system of Government, which we have been forced to use through no fault of our own. The Westminster Model of Government which is in place, now must be eradicated and replaced with a truly democratic system of government.

No longer must the majority of elected politicians control both the Legislature and the Executive. In fact, no longer must one person be able to sit in both at the same time. We must introduce a true system of Separation of the Three Branches of Government. The Members of the Legislative Branch must be elected separately from the Executive Branch, and each must be independent of control from the other. I will address the Third Branch, the Judiciary, at another time.

In my view, the Legislative Branch should consist of two Chambers: the “lower” Chamber being the House of the People’s Representatives. The Members of this Chamber must be elected on a constituency basis which each village/town electing a Member, with due adjustment being made for the populations of each Constituency so as to ensure, as far as possible, equality in numbers in each Constituency. This equality exercise will admit of there being an odd number of Constituencies, as well as fairness of representation. The Speaker of the House must be elected by the voters in an Island wide election to that Office. In other words, candidates will run for election on an Island wide vote to become Speaker of the House of the People’s Representatives.

The “upper” Chamber, being the Chamber of the People’s Senators, must be elected on an Island wide basis with no regard to constituencies. This body will have an odd number of Senators. The President of the Senate must be elected to that Office by the voters in an Island wide election in the same manner that the Speaker of the House is elected by the People. The number of People’s Senators can be set at one half to two thirds of the People’s Representatives for the time being, and the Constitution can provide mechanisms to increase the number of Representatives as a function of population growth.

Now, I suspect that you are thinking that all these Representatives and Senators are going to cost the Treasury a lot of money. The short answer to that is ‘no’, because the Representatives and Senators will not be paid salaries. They will be paid a daily fee for attendance when the Legislature is in session. So if the Legislature sits for five days in a month, they will be paid the daily fee for five days. In other words, they must keep their day jobs because they will not be able to make a living out of being in the Legislature. It is a Public Service to their Country and they must render that service with magnanimity. These fees will be set by reference to the fees paid to Senior Civil Servants when on a Per Diem basis. So, all Politicians and budding Politicians who wish to make money ought to focus on creating employment and economic activity in Anguilla so that they can maintain their day jobs, and possibly grow them, because you will not be able to make money as Servants of the People.
However, as Servants of the People you can create an environment, if you do your jobs properly, in which everybody does well, including you.

The Executive Branch must be elected by Island wide elections with candidates running for election to specific Ministries, and for election as (Executive) President of Anguilla. This will ensure that the People will elect to a specific Office the person whom the People think is best qualified for that Office, and remove the power of the Chief Minister under our present Constitution to assign Ministries (acting in concert with the Governor) to whomsoever he pleases from amongst the Members of the House of Assembly who support him, whether or not they are qualified for that Ministry. This proposed system is democratic. The current system is not. The People can elect whom they think is best qualified and experienced; say for example, to be Minister of Education. I concede that this will create an increased number of Members in the Executive, but I submit at the same time that it would lead to efficiencies that would save money.

Members of the Executive Branch of Government will be salaried employees of the People. Their salaries will be set, not by them as it now is, but by the People at Election time. On the ballot at each General Election would be a proposal as to salaries for the Ministers, which will have to be approved by a Majority of the voters. Again, Public Service will not make you wealthy, so we will separate the wheat from the chaff and only persons genuinely willing to serve the People will offer themselves for election.

The Constitution will prohibit any contributions in cash or in kind to politicians, political parties etc. It will also prohibit the giving of anything to voters by politicians or their representatives, supporters etc. This will remove the potential for “buying” votes.

This separation, and the checks and balances which will be Constitutionally built into the System, will ensure that the President and the Ministers of the Executive are kept along the straight and narrow, as they will not be all powerful, but would need to work closely with the Legislature to get things done. Again, persons not interested in humble service to the People will not have any incentive to run. Power will not be an objective of elections.

All, or any, elected persons or person will be subject to recall by the Electorate during their terms.

Details of the above concepts can be worked out. I need not say to whom we should turn to achieve this task.

FLAG

I understand that the Government has begun to put together various committees to get things going on the Compulsory Acquisition of the Flag Project. They need not be reminded that we do not have time to waste.

I also understand that the Government has directed Flag to restart the watering of the Golf Course pursuant to the Covenants under the Lease. All praise to our Government for that.

Further, someone from overseas has informed me, and I verily believe it to be true, that Flag Representatives will be on island on Thursday, 29th. October 2009 to meet with Government Officials with respect to the Temenos/Flag/Golf Course Development.

The time for Flag to fulfill the obligations of the MOA, the Lease and the Aliens Landholding Licence is long past. They messed up and Anguilla and Anguillians have suffered from July 31st. last year, with the shut down of both the construction and the Golf Course, and we continue to suffer. Flag didn’t seem to notice the suffering of our People until the Government decided to Compulsorily Acquire. They now realize that indeed Bunton, Victor, Kenneth and Neil do “..have balls..”!

It is only now when the Government have decided to Compulsorily Acquire the Project, and have been having discussions with potential Developers, that Flag want to talk. As someone with whom we are all familiar was recently quoted as saying “..the time for talk is long past. While I will always be approachable about reasonable changes to any agreement, the reality is this is an up or down decision on the.. [Government of Anguilla’s] part.” Well, me son, leh me tell you this: the Government of Anguilla have made “..an up or down decision..”, and just in case you still under the mistaken impression that our Government is a bunch of eunuchs, they “..have balls..” and they using them now.

They, these Men of Spherical Virtue, are Compulsorily Acquiring the Flag Project in the Public Interest; they have had enough of that which obtained for the past 15 months; they are acutely aware that Elections are due early next year and that their chances of re-election to Office are a direct function of what happens with our lands at Merrywing/Rendezvous. You see, we ain’t stupid People; we know when enough is enough, and this gone well past ‘enough’! It is in fact deep into the ‘f’s’ in the alphabet. We know when we getting “fluffed”, and we don’t like it.

Our Government allowed themselves to be “fluffed up” for the past 15 months in the interests of being accommodating and patient. But that done now because “The Poor can’t take no more! No more.” [Credit: King Eli Matt].

I certainly hope that the Government do not resile from their commitment to the People of Anguilla to Compulsorily Acquire the property. Let nothing said to you on Thursday by those who accuse you of being without “manhood”, or by anyone else, consultant or otherwise; whether it be “David, or Goliath”, change your mind from the path of Compulsory Acquisition. If you do, you will undoubtedly pay the price at the Polls come the next Election.

To borrow from the Canadian National Anthem, “We Stand on Guard for Thee”!

Thank You

Tommy Astaphan

Little Harbour

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