In the lead up to constitutional talks in London, we are greatly concerned that underlying assumptions that have made their way into the constitutional and electoral change process is flawed. To underscore this point we notice that there is yet to be a census conducted in the Turks and Caicos Islands even though one is long overdue. But, changes are being considered to the electoral system based upon the population, size and make up of persons in the islands.
We have reason to believe that there are approximately 35000 persons living in the Turks and Caicos Islands which would represent a doubling of the population in approximately 10 years since the last census was conducted. We also have reason to believe that the breakdown of those 35000 persons is as follows:
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20 thousand Turks and Caicos Islanders living in the country
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13 thousand temporary work permit holders and;( declined from 18thousand in 2009)
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2 thousand Permanent Residency Certificate holders of Jamaican, Haitian, Dominican, American, British and other nationalities.
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An unknown number of illegal persons.
The flaw comes from the fact that the figures used again and again by the FCO and their advisors are that only 7000 persons out of the entire population is properly politically represented. This information or misinformation is deceivingly incorrect. We would accept that it is merely and oversight, however because of the consistent repeating of this incorrect information we are compel to demand that the FCO discontinue to use this statistic as a basis for decision making purposes.
We state this now so that the people will know that we are aware of the false assumptions that have been used by the British Government to arrive at their various positions. WE ALSO STATE FOR THE RECORD THAT WE INTEND TO CORRECT THE RECORD ON THIS AND OTHER INACCURACIES.
We further call on the Interim Government to publish the census or tell the people when they will publish the census.
We will correct the record of the final report of the Commission of Inquiry on how the PAC functioned in the next release.
