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Last week, Henry Bellingham, British Under-secretary of State and Foreign and Commonwealth Office minister with responsibility for the 14 British Overseas Territories, issued a three-page statement setting out eight milestones that must be achieved before elected internal self-government can return to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The leaders of both political parties have weighed in on their view of the milestones and how it will affect future elections as well as the prospects for return to healthy public finances. Douglas Parnell, the leader of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), appeared on both local television stations and indicated disappointment that elections would not occur until 2012, saying he had hoped the return to elections could occur by December 2011. However, he said he “celebrated” the announcement that a financial package would be forthcoming from Britain. “We need to put a floor on our economic recession here in the TCI,” Parnell said. Part of the struggle the British-run Interim Government has faced is the enormous debt run up by the last administration of now resigned Premier Michael Misick. Parnell went on to say, “This (the financial package) is what I and my party have been calling for for some time.” It is not known what the nature and size of the package will be. The interim government has three major areas of financial concern: old debts and loans left over from the Misick administration; the size of the civil service, which Governor Gordon Wetherell says is itself consuming 60 percent of the government’s monthly revenue; and the contracted healthcare program, which includes the pay down of the two hospitals (total 30 beds) and health care by the contractor, Interhealth Canada. The health program and civil service costs together are estimated to consume $8 million more per year than the entire government income. Parnell went on to say he also felt that several of the eight milestones were nearly completed, including formation of the Integrity Commission and constitutional reform, which is expected to be completed in early 2011. The PDM leader was also pleased that Bellingham had indicated inclusion of the political parties in the process of reaching the milestones. Clayton Greene Leader of the Progressive National Party (PNP), the last internal government, also felt elections ought to be held no later than December 2011. The milestone Greene spoke at length about was that which requires the Helen Garlick-led special investigation and prosecution team to achieve progress and be assured in some formal fashion of being able to continue their work without any restraints. All the witnesses that testified before the 2009 Commission of Inquiry were associated with Greene’s PNP party. It was the Inquiry’s findings that resulted in the imposition of direct rule by Britain, with an interim government replacing the PNP internal government, which ruled for exactly six years (two incomplete terms). The PNP leader took issue with prosecutions being necessary before elections can be held. In his interview Greene also called for a “National Action Plan”. The PNP leader did not describe this programme, how it would work and who would participate. |
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