Statement on Commission of Inquiry Report

Office of the Leader of the Opposition 

Monday 23 March 2009

3:00pm

STATEMENT ON COMMISSION OF INQUIRY REPORT AND

RESIGNATION OF PREMIER

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, Citizens and Residents of this Great Land of ours. 

Last week Monday March 16, 2008 our country was presented with the Interim Report of the Commissioner the Right Honorable Sir Robin Auld and the Draft Turks & Caicos Islands Constitution Amendment Order 2009.

Many have asked of its Implications to us.

The Interim Report makes 24 Recommendations the most damning of which is a recommendation on the enlargement of the franchise. There is also an order in council that is to be laid before the House of Commons on Wednesday 25 March 2009. This order in council suspends significant portions of our constitution including the sections relating to the Cabinet, the House of Assembly and the Public Service Commission.

You may be asking how and why did we get to this point in history?

These actions are being taken as a result of the findings of the recently concluded commission of inquiry, where written evidence and oral testimony were received by the Commission.

During the Oral Hearings there were revelations of:

1. ministers receiving tens of millions of dollars in .loans. with no repayment or interest attached;

2. Close relatives of Ministers owning half of a golf course in a major project in the Turks and Caicos Islands;

3. Ministers of Government receiving .loans. form other ministers, whose relatives happened to have just sold acres of crown land;

4. Ministers of Government receiving .commissions. and .finders fees. for the sale of crown land and purchase of property where planning board decisions were overturned;

 

 

 

5. Ministers of Government receiving shares in businesses without paying a penny;

6. Extensive self dealing where ministers wrote to themselves awarding themselves acres of crown land; and

7. Millions and millions of dollars in questionable dealings.

This resulted in the Attorney for the commission coming to the following conclusion in relation to the PNP:

“This is the party machinery behind a majority government, which has helped to fund and promote the current TCI government and to ensure its recent re-election in 2007. It is also a multimillion-dollar enterprise, bought and paid for by a small number of rich individuals, many if not most of whom appear to have prospered under the current government. It acts, in my submission, in effect if not by design as a conduit for large amounts of unregulated and undeclared cash from individuals to politicians..”

In deed Mr. Mill the council for the commission in his closing submission indicated in his review of this PNP administration that “Corruption has been accepted and encouraged from the highest level and has become endemic in public life.”

His review of the PNP further showed .clear examples here of corruption in the heart of Government.

One Example he noted when referring to the salt cay development was

“The provision of the golf course to Mr. Hoffman, whether deserved or not, whether appropriate or not in the context of the development is the clearest possible case, in my submission, sir, of the exploitation of the power of his office by the Premier for personal gain. It is, in a word, corrupt.”

Sir Robin’s Conclusion

“I am also satisfied on the information before me under Part (a) of the Commission’s Terms of Reference of a high probability of systemic corruption and/or other serious dishonesty involving past and present elected Members of the House of Assembly and others in recent years.”

What has been our Party’s Position?

Subsequent to the release of the Report and the Draft order, the PDM has taken the position that:

Whilst we accept the recommendations to:

1. Pursue Criminal Prosecutions and Asset Recovery

2. Greater transparency with Political Parties

3. The appointment of a Special Prosecutor

4. Establish a Special Civil Recovery Team

 

 

 

 

5. Give immediate effect to the Manual of Crown Land Administration and procedure

6. Strengthen the Crown Land Valuation Office

7. Review the Ministerial Code of Conduct and give public effect, also review the Legal Profession Ordinance.

8. The speedy implementation of the Integrity Commission Ordinance

9. The Publication of vital public information on the Government Website

We however reject in the strongest possible sense the following recommendations:

1. We are directly opposed to the inclusion of Non-Belongers (non citizens), as appointed members to the Advisory Council to be appointed by the Governor under section 8 of the Draft Order in Council.

We believe that there are sufficient well thinking, honest, and capable Belongers of the Turks and Caicos Islander who are able to serve in this capacity. We believe that there is something inherently wrong with persons who are not registered voters being able to advise the highest (and in this unique case, the only) governing body/individual in the Turks and Caicos Islands. To this end, we advised His Excellency that this would meet great resistance from the Official Opposition. We also wish to register our concerns as to the composition of the ConsultativeForum which seems to mirror the House of Parliament, but has no requirement for those members to be Belongers or Registered Voters of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

2. We are directly opposed to the Governor serving without any checks and balances or general oversight as he exercise this vast executive authority. There is no system that has such great powers that ought to be allowed to go unchecked as proposed in this case. We believe that all semblance of democracy aught come with some level of check on the executive to ensure accountability and transparency.

3. We are also diametrically opposed to the recommendations as to how to expand the franchise. We believe that the greatest gift that we can bestow on visitors to our shores who have assimilated into our culture and have made great social and economic contributions is the grant of Belongership status.

We accept that under the present PNP Administration the process has been corrupted. After all we had communicated to previous Governors what was happening with regards to the grant of this status and this matter was never addressed. The PDM Party has been an advocate for the establishment of a Belongership Commission and we are firm in our belief that this would remove Ministerial interference from the process.

We believe that this matter must be carefully considered and not implemented in any form. Otherwise we can say that we are prepared to vehemently defend our stance. You should also know that this is something that many persons across Party lines are opposed to. We also wish to state our disappointment in the lack of

inclusion in the recommendations, a comprehensive review of the Belongerships granted

 

We have communicated this position in writing to

 

1. The Minister for Overseas Territories;

2. The Secretary General of Caricom; and

3. the Foreign Affairs Committee

We have made further Representations made abroad with

• Rt. Hon Hubert Ingham, Prime Minister of the Bahamas and

 

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Hon. Perry Christie Leader of the Opposition in the Bahamas (who led a delegation of 14 to TCI on a fact finding mission)

 

 

 

 

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Members of the Government of the Cayman Islandsand partners that in helping us they not destroy our dignity and fundamental rights. That helping hand along with God.s mercy and blessing will see our nation through this crisis and help restore, for all, the promise of the Turks and Caicos Islands 

 

 

 

Premier’s Resignation

Over the past 5 and ½ years our county saw an unprecedented level of corruption that saw the personal fortunes of Ministers and their close allies grow, while our citizens were required to take on a much larger tax burden, while expecting less in the fiscal management of our country.

As a country and as Men and Women that love our country we must look to the future with hope and expectation never forgetting the misdeeds of the past. We must commit ourselves to rise to a higher standard of honesty and integrity, transparency and accountability in the Government we elect and we must never allow those that disgrace us internationally to relegate their deliberate acts to being mere mistakes.

Today the first step towards accountability and personal responsibility was seen with the resignation of Hon. Michael Misick as Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

All belongers, including the Premier himself, must acknowledge that the level of corruption within this government is unprecedented by almost any standard of decency or standard of democracy. Premier Misick has dishonored all belongers with his vile acts of corruption; corruption that has let him amass a personal fortune while destroying the promise of our beautiful country. Indeed, the situation today is clear: the treasury is bankrupt and the government is currently run by people with questionable motives.

Obviously, something must be done.

Though much of what the Premier had to say regarding the re-colonization of our country should indeed give us pause, nevertheless his motives are simply impure. Premier Misick.s sudden concern for the welfare of belongers is little more than a self serving attempt to save himself from being held responsible for the calamity he has brought down upon us all.

It is now time for us to look towards the future. A future of realizing the great promise of our Beautiful by Nature Country. Undoubtedly our future for the immediate future will rest with an interim administration headed by His Excellency Governor Gordon Wetherill. Today we begin to look ahead and over the next few weeks we will echo our calls for:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. A clear mandate of legislation and electoral reform and campaign finance infrastructure with a time table to which we can hold the governor and his advisory council; 

2. A Swift processes of justice and accountability. We would expect that any criminal investigations would have already commences with a view to ensuring that trials begin within the next three months. We believe that the one of the greatest challenges of our country is the uncertainty that this period brings. We therefore urge all to act expeditiously;

3. A comprehensive Review of Belongerships granted over the past few years where acts of corruption may have been involved; and

4. An Economic stabilization plan that addresses the great need for liquidity in our marketplace, new investment options, lower cost of imported food, building materials and other goods and charts a course towards the restoration of th economic promise of our country.

Conclusion

In conclusion we ask all to remember the faith of our forefathers that has taken us through difficult times in the past and will take us through this time as well. We must all return to the God we adore, our faithful unchangeable friend, whose love is as great as his power and neither knows measure or end.

This Jesus the First and the Last whose spirit will guide us safe home, we will praise him for all that is past and trust him for all that is to come.

It is he that has blessed us with great abundance; it is he that demands accountability and it his him and only him that can restore the great promise of our country.

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen, may God bless each of you and may he continue to bless our beautiful by nature Turks and Caicos Islands.

 

 

 

 

 

Look forward

 

 

 

We are in the process of other contact regional heads and will make further representations.

Let it be clear we stand on the side of justice which demands that all that have done wrong must be held to account.

Where do we go from hear?

Six years ago we met at this juncture about 15 Million in debt and no hospitals, today we meet with almost $90M in reported debt, over US$50M in unpaid bills and a US$235 Mortgage on our still incomplete hospitals. $ 375 millions in total debt and vastly reduced income.

Six years ago we met here with carnival already in progress, Ambergris Cay in progress, the Ritz Carlton in West Caicos in progress, Aman in progress, the palms in Progress, Sumerset in Progress, LeVelle in progress, Carpe Deum in Progress, the varanda in progress.

The completion of these projects and the resultant economic activity along with some increases in taxation has caused our revenue base to more than double.

Now with those increased revenues we are yet to build one new school, able to provide one new scholarship, provide adequate medical care. We can not repair the damage caused by the hurricanes, our poorly built causeway lies in ruins, and people live in tents.

We have yet to fix the docking facilities and roads for Salt cay, or hire a resident doctor for Middle Caicos or Salt Cay, these are only some of the changes we face, there is still much to do.

As a Party we commit ourselves to work together towards the good of our country.

Right now, our country is in dire circumstances and we must, for the sake of our families and community, be willing to accept all the help available to us, and require of our friends

 

 

 

Turks and Caicos Islands