REPORT ON PRESENTATION TO AT THE UNITED NATIONS CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SEMINAR,
HAVANA, CUBA 23-25 MAY 2001 GIVEN BY PHYLLIS FLEMING-BANKS, Ph.D
It is heartening to see that there are people from all walks supporting
independence for Anguilla or at least much more political autonomy than
there is at present.
In her presentation at the United Nations decolonization committee meetings
in Cuba during the period 23-25 May 2001, Dr. Phyllis Fleming-Banks did us
proud. It is unfortunate that the local media houses did not carry her
presentation. The Anguillian made a little mention of it and in this article
I will try to highlight a few important points that she brought up to the UN
seminar.
“It began as most of Anguilla’s history seem to begin, with the 1967
revolution where there was a vote of 1,813 to 5 in favour of independence.
After the results Walter Hodge declared, “the people of Anguilla spoken…we
have a right to our independence…there is no legal arrangement with Britain.
Legally, we are wholly independent and adrift.”
Dr. Fleming-Banks went on in her presentation, “34 years ago, Anguilla set
out to establish itself as a self-governing, independent state, complete
with a constitution, flag and all the trappings.”
Dr. Fleming-Banks went on to speak about the changes in the Constitution
review of 1990, which saw some additional responsibilities given to the
elected representatives but added, “but by and large did little to decrease
the all-powerful position of the Queen’s representative.”
The power and responsibilities of the Governor shows that Anguilla is still
far less than democratic. We are living a modern day dictatorship
camouflaged as democracy and our politicians, elected and non-elected are
still fooling us. When you read the following, you should then make up your
mind to stay away from the voting booths until your local puppet
representatives do something drastic about the lack of autonomy.
HM Governor’s powers are external defence, external affairs which includes
international relations, consular services, treaties and conventions,
internal security which includes the police and the courts, the public
service, the judicial and legal services. He also has responsibility for
passports, nationality, visas, disaster preparedness, international
financial services, including any relating directly to finance and he is not
required to consult with the Executive Council on these matters!
Dr. Fleming-Banks continued, “The 1990 constitution also provides for a
Deputy Governor…the position was filled by another British male, because the
governor of the day claimed that there were no “qualified’ Anguillians
capable of doing the job.
“The reality has been that this highest level of power has been locked into
the hands of the British representatives. The Governor still reserves his
executive powers to override the decisions of the Executive council with the
approval of the Secretary of State. His executive powers give him the right
to assent or refuse to assent by not signing after consultation with the
Secretary of State. The Governor’s reserve powers also allow him to sign any
bill into law which the House of Assembly may reject.”
“By the mid-1980’s the overreaching powers of the Governor were a sore point
of contention between the British Government and the political leaders in
Anguilla. Britain, however, ignored all calls for more devolution of powers
and initiated instead, a plan to increase those powers.” We have all heard
of the Rifkin letter that the local Government rejected and Dr.
Fleming-Banks went on to say that, “but by 1999 Britain found a new and
modern way to increase its control over the territories, terming them
Overseas, rather than dependent territories.”
She so rightfully continued, “Back in 1980 the British Minister for Foreign
and Commonwealth Affairs had argued that is was not Britain’s intention to
grant Anguilla full internal self-government (although this is what
Anguillians wanted).” “According to Nicholas Ridley, it was difficult to
grant full internal self-government to a state which wished to remain a
dependency. 19 years later, however, one of his successors was boldly
announcing to the world that the same dependencies, for which no road to
independence had been paved, were automatically self-governing. These Non
self-governing territories would discover that without proper consultations,
they had by default, ‘opted to continue the constitutional link with
Britain”. “And so it was that with the publication of the White Paper,
Britain has sought to make the world and the UN believe that it has
completed its colonial responsibilities by preparing its colonies for
self-determination and granting their wishes. Such a move, if successful
would remove these NSGT from the scrutiny of the UN.”
“On examination of the White paper, however, would reveal that there are no
changes in the constitutional relationship between Britain and its
colonies.”
In the interest of space, this will be continued next week. I think that
this shows the people of Anguilla that even though not officially with the
Anguilla Independence Movement – A.I.M. there are some highly qualified
Anguillians that are really working behind the scenes and believe that
self-determination is a must for the people of Anguilla. Join us in
applauding those efforts.
Haydn Hughes
A.I.M.
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