By Chris Burke
TURKS AND CAICOS – On Tuesday, March 23, 2010, UK Parliament debated the matter of Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean. In August 2009, the UK took governance of the islands based on complaints of local government corruption orchestrated by the islands’ opposition party.
Included in Tuesday’s debate was UK’s Foreign Office Minister, Chris BryantChris Bryant, who took the roll in October 2009. Though the people of Turks and Caicos have been crying foul, Chris Bryant defends the UK’s commission of inquiry report as to the former local government in Turks and Caicos and the UK take over.
Mr. Bryant missed the point of the people’s outrage when he described the “necessity” of the UK governance. The fact that the UK government took governance of Turks and Caicos in August 2009 to “assist” the islands and rid the islands of corruption seems preposterous to the people. The UK brought no aid, no money, no plan, and merely taxed the people. This has created poverty for many islanders.
Economic and democratic abuses were not addressed by Mr. Bryant despite being occasionally prompted by other members of parliament as to UK’s justification.
Mr. Bryant relies heavily on the corruption inquiry by Sir Robin Auld and the complaints of intimidation against the islands’ former government. Abandoned was the evidence that the complaintants to parliament and witness tetsimony to Sir Robin Auld were speculative and uncorroborated allegations. The Procedural irregularities are glaring, including but not limited to unsworn witness statements, anonymous witnesses and the UK’s indifference toward witness bias.
Upon UK’s take over in August, it immediately suspended the constitution, judiciary and trials by jury. In an atmosphere of fear and self preservation, local leaders felt compelled to turn on each other. The UK’s divide and conquer strategy created a level of mistrust between the local government and local population. What’s more is the people did not vote on this take over and are not allowed to share in any government decisions. The UK diverted the people away from unity and goals towards self determination (every man for himself policy).
The UK is insisting that foreign nationals be afforded the right to vote in Turks and Caicos, merely based on the number of Islanders (Belongers). However, the UK gives no mention of first applying for naturalisation or citizenship through paths of earning same. The UK has somehow inspired the expatriates to demand to be afforded civil rights to vote without any say from Belongers and without any process, just simply a right granted by the UK powers.
How did the UK insert itself into the public and local government in Turks and Caicos in the first place? It uses the UK voice of the people, TCI Journal, for quite some time and has been manipulating the people with this media outlet. This tactic is also nothing new to the UK’s political strategy, using local media to do its bidding in other parts of the world.
Sir Robin Auld, the man who oversaw the corruption inquiry, came to the islands with a clear goal, the plausible findings of corruption. The plan was for the people to turn against their own and seek refuge from the UK. Sir Robin Auld has been heavily criticised by his peers in the UK for being an activist judge and a radical. Why did the UK fail to look into Sir Robin’s agenda or background before sending him to the islands, and now rely so staunchly on this man’s report in the debates? In any event, even if the UK relies on this man’s report, the UK parliament will see words like “possible signs of corruption” and other vague terminology that does not rise to the punitive actions that have taken place in Turks and Caicos.
Upon its arrival, the UK assured the people of Turks and Caicos that they would continue to employ and support local islanders to make government decisions. However, this did not happen. Key islanders in government were suddenly and mysteriously dismissed for one reason or another and replaced by UK hires. The UK quickly turned its back on Turks and Caicos Islanders. It is now proven that the so-called local advisory council was a sham, the UK honors none of its recommendations. The UK government just implemented a 10% pay decrease for civil servants, the UK diplomat in the islands stating that the locals don’t put in a full day anyway, meaning perhaps that they’re lazy.
It is well surmised in Turks and Caicos that the UK arranged unfettered access to the islands by using a political opposition group via the media site TCI Journal. It then decided to bring an atmosphere of fear by accusing anyone it wanted of corruption. The UK got away with this by taking the constitution, the judiciary, trials by jury whereby giving themselves full access to the legal system without any democratic intervention or checks and balances. The UK used, and has been using, TCI Journal to manipulate the truth.
Moreover, the UK installed a special prosecutor allowing her authority to be “far reaching” by inviting members of the population to come forward with any information that might be useful for her agenda. Opposition members favoured by the UK have worked with the special prosecutor and have exploited their “special relationship” to intimidate and suppress dissent. This has created a police state in TCI. Shaun Malcolm of TCI Journal threatens people in the islands with his access to Helen Garlick, the special prosecutor. This is highly dangerous and undemocratic.
New opposition leader, Doug Parnell, just learned the hard way that there is no local leader access to the UK government operation in Turks and Caicos, as he was asked to stand down at the next election in favour of UK’s pick at the general election. This is clear proof that the UK has no intention to allow a fair local election next year.
Also missing from the debate was discussion of the Unity March in Turks and Caicos held on March 8, whereby thousands took the streets in protest of the UK-installed government.
For Chris Bryant to confirm that foreign developers were corrupt and exploiting the Turks and Caicos Islands, borders the ridiculous and is gross misinformation. Foreign developers building resorts and running resorts is Turks and Caicos’ only source of revenue and they were welcomed and now missed dearly. The bribes asserted by the opposition party and the UK were merely campaign contributions for upcoming elections. There are no campaign contributions laws in Turks and Caicos.
The claim that developers benefitted from the campaign contributions is also worthy of deep review. If you take developer Cem Kinay who purchased Joe GrantJoe Grant Cay, a tiny island without a beach to speak of, you would see that Kinay received no bargain for this island. It is without infrastructure with rocky terrain and has been uninhabited for hundreds of years. In fact, Kinay made a percentage profit sharing deal with the Crown. Sir Robin Auld used dubious real estate comps to valuate Joe Grant Cay to accuse Cem Kinay of wrong doing. Auld used Ambergris Cay, a wholly developed island with a landing strip and marina, as a comparable island to prove valuation to assert that Kinay got a “great bargain”, is plain fraud.
The assertion that developers seeking crown land bribed public officials for favorable treatment is wrong. In fact these developers were wooed by the former Premier Michael Misick and his administration to invest in Turks and Caicos. Whether or not anyone personally agrees with Michael Misick and his personal life, this does not amount to corruption. In fact, Lisa-Raye, Misick’s ex-wife, just stated last week in an interview that, “I believe that he cared about his country and he was a great leader for them. He brought a lot of money to that country and a lot of awareness.” Lisa-Raye was one of the UK’s star witnesses against the former local leader, his estranged wife.
UK Parliament, it might be time for a real debate, an honest debate to look at these deficiencies. It’s time restore democracy and self determination to the people now.
