29th December 2009

Dear Minister

Why is the Anguilla United Front not the right government for Anguilla?

There is a very simple reason why the Anguilla United Front is not the right government for Anguilla: it is because the AUF assumes, without question (as was apparent from the speech you gave in Valley South on 18th December and as is apparent from your party's propaganda machine), that large scale property development alone is what will bring prosperity and quality of life to the people of Anguilla. Sadly, that is the exact opposite of the truth, but you just don't get it, and if Anguilla returns an AUF government to power at the next election it will look back on the year 2010 as the year in which it made the biggest ever mistake in the history of this country.

In June 2007, before your development programme had descended into chaos - and not only or even mainly as a result of the global economic crisis as you would like us to believe, but more from mismanagement – we were told that 4,380 hotel rooms had either been approved or were waiting for approval. That level of expansion, on the estimate of your own government statisticians, would require a doubling of the entire population of Anguilla to provide the required staff - an increase in population of about 14,000 people, including family members.

Again on the evidence of your own professional advisers, if Anguilla "over-develops to the point that the physical and social capacity of the island to handle the level of development is inadequate, it would create a host of problems and cause the island to lose the very essence that made it attractive in the first place".

Minister, you appear determined to ignore this advice - I suppose because it does not suit your political agenda and your fatally flawed concept of economic development. Your seemingly desired pattern of wealth creation for a handful of patrons is all too obvious.

Would it not have been better for Anguilla to enjoy structural transformation through a programme of incremental and diversified development, more in keeping with "the very essence that made Anguilla attractive in the first place" - a programme which would generate all the sustainable jobs needed to create prosperity for Anguillians, while at the same time giving Anguillians the opportunity to participate in the developments themselves? What distinguishes your policy of large scale foreign controlled bricks and mortar development from the alternative is that the alternative retains a far higher proportion of the benefits for Anguilla and Anguillians, at all levels, and preserves the essential character of the island.

The projects approved or awaiting approval in June 2007 were scheduled to comprise 4,380 hotel rooms. Of that number, 1,525 rooms (or 35%), were comprised in three projects approved for a single foreign developer, the KOR Group, and 750 or 17% for another foreign developer, Flag. So more than half of this vast number of new rooms were to be in the hands of only two foreign developers. That places far too much power in the hands of foreigners whose interests are inevitably different from the interests of the vast majority of Anguillians and renders government powerless to resist their demands, as events have illustrated only too vividly.

Minister, your lack of meaningful national foresight, and your extravagant mismanagement of our finances, has created unparallelled hardship, fear and insecurity amongst our families. The numbers have changed, of course, owing to the suspension of some of the projects, but you are clearly so oblivious to the fundamental flaw in your headlong dash for grandiose development (comparable, on a smaller scale, to the vain and disastrous aspirations of Dubai) that you did not even think it necessary in your speech to justify your folly - a sure sign that your devotion to this destructive course is nothing short of a dangerous addiction. Minister Banks, I implore you, in the remaining days of your failing administration, to put the interests of Anguillians first, ahead of your personal agenda.

In short, Minister, while I believe your AUF administration has failed miserably on detailed policies, that is nothing compared to the fundamental and absolutely fatal defects in your overall vision (such as it is) for Anguilla. You may claim, as a party, to be "united to lead" and to "have Anguilla at heart", but those are just empty words when you have no true vision.

Yours sincerely,

Pam Webster
APP Candidate for District One

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