TNAG-0827-FCO40-1035-Dependent-Territories-Senior-Appointments-Board--1979-1979 — Page 91

MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE

ANNEX 3

JOB DESCRIPTION

GOVERNOR, MONTSERRAT

THE TERRITORY

Background (Constitutional and Political Position)

1. The territory covers some 40 square miles and has a population of about 11,000. Montserrat is an oddity being still a British Dependent Territory although embedded in the chain of Associated States and participating in their Council and other regional organisations. has a depressing history of financial maladministration, but this adversity is on the mend.

It

2. There is a very advanced ministerial type constitution, giving the Executive Council almost complete control over internal affairs - see paragraph 21 below. The Legislative Council consists of the Speaker two ex-officio members (the Attorney General and Financial Secretary), two nominated members and seven elected by universal adult suffrage. The Executive Council is presided over by the Governor and consists of two ex-officio members (the Attorney General and Financial Secretary); a Chief Minister, appointed by the Governor as the elected member most likely to command the confidence of a majority of the elected members of the Legislative Council; the two other ministers and the appointed member of the Executive Council (referred to as the "member without portfolio") are all appointed by the Governor acting on the advice of the Chief Minister from among the nominated and elected members of the Legislative Council.

3. Politics are fiercely bi-partisan, and in the usual West Indian fash- ion invoke much rancour and invective. The General Election held in October 1978 resulted in the then Opposition People's Liberation Move- ment (PLM) sweeping totally from power the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), which under the Bramble dynasty, had ruled Montserrat cont- inously for eighteen years. Thus, although they obtained 33% of the vote, the Opposition DPD is unrepresented in the Legislative Council; this could become a source of discontent. The PLM owes much of its success at the polls to the support it won from the unions and lower paid workers, who had become disenchanted with eighteen years of the mis-called 'socialist' rule of the Brambles. The leaders of the ruling PLM are all successful businessmen and, although they identify themselves as a government of private enterprise, they are in fact heavily depend- ent for support upon the unions and workers. It remains to be seen whether the latter demand their pound of flesh.

This

4. The new Government has been slow to settle in and the tempo of government business has slackened considerably since the election. is probably due to a combination of factors, including inexperience, rejection of the previous regime's policies, suspicions of officials and an apparent rift developing between the autocratic Chief Minister and his Deputy. The Governor's role is the difficult one of trying to weld together this immature political material into an effective Ministerial team.

MANAGEMENT IN CONFIDENCE

15.

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