S.Atlantic : Ascension Advisory Group Report (22/07/08)
Submitted by SARTMA.com (Juanita Brock) 28.07.2008 (Article Archived on 11.08.2008)

The meeting in Ascension was chaired by the Administrator and all members were present. Here in St.Helena the Attorney General and I were able to watch on the video link.

Ascension Advisory Group Report

22nd July 2008

As I indicated when I was on Ascension Island just over a month ago, I intend that there will be Advisory Groups each month until a new Council is elected, and this was the first of those.

The meeting in Ascension was chaired by the Administrator and all members were present. Here in St.Helena the Attorney General and I were able to watch on the video link.

The meeting started by reviewing the minutes of the previous meeting. It was noted that the issue of renting outside of an employment contract would await the existence of a new Council. It was also noted that the Land & Business Policy was now in place and that permits were being issued as agreed.

There were two substantive items on the agenda and the first was a discussion of the Draft Island Government Ordinance. This has been published for consultation and the Administrator reminded us that if an election is to be held in the first half of October we need to move fairly quickly to enact this legislation. I was thus seeking final comments from the Group with the intention of introducing the new Ordinance in August.

Ken Baddon reminded us that most of this ordinance had been ready for publication when the last Council ceased to exist, and therefore the main body of it had been agreed already by elected representatives.  Therefore, in going through the Ordinance we agreed to concentrate on those changes that had been made to that document.

One clarification was in the role of the Administrator who will be able to chair meetings in the absence of the Governor.

There was a proposed change that the number of Councillors should reduce from 7 to 5. The rationale behind this was that the electorate is small, and that 5 would be enough to be representative.  However I am aware that there are those who feel that the reduction is some kind of device, inserted in order to be more likely to have enough candidates to actually hold an election. There was a very useful exchange of views on this topic, and most of those present were well disposed towards having wards. In fact there seem to be 4 natural wards. However Ken Baddon informed us that the legislation to enable that kind of change could not be enacted in time for October and in any case I feel that it is an issue best discussed by a democratically elected body. It was unanimously recommended to me that 7 would be more representative than 5, and bearing in mind some of the very important matters that require careful thought, I am inclined to agree. Therefore I am proposing that we keep the number of elected members at 7 for the forthcoming election.

The other changes involved the tenure of a Council being reduced to 2 years and a candidate being able to stand after 1 year’s residence on the island. I feel that those changes are fair considering the unusual employment and living situation faced by all living on Ascension.

We discussed whether certain leaders of the community should have a right to sit on the Council as appointed members rather than be elected; an example being the military commanders, but this was rejected. The old “Heads of Sheds” committee had its use, and I believe it would be sensible for the Administrator to convene that kind of body from time to time as an informal group, but I do not believe that it would have any democratic mandate or political power.

It was also felt that Council meetings should be open to the public unless a matter that was clearly confidential was to be discussed. I agreed that openness is to be encouraged in all the activities of government.

We thought it would be helpful to settle on a proposed date for the election and the 14th October was selected as being suitable.

The second main item was the draft of the revised constitution. Although this has now been in the public domain for some weeks, the response has been non-existent. This period of consultation will carry on for some time and although the constitution is of course linked with that of St.Helena, I must emphasise that it is not set in stone or a foregone conclusion.

All those living on the island have the right to have their say in what this important document contains. It has a particularly relevant section on Human Rights and a separate document that deals only with those sections relevant to Ascension will be made available shortly so that you will not have to separate those clauses applicable to Ascension. The Advisory Group was generally content with the draft as it stands and I look forward to further discussion over the next few months.

It should be remembered that in August Andrew Allen from the FCO will be visiting the island along with Jessica Pogson, a legal adviser. He will be meeting as many of you as he can and will be holding a public meeting where issues arising from this draft constitution, or the forthcoming election, will be addressed.

Under Any Other Business, Cyril Leo raised the matter of the recent Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons report on Overseas Territories. I am sure you are all aware of what that report said about Ascension Island. Cyril felt that the election should be delayed until after the response from the FCO is known. However Ken was able to point out that the response would be known well before October 14th and whatever that response said made no difference to the obvious conclusion that having a properly elected Council is in the interests of all those living on the island.

In addition I was able to point out that the FAC had merely generated questions and comments from its own researches.

There is no obligation for the UK government to do anything other than answer those questions.

Thus I hope that we are now on course for an October election. It is interesting to note the number of significant issues that the new Council will have to tackle:

• The revised constitution,

• The creation of electoral wards,

• The Chris Cooper report on the future of the Civil Service,

• Renting outside of employment – is it possible?

• Plus all those ongoing matters relating to the work of government, such as education, health, leisure facilities, youth activity and so on, that require careful judgement.

The meeting ended around 12.30 pm and I expressed my gratitude to all those present. It is not always easy taking part in a meeting with video linkage. The picture can jump and the sound is often spasmodic. Nevertheless I felt that we covered some useful ground and I look forward to the next Advisory Group in August.

AMG

22nd July 2008