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Overseas Territories director makes heads spin Published on Saturday, February 6, 2010 Email To Friend    Print Version The current Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Director of Overseas Territories, Colin Roberts, arrived in the TCI last Sunday January 31 and has been busy meeting with Interim Government officials, political leaders and the media. The media has not held back and asked Roberts a number of difficult questions. When asked his opinion of the performance of former Governor Richard Tauwhare, he seemed to spin his answer. Roberts first indicated that Tauwhare, during his term as governor, had reported his observations of problems in the former Michael Misick-led government. Then Roberts indicated that there was a steady stream of complaints reaching the FCO from all the overseas territories and these were by and large politically motivated and therefore ignored for lack of hard evidence. He then went on to say that this was the case with the Turks and Caicos. Roberts indicated that when the Commission of Inquiry was appointed there was a minimum of hard evidence then available leading to the Inquiry. However, this statement by Roberts runs counter to the news and observations of the day by the media and general public. When Governor Tauwhare met with Roberts’ predecessor, Leigh Turner, and FCO minister Meg Munn in early 2008, the three found “insufficient evidence” to indicate the need for an Inquiry. In fact, Tauwhare then (or later) asked for an extension of his term as governor, which at the time was due to end in four months. Tauwhare and his family were then living in a $95,000 a year condo rented by the Misick government in Provo. The governor’s mansion, Waterloo, in Grand Turk remained empty. However, only days later a delegation from the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) of the British Parliament, led by Sir John Stanley, arrived and contradicted the findings of Turner, Munn and Tauwhare. The FAC members returned to London and conducted hearings with Munn and FCO officials. Shortly thereafter, Turner left the FCO for an diplomatic appointment in the Ukraine and Munn was replaced. Within weeks, Tauwhare’s request for an extension of his term was refused and current governor Gordon Wetherell arrived. Munn had earlier indicated in evidence to the FAC that the TCI governor’s position would be “upgraded” The Inquiry itself, which went forward in early 2009, stunned the media and public with the significant amount of evidence that Commissioner Sir Robin Auld and Commission counsel brought forth indicating corrupt dealing by the Misick cabinet and associates. Roberts also told the public that Britain was surprised at the amount of debt existing in the TCI run up by the former government. He said that “invoices in sealed envelopes for a million dollars were found hiding in drawers and they and so many others were not registered on the accounting records.” Sources have told TCI Net News that Roberts, CEO Mark Capes and Governor Wetherell have decided not to overhaul the civil service, thereby leaving in place Misick/Hall appointee Delton Jones, the Permanent Secretary of Finance, on whose watch these bills were not logged. Royal Robinson, the finance minister who replaced the Misick appointee, Floyd Hall, stunned the public when he announced the financial department had somehow found $45 million of these hidden bills only days after he took over. Then premier, Galmo Williams, and Robinson used this revelation of larger debt to lobby for a new $100 million loan to handle the debts. This request was refused and internal self-government was set aside on the recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry’s Final report. Roberts visited the Providenciales site where the 127 illegal Haitians are being incarcerated prior to repatriation. He also visited North Caicos farm and viewed the damaged causeway that links North and Middle Caicos.   Reads : 474 Back... Comments: Jake Jacob: When we lived there 10 years ago; the immigration problem was an issue then. Back... Send us your comments!   Send us your comments on this article for publication in our Readers' Forum or as a Letter to the Editor. All fields are required and in the interest of openness and transparency we will no longer accept anonymous submissions. We therefore request that all submissions include a name for publication, regardless of content. We will in special circumstances protect a writer's identity only after we have established good cause for anonymity, otherwise we will not be able to publish the submission. For your contribution to reach us, you must (a) provide a valid e-mail address and (b) click on the validation link that will be sent to the e-mail address you provide.  If the address is not valid or you don't click on the validation link, it will be a waste of your time typing your submission because we will never see it! Your Name: Your Email: (Validation required) Comments: Enter Validation Code *