MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Our democratically elected government is ignored by Argentina, say Falklands Councillors.
During the Motion for Adjournment of the Legislative Council meeting, two councillors took the opportunity to criticize the Argentinean government for ignoring their existence and the Commander of British Forces issued an assurance that force levels would not be reduced.
The meetings of the Falkland Islands Legislative Council are formal affairs. The proceedings begin with prayers led by the incumbent cleric in charge of Stanley's Anglican cathedral and then follow a pattern and procedure based on that of the UK Parliament in Westminster. As permitted by the Leader of the House, elected members may ask questions of their colleagues or of the senior civil servants: the Chief Executive, the Financial Secretary and the Attorney General, who are ex-officio members of the Council. These questions are published in advance, as are the contents of the bills which are laid before the house for approval before being made law. There are very few surprises and very little real debate; this has all gone on before in various committees.
Despite this lack of incident, the meetings of Legislative Council are usually broadcast live on local radio and the main points of listener interest often centre as much around the nature and sources of incidental noises as on the largely pre-ordained content of the meetings.
The meeting of Legislative Council held on Friday, 26 November 2004 in the Court and Council Chamber of the Town Hall was no exception. It began with the election by councillors of three representatives, from within their own ranks, to sit on Executive Council, the Islands' Upper House. For several minutes radio listeners could hear nothing more exciting than the rustling of paper as ballots were collected and scrutinised by the Hon. Financial Secretary and the Attorney General.
The elected members of Executive Council sit normally for twelve months and include one representative for the Stanley constituency, another representing The Camp , the Falklands term for anywhere in the Islands which isn't Stanley and one member who may represent either. In this instance, the successful councillors were: for Stanley, The Hon. Jan Cheek, for the Camp, the Hon. Ian Hansen and completing the trio, the Hon. Richard Cockwell.
In Legislative Council meetings, the principal opportunity for councillors to speak their minds usually comes at the end of the session, when each in turn rises to support the Motion for Adjournment. Several councillors chose this occasion to refer to the recent visit to the Islands of a small group of British parliamentarians, led by the Islands' London representative, Miss Sukey Cameron. This visit was deemed a success and thanks were offered both to the visitors and to those who had organised the visit and received the visitors.
Councillors Norma Edwards and Jan Cheek, however, were keen to correct the perception that one of the visiting members of the Westminster parliament had urged the Falkland Islands Government to talk to the Argentinean Government about scheduled flights to and from Argentina.
Speaking first, Cllr. Edwards said, "I don't believe that is the case. And I would say that we would love to speak to Argentina about flights but they don't want to speak to us. They don't feel that they want to communicate with the Falkland Islands Government. They say they want to go through the British Government all the time and I am afraid that the way forward is not very hopeful on that front as far as I can see. So long as they have this attitude, I, for one, would never countenance scheduled flights from Argentina."Taking up the same theme in her adjournment speech, the Hon. Jan Cheek concluded, "As the Hon. Norma Edwards has rightly said, we couldn't talk to Argentina about it if we wanted to, while they persist in ignoring the existence of our democratically elected government."
The Commander of British Forces in the Falkland Islands, currently Air Commodore Richard Lacey, is also an ex-officio member of Legislative Council. On Friday he took the opportunity of to reassure the Council and the listening public that the restructuring of Armed Forces in the UK would have no impact on force levels in the Falklands. The base at Mount Pleasant had recently been visited by the UK's Chief of Joint Operations and his Deputy and both had been in agreement that while the deterrent task remained, the "force package" at the disposal of the Commander British Forces represented a minimum level, which they had no plans to reduce still further.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
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