Press: Keithstone Greaves, BBC; Helena Durand, The Montserrat Reporter; Athema Daly, Radio ZJB
L. Nanton: Good day ladies and gentlemen of the press. You are here now to interview the Chief Minister about the airport and any other relevant matters because a lot of people have been saying… giving their own views and now the Chief is here to answer your questions… to give his views and answer your questions. Chief.
J. Osborne Well who is going to pose the first question? I am here to answer and to say what I know about the airport.
K. Greaves: Keithstone Greaves from the BBC. Chief there’s been quite a bit of information being spouted about on the whole airport issue. What I want to ask you is when and what have your government agreed to with the British authorities on an airport on Montserrat?
J. Osborne: Let me take the opportunity to say it the way that I want to say it because I’ve listened to several people, on more than one occasion, on Radio Montserrat, criticizing the government for having accepted the airport at Gerald Bottom. And I’ve heard to the extent where they are saying that they don’t want it and I should refuse it.
I want to make it crystal clear to the public in Montserrat that I don’t have any fight with anybody if their opinion is that we should build the airport down at Thatch Valley. The question is that the British government has made it crystal clear to us, the government of Montserrat that they will not build any airport at Thatch Valley. They are prepared to spend a maximum of $40 million, which is what they say the airport at Gerald Bottom will cost. They also have a figure of something up to I think around $300 million to build road and airport at Thatch valley and they are not prepared to spend that king of money to build an airport now. They have made it plain that they are prepared to build a temporary airstrip at Gerald Bottom to facilitate a fixed-wing operation in Montserrat so that people could go in and out of Montserrat. Secondly, the ferry and the helicopter is costing approximately $12 million a year subsidy and they have made it abundantly clear that they’re not going to continue with that subsidy much longer. And, that we might as well accept the temporary airstrip, or lose everything. Either we accept it or we don’t get any airport and they will still not subsidize the helicopter and the ferry anymore. Well then if a situation like that comes about, what will we do in Montserrat?
K. Greaves: But Chief do you think that is at all feasible, you’re saying about losing everything—can the British government given their obligation and responsibility to continue or to assist the islanders with the sustainability of the island, can they really for all intents and purposes, do something like that if, for example, if you don’t accept the notion of having this airstrip at Geralds or if the people do not accept that particular proposal?
J. Osborne So I could dictate to the British government what they… and make them do what they say they’re not doing? They have made it clear on several occasions that they will not spend that kind of money to build any airport at Thatch Valley. And if I refuse the Gerald Bottom airport, I won’t get any! They don’t hide to say so. They made it crystal clear. All the people who are talking about not to accept the Gerald Bottom airport, none of them has ever told me where they are going to get the money from to build this airport down at Thatch Valley.
I would love to see the airport at Thatch Valley. In fact, I think it would be the best thing if they would do it because it would open up the lands down there, it would provide much more employment, we’d have a bigger airport. But if they say they are not doing it what can I do? And they have given me an ultimatum that I accept and make a decision by the end of September (September gone) and if I refuse to accept it, forget about it they are not going to Thatch Valley.
And I know Montserrat people like anybody else and probably more than all of those who talk on here any longer than anybody else. If I make a fool of myself and tell the British to go and stuff with the airport at Thatch Valley… at Gerald Bottom and the time comes when they pull off the ferry and they pull off the helicopter and we don’t have an airplane coming in here, you know who they are going to blame for it? Me. I’m too wise for that.
I’m not having any argument with all the people who think that we should get the airport at Thatch Valley; it would be the best thing. But all I am saying is that the British Government say they are not doing it! And if they say they are not doing it what can I do and what can they do to make the British government build it at Thatch Valley? And that is the hard situation. And I can’t let the country end up in a situation where we can’t get the people off the island.
They say they are building a temporary airport, let them build their temporary airport. If the other people who are talking about Thatch Valley have ways and means to get the funds to build the airport at Thatch Valley, we could still go on and do it. But up to now, nobody else ever told me the possibility of getting $300 million from anybody or anyplace in the world to build that airport at Thatch Valley. I am not that naïve to believe that anybody going to give us that kind of money.
A. Daley: One has to question Chief, the vision of the British government. They seem to have backed the government of Montserrat into a corner where as you said, you accept it or you don’t get anything, but what is the vision that the British government has when there are no expansion capabilities at Geralds? They are going to give us $40 million now to build an airport, temporary yes but how long will temporary be?
J. Osborne: Well, I asked them that question myself, how long is temporary, how long is temporary? But they are in a position where they can decide and they have decided apart from all the arguments that we make. And it’s not for the want of arguments for us to build at Thatch Valley, you know. It’s just that they made it plain that they’re not doing it. They come back and say that the airport at… that what they intend to do at Gerald Bottom will accommodate aircraft that would take 20 to 22 people. And I made the point that what happens if you have 60 people or 80 people in Antigua to bring home to Montserrat, all they say is make more than one trip. That is what they are saying. What they are saying for the time being, I gather from them, they cannot justify spending $300 million or thereabout, whatever the figure is, down at Thatch Valley to build an airport. They are going to build a temporary airport for us to get on so that they could do away with the helicopter and the ferry because it is costing too much money for them to keep them going.
A. Daley: What about giving us the 40 million so that we can build an airport, well, at least start an airport somewhere else beside Geralds that has expansion capabilities?
J. Osborne: Nobody operates like that. The European Union would not do that. The British government would not do that. Nobody would do that. They are not going to give you 40 million. They will assist you to build an airport and they will provide all the consultancies and engineers and so on to do the airport; they are not going to give you the money. They never give us money! That is not the way they run their business. I don’t know any government in the Caribbean or anyplace where they just give money for them to go and do anything. It’s not so it works. You have to have planning and they have to… and most of the time, they supervise it from beginning to end. That is how it goes.
There’s no way that the British government is going to take up $40 million and give it to the government of Montserrat to go and build an airport. And then when you get the $40 million and the airport is only halfway, what do you tell them? Let them build the airport because if in the end, the airport… if they start the airport for 40 million and that estimate is not the correct amount of money and they need another 10, they have to find it. But if they give you 40 million and you tell them to give you the 40 million because you can build an airport there and you can’t build it, what happens when the airport is only halfway and you don’t have an airport? They don’t operate like that at all.
So all those people who are outside there talking about not to take the airport, they don’t understand. They don’t understand and I have the responsibility to make the correct decisions for the people of Montserrat. I have been elected for that purpose. And I’m not going to make the mistake to end up in a situation where we don’t have the ferry or the helicopter and still don’t have a fixed-wing operation.
I figure that—in spite of the fact that I would have preferred to see a better arrangement—and that is why I say I don’t have any argument with the people who have a difference of opinion that we should go to Thatch Valley. The fact is that it’s unrealistic. We’re not going to get it and I’m not wasting time because they might very well change the ferry and bring in another ferry that is not as fast as this one, not as comfortable as this one. And if they do away with the helicopter and people are sick in Montserrat and you can’t get them out, they could die here because you don’t have an operation from an airport. And I’m the one who is going to be blamed for it and I’m not taking that chance. Let the British build their temporary airport and if the people outside talking have ways and means where they can find money for us to build an airport then let’s get on with it.
A. Daley: Since the announcement that the airport will be put at Geralds, there seems to be come confusion and even more after Mr. Browne’s broadcast last night. Who actually took the decision to accept Geralds?
J. Osborne: How do you mean who took the decision to accept Geralds? The government of Montserrat have accepted Geralds based on the fact that they say that if we don’t take it we’re not going to get any other airport. They don’t hesitate to say so. They didn’t go around the bush to tell us so; they made (and I will say so for as many times as you ask me) they’ve made it crystal clear not even to think about Thatch Valley; they are not going down there to build any airport. And in fact they told us that the European Union has decided to give us $10 million towards the airport at Gerald Bottom and they gave us until September to decide and if we don’t decide, we lose the 10 million and the British government made it crystal clear to us that if we don’t make the decision so that they could get the $10 million towards the airport they are not going to give us the balance of the money at all.
H. Durand: Okay, given Britain’s ultimatum and putting Montserrat in that position, isn’t there some way, I mean isn’t that grounds for going to some other place to secure that kind of money?
J. Osborne: Who… Give me an idea…
H. Durand: Not all of it but I would think a series of …
J. Osborne: Which other place? Montserrat is a colony. Which other place we could go? We can’t go anyplace to ask people for money. The British government is responsible for us. We can’t borrow money. The government of Montserrat cannot borrow money. We’re in budgetary aid. And you know, when I hear people talk about British government is retarding the development of Montserrat, it bothers me because if even though that we are saying that maybe they should give us more money what we have to accept is that every form of development in this country, today, since the volcano is paid for by the British government. So how can we say that the British government is retarding the development? We don’t have any money to do anything for our self. We can’t pay civil servants. We can’t pay the police. We can’t pay teachers. We can’t build roads. We can’t do anything without the British government. We don’t have any money! We just don’t have any money! So I don’t know what they are talking about.
K. Greaves: Mr. Osborne you said… that basically what you’re saying the British has said, well look it’s either that you take it at Geralds or nothing. What I want to ask now is how many, how much is the ongoing projects on island that have started linked to this particular – you agreeing or the government of Montserrat agreeing to the airport at Geralds? Is there a link between the startup of these projects and the acceptance of the Geralds facilities?
J. Osborne: I don’t believe that has anything to do with it. The government has, the British government has a moral responsibility at this present time in our disaster to relieve poverty up to a certain level. And I think that the British government is committed on that. You heard the Prime Minister in New York at the United Nations making a statement and you heard the Chancellor of the Exchequer making a similar statement in Europe that they are prepared to assist the poor people all over the world.
Montserrat is a colony. They are prepared to assist us and there are certain necessities that I think they accept, for instance, they are building a police station because they are responsible for law and order so they build a police station. They’re building institutions of learning and they are building housing to house the people who are out of housing. They are helping us!
K. Greaves: So I want to get it correctly Mr. Chief Minister. So there was in no way no linkage between the ongoing projects, accepting those projects, those projects that started and the airport? You didn’t have to barter, for example, you didn’t have to barter for say, well look, we are going to give you the airport; if you agree to Geralds we’ll give whatever…
J. Osborne: The airport is a separate project. There’s a certain amount of money provided for Montserrat for building these things like the housing and so on. They are all separate projects that have to be approved by them. The airport is a different thing. The airport is a different thing. The airport is in fact a sum of money which they set side (I think it’s $20 million dollars) and 10 million from the European Union and they expect us to find 10 million from our self, which I argue that there is no way we are going to be able to find the 10 million. In fact they are only prepared to put up 30 million and tell us that we must find ways and means to find the other 10 million, which I know we are not going to be able to find so eventually they will have to find the 40 million. And when you go and tell them that you are not accepting that and that you want an airport down at Thatch Valley, you’re going in their wrong books. They are not going to do it. They’re not going to do it!
H. Durand: Okay, well that is clearing the air on one point because we were given the impression that the government of Montserrat makes no decision on its own unless it is beat over the head by the governor or that sort. Tell us about how government comes to decisions where Montserrat is concerned. Do they make the decisions themselves or are they forced to (well apart from the airport) on different matters are they forced to make those decisions in the council?
J. Osborne: The government of Montserrat don’t just make decisions. Whenever we make decisions of great national importance, we get people to advise us on matters that we are not sure about and sometimes the British government will send consultants and so on to advise us on the correct decision to make. Even then we are not bound to accept what the consultancies tell us but in truth and fact, if there are areas that we are not sure or not competent to make decisions, we get advice from the British government and we make our decisions, yes or no, based on what we consider is in the public’s best interest.
K. Greave: Given what you’ve just said Mr. Osborne about the advice and getting advice, who advised the government on this particular… this airstrip at Geralds and what sort of advice was given to the government in that respect?
J. Osborne: The advice is that for more than one reason and I gave you that they are not prepared to spend more than a certain amount of money, which is $40 million. That is what they said the one at Gerald Bottom is going to cost and that is the maximum they are prepared to spend for right now. And remember that they used the word, temporary. They sent consultants from (was it Italy?), the European Union, to advise us on the airport. We went as far as to ask them, in England, and here, suppose that the site in Gerald Bottom is not a safe site, if they shouldn’t look at the areas that we mentioned: Old Quaw and Thatch Valley.
K. Greaves: Yes, we had the Italian’s advice and how much local advice and local input was there in coming to this decision?
J. Osborne: The local input—none of them was interested in Gerald Bottom. All of them only gave us advice on Thatch Valley and Old Quaw, which the British government says we’re wasting time they are not going to do it. So all that talk you hear outside from CRM (I don’t have no fight with them), in fact, I agree with some of the things they are saying but the reality is that we don’t have the money to do what they want us to do or what might even be the best thing for us to do. The fact is that we don’t have any money and the people who are prepared to help us say that they will help us but they will only help us if we accept the airport at Gerald Bottom and that’s plain and simple English. So we don’t have any choice. It’s either you accept it or you don’t get any. And as I will repeat myself again and say, I don’t want Montserrat to reach a situation where we neither have ferry, helicopter nor a fixed-wing operation. So if we’re going to get a fixed-wing operation that could bring in 22 people each time, should I tell them they should go and stuff? I will not do that! I think it would be a very unwise decision. And the people who are out there saying that we should refuse it, they need to think. And in fact if they were in government and had made that decision it would be a disaster for Montserrat so it’s a good thing that they elect somebody like John Osborne who is strong enough to make the right decision.
H. Durand: Mr. Osborne the listening public of Montserrat has been told that the governor and the civil servants are the ones who run Montserrat. Could you clear the air on that please?
J. Osborne: The governor and the civil servants don’t run Montserrat?
H. Durand: We’ve also been told that the Director of the Development Unit has more say than the Chief Minister.
J. Osborne: Well, I didn’t know that because I never have no trouble with the Director of Development.
H. Durand: No, not that there was trouble between the two of you, that the director has more say in what goes on in Montserrat than the Chief Minister does.
J. Osborne: Well, I didn’t know that; that is news to me.
H. Durand: Can you clear the air on the other one?
J. Osborne: Well I don’t have nothing to clear because that is all nonsense. How can the director have more say than the Chief Minister? The people who are saying that just want to make contention. I can’t waste time with that kind of nonsense.
K. Greaves: Chief back on the airport at Geralds issue because that seems to be the talking point…
J. Osborne: Now, why are you all going off the thing with the governor because I hear things about the governor myself and I don’t…
H. Durand: I know, that’s why I want the air cleared on it because we’ve also been told that there are meetings every Monday and there are no government representatives and that they are the ones who run the government or the country so we want to know what really is happening.
J. Osborne: Well the governor has responsibility for the civil servants in such that he is the one who appoints people. The ministers don’t appoint civil servants. I already myself spoke to the governor and told the governor that I think he should stop it because my civil servants are not supposed to go to report to him about government policies. He assured me that they are not discussing government policies; they are discussing matters of administration. Well I can’t stop him from talking to civil servants if he is dealing about questions of administration for which he is directly responsible. I can’t stop him from talking to the police where he is responsible for law and order. What I can stop him from doing is for him to call the senior civil servants to discuss government policy with them. Never mind the governor has the right to call for any file in any ministry to have a look to see what our policies are and what we are doing. That is his prerogative, constitutionally.
I don’t have any problem with this governor. And I don’t know where they getting it that the governor is running things because the governor does nothing without informing me and we have to discuss certain matters. And we have agreements and disagreements and I don’t have any problem with him because there are many issues where he decides to things where I tell him that I don’t agree and he’s changed his mind. And there are issues where I would tell him and he figure and he will point out for me that I’m not right because of certain matters pertaining to Britain and so on and I can see that he’s talking… what he is saying is correct and I give in.
I don’t have any problem with the governor. And the governor is not running things here at all. The governor cannot run things. There’s an elected government and the governor don’t give us any trouble. I don’t know that, certainly not this governor. We had a governor by the name of Governor Turner who used to give problems, but not this one. And I’m not trying to protect him. We have a good working relationship and I hope it continues.
But I agree with you that the civil servants are not supposed to go to discuss with him matters pertaining to what are the ministers’ responsibilities. But I’ve had it discussed with the governor myself and I think he understands what the situation is so I don’t have any problem.
H. Durand: Well, one of you ministers said earlier in week that since taking up office, well him and probably others are having some problems: civil servants vetoing, the DFID culture is continuing and they can’t get… well you as ministers cannot get to hire who you want, the technical people in the different ministries. Do you know of this? Your minister is experiencing and yourself?
J. Osborne: That is true. We’re not paying them. We don’t have any money to pay them so we can’t hire who we like. If I employ you to run my company you can’t go ahead and hire who you like if I have to pay the bills. You have to discuss it with the people who are directly responsible for payment. So we can’t do… I would like to go and hire 50 people outside and give them work to do but I can’t do it.
H. Durand: So what is this about civil servants vetoing things that the ministers want to have achieved or want to have done?
J. Osborne: Well I don’t know which minister said that and I’m not aware of that. I think every accounting officer or senior civil servant have the right, if the minister is doing something that is not proper (in fact if I have any civil servant who – I’m going to do something and they know that what I’m doing wasn’t right and they don’t tell me, I would want to fire them.) I think that once they know that what I’m doing is not correct, they should have enough guts and decency to tell me that Chief what you’re doing is not right, so and so is the case, this is what you should do. That is why we have senior civil servants. That is why we have permanent secretaries and heads of departments and so on to help to guide the minister. The ministers don’t know everything.
In fact, it is some sense a fact that the civil servants run the government. They don’t make the policies but they carry out government policies. That is their job. And I don’t have any conflict, up to now, with any public servant. In fact I think they are doing a good job up to now.
K. Greaves: Mr. Chief Minister back on the airport issue, if I may please. The social impact of this airstrip going at Geralds, have the people of that area been consulted and what is going to happen to the people and their property and their lands and so on? How are they going to be compensated? Has that been worked out? And how soon will they know definitively what is going to take place?
J. Osborne: I prefer to talk about that because that makes more sense than all the other things that they are saying on the platform. I can see that a lot of people who are living on the site probably don’t want to move but government has to make certain decisions and then sometimes you have land and you don’t to want to give up the land but because of a public use, government may have to go as far as to acquire the land in the public interest. Now we have a situation where we need to build an airport and that is the site earmarked for the airport. That is the site that the donors are prepared to finance if we are going to build at that site.
I agree that we have to go and talk to these people and we have to make proper provisions for proper housing and compensation with these people. And it’s not that we are going to go and take a bulldozer and just push down their house. We are going to talk to them. In fact we’re setting up a committee, I understand now, to go and talk to them and to make assessment as to value and all the other ? and so on so it’s not that we are going to bulldoze them down and do what we like. It doesn’t work so. Montserrat is a democratic country and we intend it to do it the right way.
You have to know that no matter what you do that you do not get a 100% support. We have a job to go and explain to the people why we need to acquire their lands and why we are going to have to remove them. I have a feeling though that in the end all of those people are going to end up better off, in the end. They’re probably going to get better housing than they live in right now and be more satisfied at the end of the whole thing. That is my feeling.
A. Daley: We seem to be getting close to the end of this but I’m glad Keith brought back up the airport issue. Your party seems to be split on this whole airport issue. Mr. Browne openly last night criticized the decision to take Geralds. How do you plan to deal with this?
J. Osborne: I don’t have to deal with it. Mr. Browne has a right to his opinion and so does a lot of other people and you can’t have a situation where everybody think alike. You have other people who are not members of my Party who support us and you have members of my Party who don’t support it because they don’t think we’re doing the right thing. They are entitled to their opinion but the fact is that the government has to make a decision and we have decided that in the public interest we have no alternative other than to accept the airport at Gerald Bottom. And I will make that… I’ve made that decision. I will stand by it. And I will explain to the people further if they need more explanation why we have to be… I think they will understand tonight that…
But Mr. Browne made a statement last night, which contradicted himself because he said that who pays the piper calls the tune. So then he’s saying one thing one way and then he goes and condemns himself another way because if we don’t any money to pay the piper we can’t call any tune. The British government is the one who have the money so they call the tune and they say that they will build the airport for us at Gerald Bottom and they will pay for it at Gerald Bottom. They’re not going to pay for it at Thatch Valley. So we don’t have any choice.
H. Durand: Chief Minister, on the matter of government making decisions, we were told also in the radio program that when the executive council meet there are only four members of the elected government and five who are not allowed to put their input so it isn’t really the government who is making a decision. What do you have to say on that?
J. Osborne: Well you see, all that just tells me how inexperienced they are. And that is totally false because whatever happens at executive council has to go to the legislative council to be ratified and everybody including the opposition have a say at that stage. So any matter of law and policies and so on has to go to the legislative council and it’s all… the government elect 9 people and everybody has equal say at that sitting. And if they can prove that what we are doing is not in the public interest, we don’t have any choice. We’ll have to change it. So that statement that the executive doesn’t make decisions is totally incorrect. It just tells you that they don’t know what they are talking about at all. So if that is the case, why do we go to the legislative council? Because the legislative council finally makes the decision as to what government does.
K. Greaves: Mr. Chief Minister some people have been saying recently that you have gone really soft on the British and they have been citing this particular airport decision as one such issue in which they think you have gone really, really soft that, you know, it’s not the John Osborne of years gone by. How do respond to this? Do you think this is a fair comment? Do you think this is fair? And how would you deal with this?
J. Osborne: I wouldn’t say I’ve gone soft but I would say I’ve gone wiser in dealing with the British. That is the comment that I would like to make. I’m much wiser now than before. I have not gone soft. When your hand is in the lion’s mouth, you have to pat it otherwise it will bite you. And our hands are in the lion’s mouth. We have a volcano up there that we don’t know what the future of Montserrat is going to be. And the British government is giving us money to build houses and giving us money to build schools and fixing our roads and giving money to the unfortunate, poor people who are not working and don’t have money to buy food. What do you want me to do, go and shoot them? Well I’m not doing that. I’m much wiser now. And if being wiser is soft well I accept that.
H. Durand: Chief Minister, just this last question. Your administration has been compared to that of W.H. Bramble in that he made decisions not caring what happened next. Do you think that’s a fair comparison?
J. Osborne: Who said that?
H. Durand: It was at the W.H. Bramble symposium. Well, Lewis said something like that and a few other people said that as well.
J. Osborne: You see old Bramble in his time didn’t have matters like what we have now you know. All he had to deal with is sharecropping. He would never have had an opportunity to deal with economics. This is a different world to the days of Mr. Bramble. What they were dealing with is who is planting half cotton and half potato vines and all these kinds of things so on and that’s a different world. Mr. Bramble and them never had the problems that we have today. We are now dealing with economics and financial survival, economic survival, which is completely different to the days of Mr. Bramble.
H. Durand: Well there was just this one…
J. Osborne: I liked the question that you asked me there because you see a lot of people will talk about Mr. Bramble did this and Mr. Bramble did that. They forget; they forget Mas Bob. They forget Mas Bob Griffith. And they are talking about what Mr. Bramble… You know, I’ve brought more prosperity to this country, during my time, than anybody else and I’ve not been given credit for it. They don’t have to do it but I’m telling you that I have brought more… When I took over this country we had $108 million in all the banks. That was the total amount of money that Montserratians owned. When I left there, we had nearly half a billion dollars. I brought money into this country and people were building nice houses and buying nice motorcars. I changed the outlook of this country and brought Montserrat to a stage where Montserrat became the envy of the other Caribbean islands, our standard of living: better housing, better way of life, nicer cars, everything. That never happened in old Bramble and them time. I give them credit for what they’ve done because they did what they had to do during their time but they were talking about sharecropping. In my time, in this modern… it’s a completely different thing. We’re talking economics. Mr. Bramble and them never had to deal with economics.
H. Durand: Well, there was this one example of something Bramble did that came out. And it was that when he wanted to have Montserrat electrified (the whole of the island) British said no but he got a way to get a man to sign a contract paying for electrifying units and then the British said if you can get that done, I will say yes and then he just handed in his contract. Is there some way we can beat them at their own game, you know, doing things like that?
J. Osborne: There is no truth in that at all. Montserrat didn’t have electricity. To give him some credit, he has done some things during his time. He brought in a company like Moreco, which started off the housing development of the country, which is a good thing. You have to give him credit for that but the electricity thing is not to. Some of the islands like Nevis and so never had electricity. They started, if I remember, with a little generator down in the ice plant and from thereon the money that eventually bought electricity generators came from the British. So to say that the British didn’t want us to get electricity is not true at all. There is not truth in that.
But I don’t want to take up any argument with Mr. Bramble because I don’t want to discredit because when he died I saw him as our national hero at the time and I decided to bury him. It was my decision, my government’s decision to bury Mr. Bramble against the advice of the then governor Turner. And when he said how we justify using government money to bury Mr. Bramble, I told him that we see… I see him as our first national hero, first chief minister of Montserrat, and it’s not your money that we’re going to use to bury him. It’s our money because at that time we were not budgetary aided. We were burying him form our own money. And we spent about half a million dollars to bury Mr. Bramble. And it’s I who was the one decided that along with Benjie Chalmers. You see? You know, some of the things that I hear outside there really… But you see I can’t spend my time fighting those people who have a difference of opinion. Difference of opinion is healthy but I have to make the decisions that I consider to be in the public’s best interest and that is what I am doing. Any time the people figure that what I’m doing is not in their interests then you know how they deal with you. But I find that I must have been doing something good when the elect me for 8 times, which they never elected anybody for. This is my eighth term. Nobody has ever been elected 8 times. So if I was, if I wasn’t doing things in their interest they would not have voted for me. And I will continue to use my best judgment and make the decisions that I think that will improve the way of life in Montserrat. That is my goal in life.
L. Nanton: On that point, we come to the end of this press conference and questioning. Thank you very much.