SPEECH BY HE THE GOVERNOR AT THE QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY PARTY, 14 JUNE 2010

Included is the speech as delivered on June 14, 2010 by Governor Allistair Harrison at The Queen's Birthday Party in Anguilla.

"Sarah and I, and our children, are delighted to welcome you all here for the second time on the occasion of The Queen's official birthday. It does not seem like a year since the first time I welcomed you here as a diffident and newly-arrived Governor; and, since Governors are but birds of passage across the ocean of eternity, it will not be long before we welcome you here next year for the third and final time. In some ways I feel that the second QBP speech made by the Governor is somewhat pivotal - it gives an opportunity to say the things that it would have been too early to say last year and it will be too late to say next year. 
 
I would like to begin by reflecting on the year just passed - an eventful one. It is not every day that a governor appoints a new Commissioner of Police, to universal acclaim. It is not every day that a governor appoints a new magistrate, to - almost - universal acclaim. It is not every day that a governor appoints a new Chief Minister and Government, by definition to great popular acclaim, since Anguilla is a democracy. And it is not every day that a Governor declines to assent to the budget - a point I will come back to in a minute.
 
It has also been an eventful year in the United Kingdom, which has followed Anguilla's example in holding an election; and is soon to follow our example in presenting a new budget.  The election in the UK produced a coalition government, for the first time in more than a generation: a government that is determined to tackle problems that sound rather familiar to us here on this island - a dramatic economic downturn caused by the global financial crisis; a slow and uncertain recovery; and a resulting massive gap in the public finances.  Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron warned the British public that dealing with the deficit would be "unavoidably tough" and affect "our whole way of life" in the United Kingdom.
 
It is against the background of these events that I want to address the theme of my speech - the theme of Good Governance, perhaps the most important of my constitutional responsibilities.  It is largely self-evident that Good Governance matters - that it is important that Anguilla should have government structures capable of taking the necessary policy decisions openly, efficiently and promptly; that Anguilla should be a functioning democracy, governed for the people and by the people; and that Anguilla's public and private sector should be free of corruption and dishonesty. But I also believe that, particularly at the moment, Good Governance matters for wider reasons. Anguilla's economic recovery depends to a very large extent on Anguilla's reputation as a place to do business. We need external investment to drive our recovery in the tourism sector, and external investors need to rely on Anguilla and its government as a dependable partner who will honour agreements and pursue consistent and transparent policies. We also need more business in the financial sector, and we will only get it if the sector has a reputation for being well-regulated and free of corruption.
 
Anguilla has a good story to tell in the regulation of the international financial sector. A few days ago the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force completed its peer review process and gave Anguilla a good report. We are doing well against most of the standards set, better than many larger jurisdictions. The Attorney-General will be setting out the results of the review shortly, and the further action that will be needed.
 
But good governance goes further than just the areas that I have described. Indeed, good governance is too important to be left to the Governor and the Government. It is important that a wide range of people from all walks of life and all political persuasions should play their part in public life, in sitting on key public bodies for example.  That means that there should be plenty of high quality volunteers, as there are. It also means that Anguilla should continue to avoid the "winner takes all" approach to politics that we have sometimes seen elsewhere in the Caribbean.

 
This brings me to the delicate subject of corruption, a key area of governance affecting both the public and the private sector. There are many words spilt on many websites about this issue, and I do not want to add too much to them. I do not believe that corruption is the same problem in Anguilla that it is in many other jurisdictions, independent and otherwise, in the region and throughout the world. And I welcome and endorse the commitment to fight corruption in the AUM manifesto.  When I was sworn in fourteen months ago I drew attention to events in the Turks and Caicos and the need to be vigilant so that nothing similar happened here. And it is only by our vigilance that we will make sure that it does not.  We need to ensure that the actions of a tiny minority do not sully Anguilla's good name, and destroy its enviable reputation. I have tried to ensure as Governor that everything is done to pursue white collar crime with the same vigour as all other crime to which it is morally equivalent.  The actions of the Royal Anguilla Police Force in recent months continue to demonstrate that no profession and no group of people are above the law.  
 
It is excellent news that the legal profession here have accepted the need for their profession to be regulated. As Justice Redhead remarked to the bar last week, they owe their first duty to the court, and only their second duty to their client.
 
As for the tiny minority who are not prepared to observe the highest standards in public and private life, I would say just this. You may have got away with it through good luck, and you may hope that your luck will continue. But you will have to be lucky every time. The RAPF and the regulatory bodies only need to be lucky once. Substantial new resources are soon to be available for the fight against corruption and financial crime in Anguilla. Incidentally they won't cost the Anguillian taxpayer anything.
 
Talking of the taxpayer brings me neatly back to the budget, which has in many ways put more of a spotlight on the quality of Anguilla's governance than any other issue. Much work has been done since the end of April. I pay tribute to the Chief Minister and the officials at the Ministry of Finance who have worked tirelessly to produce a new budget for 2010 and a three-year plan to balance the books. EXCO met over the weekend to take the process forward. The good news is that the new Minister for the Overseas Territories, Henry Bellingham, wants us to eliminate the deficit over three years rather than one. But that will clearly require tough decisions and some painful adjustment. I am confident that the Government and the House of Assembly will not shirk from the difficult decisions that are necessary. I am confident that the people of Anguilla will support those decisions. They could mean the difference between economic recovery over two or three years; or a decade or more of economic stagnation. 

Let us look forward to the future with hope. If Anguilla continues to be well governed, it will prosper. I will certainly continue to play my part in bringing the highest standards of governance to Anguilla."