Chief minister was asked to resign

Anguilla (CMC) :

Anguilla's Chief Minister Hubert Hughes has told residents that he was emphatically asked by the island's British Governor Alistair Harrison to resign following a letter he gave to the governor during at a meeting yesterday of the Executive Council.

Hughes said that in addition to the governor asking him to resign, he also called for the immediate dismissal of the Minister of Communication and Works Evan Gumbs and the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Walcott Richardson.

CMC reported that Chief Minister Hughes has assured residents that the government they elected in February continues to function.

"He told me that I should call elections; I told him no," Hughes said.

Earlier, Governor Harrison issued a statement in which he denied ever asking the chief minister to resign.

"I should make it clear that I am not seeking the removal of the chief minister. I have worked amicably with him for seven months and have every intention of continuing to do so," Harrison said in his statement that was published on the government website.

Setting the record straight

The governor said that he met with the chief minister yesterday morning about a possible ministerial reshuffle. He said that normally such meetings are confidential between the governor and the chief minister "but the chief minister has apparently discussed the issue in public so I would like to set the record straight".

Harrison said that he was asked to adjust the portfolio of the deputy chief minister and minister of social development, Edison Baird, by removing the Health, Social Welfare and Community Development portfolios and give them to Jerome Roberts.

Roberts, who was elected on an Anguilla Progressive Party (APP) ticket during the February 15 general election, recently crossed the floor from the opposition bench to join the Anguilla United Movement administration headed by Hughes.

The Governor said that he raised his own concern about other ministers and noted that any re-shuffle should take account of those concerns.

Harrison said what the chief minister was suggesting "amounted to a negation of democracy - that two people, the governor and the chief minister should effectively overturn the will of the people as expressed just seven months ago. The people elected four members of the AUM to form a government and three other members to form the Opposition".

Under Section 24 (2) of the Anguillan Constitution, the chief minister in consultation with the governor has power to reshuffle ministerial portfolios.

Hughes, however, believes that the governor was apparently peeved after some outspoken Anguillans expressed their negative feelings about the attitude of the governor to the new government. This, he said, was communicated directly to UK Minister Henry Bellingham during his meeting with the Civic Society at the House of Assembly on Wednesday. The governor was present at the meeting.