U.K. TAKES TURKS AND CAICOS GOV'T BACK

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000520 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/24/2019 TAGS: ECON POL PGOV BF SUBJECT: U.K. TAKES TURKS AND CAICOS GOV'T BACK REF: A. NASSAU 169 ¶B. NASSAU 191 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires a.i. Zuniga-Brown for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) The Constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) was suspended for two years on August 14th following a decision by the Court of Appeal in London. The House of Assembly was dissolved and governance of the island nation transferred to Governor Gordon Wetherell. Senior civil servant Martin Stanley was appointed Chief Executive to run the TCI Public Service. Wetherell will also appoint an Advisory Council and Consultative Forum. ¶2. (U) The suspension was a result of an investigation into government corruption begun in 2007. A Commission of Inquiry was established and a redacted version of the commission report was made public in July. The report concluded that there was "a high probability of systemic corruption and/or other serious dishonesty involving past and present elected Members of the House of Assembly and other in recent years." ¶3. (U) Wetherell announced that the temporary government would make a clean break with the past and establish "a durable path towards good governance, sound financial management and sustainable development." Elections are scheduled to be held by July 2011. ¶4. (U) TCI Premier Galmo Williams issued a press statement characterizing the suspension as a "coup" by the government of the United Kingdom (UK). He charged the UK with wanting to "invade" and "re-colonize." He accused the UK of dissolving a democratically elected government and replacing it with a dictatorship. ¶5. (U) The Progressive Liberal Party (opposition) in The Bahamas issued a strongly worded statement claiming IT WAS "deeply disturbed" by the suspension of the TCI Constitution. MP Fred Mitchell remarked that the UK government should have found another way to deal with the corruption issues. ¶6. (C) Embassy sources inside the Turks and Caicos report that conditions on the ground are calm and there has been little effect to the continuity of operations and services. Current opposition member, Douglas Parnell, reported to PolChief that he was asked to lead the opposition party when the party meets in November to choose a leader. Parnell indicated that the opposition party is pleased with the timing of the elections, noting that it will allow the party time to build a constituency to challenge for power. ZUNIGA-BROWN