Political Hopeful, Carlos Simons responds to the issues at hand especially the BEACHES DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT; DIGGING DEEPER INTO BRITISH INCOMPETENCE.
Two weeks ago on 19 April the Jamaican Observer carried an article in which the owner of Beaches Turks and Caicos, Mr. Gordon “Butch” Stewart announced plans to increase his staff at that Resort by 150 workers recruited from Jamaica. Mr. Stewart was quoted in the article as saying: “I am happiest when we are in a position to provide jobs for Jamaicans so that they can take care of themselves and their families.”
In a statement published the following day on 20 April, I condemned the plan as evidence of the Interim Administration’s abandonment of its responsibility to protect the TCI workforce. I characterized the quote attributed to Mr. Stewart as being “at best insensitive and at worst offensive” because the jobs he was referring to were to be provided at the expense of TCI workers who, I noted, equally need jobs to feed their families and who have a greater entitlement to those jobs. I also called upon the Governor to release the details of the arrangement immediately so that the public could see what his government had been up to. Other political leaders (and hopefuls) issued similar statements.
Also on 20 April the Ministry of Border Control and Labour issued a statement expressing “surprise” at the article, giving assurances that “The law remains that priority in employment should be given to Turks and Caicos Islanders” and that the Ministry was seeking “urgent communication from Beaches Resort management to confirm” that procedures agreed with and approved by the Labour Commissioner “in line with the Immigration Ordinance” are followed.
Nothing further on the “urgent communication from Beaches” point has been said, except a letter from Mr. Stewart on 24 April which sadly does not address the matter in issue. Also the Governor has not responded to my request for the immediate release of the details of the arrangement on the basis of which Mr. Stewart apparently believed he could make and implement such plans.
On 24 April the Internet Blog, TCI News Now published a story under the headline “Controversy erupts over secret development agreement”. That article carried a link to a document that is said to be the 2006 Development Agreement between Beaches and TCIG, went on to discuss the various statements that had been made on all sides of the “controversy” and ended with a discussion of what the publisher apparently believes to be a link between the Agreement and certain other matters that he admits may be the subject of an existing investigation.
It would not be proper for me to comment on matters the subject of any on-going investigation and I won’t! However, assuming the document published with the News Now story is genuine (and no one has denied that it is); I make the following points for the benefit and on behalf of the TCI people.
-
Regardless of who negotiated it, the document appears to have been produced in the Attorney General’s Chambers (see the title page and the notices provisions of clause 11).
-
The role of the Attorney General was and remains to advise the Government of the day as to the law in his capacity as the chief law enforcement officer, to
ensure that the Government complies with the law and to represent the Government to the best of his ability.
-
If circumstances arise in which the Government willfully contravenes the law in defiance of the Attorney General’s advice as to the legal requirements of any particular matter, or insists that he does so himself, it is his duty to resign and to say why.
-
Section 13, subsection (1) of the Immigration Ordinance as it stood then and remains, provides that “no person shall engage in gainful occupation in the Islands unless such person…(e) is in possession of a valid work permit issued under sections 11 or 25”. Section 11 deals with temporary work permits issued by the Director of Immigration and which may be issued for a maximum period of 42 days. Section 25 deals with regular or full work permits issued by the Immigration Board after full consideration of an application.
-
Sub-section 3 of section 13 says that “The Governor may by order published in the Gazette and subject to such conditions and restrictions as he deems fit to impose, exempt any person or category of persons from the requirements of subsection (1)”.
-
The work permit and employment procedure set out in clause 4 of the Beaches Development Agreement, to the extent that it contravenes subsection (1) of section 13 of the Immigration Ordinance (and Regulations) is unlawful unless it is the subject of an order published by the Governor in accordance with subsection 3 of that section. One example of contravention is clause 4.4 which exempts Beaches from the requirement to advertise positions for senior management staff. Another is clause 4.8 which allows Head Office Personnel to “visit the Resort” for periods not exceeding 30 days at a time “to conduct managerial reviews and hotel inspections, without being required to hold work permits, temporary or otherwise.” There are others.
-
The need for compliance with the order publication requirement of subsection (3) of section 13, or new or amending legislation in the absence of such compliance, is contemplated in the Agreement itself at clause 6.6 under the subhead “Other Legislation”: “The Government will consider reasonable requests for new legislation or amendments to existing legislation including without restriction or limitation any amendment to the Immigration Ordinance to give effect to the provisions of clause 4 of this Agreement”.
-
I am not aware of the publication of any order made by the Governor in compliance with subsection (3) of section 13 of the Ordinance. I am also not aware of any new or amending legislation to deal with the matter.
-
If I am right about that, then the clause 4 work permits and employment procedure contained in the Agreement was and remains unlawful.
-
Responsibility for the making and publication of the necessary order lay with the then Governor on the advice of the then Attorney General. Those are obligations that continue to lie with the current Governor and the current Attorney General and they are in breach of the law for each day this situation continues.
So I end as I began, and as I will continue in the weeks and months and to come, for as long as God gives me strength: British administrative incompetence looms large in all that has taken place in TCI over recent years. I am not willing to see the people of the TCI pay for that, either with jobs to which by law they have a greater entitlement or with their hard earned taxpayer dollar being used to fund the gravy train called SIPT and to issue silly international arrest warrants. It just is not right! And so I tell you this: when the Governor brings us Michael Misick he should make sure Richard Tauwhare and Kurt de Freitas are at Mr. Misick’s side. They were there in the good times… you know the rest!
Carlos W. Simons QC
Candidate for Leader
Progressive National Party
7 May 2012
