The Turks and Caicos Islands: the cloud that still hangs

Clegg, Peter

Abstract

The Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) is one of 14 Overseas Territories still overseen by the UK. Under the Constitution there is an allocation of responsibilities between the British Crown, acting through the Governor, and the locally elected TCI government. However, ultimate responsibility lies with the UK. Under this constitutional arrangement the TCI in recent years experienced high levels of economic growth. However, it now appears that this economic success was built on a political, economic and social system that was rotten to the core, and which as a recent Commission of Inquiry stated created “a national emergency” that potentially threatened the very future of the country. The UK government was forced to intervene, and this in turn provoked accusations in some quarters of “modern day colonialism”. This article provides an overview of the findings of the UK-appointed Commission of Inquiry into alleged corruption in the TCI; assesses the UK’s attitude towards the TCI, and evaluate the reactions in the TCI and the Caribbean more generally to the affair.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2009
• Journal: Social and Economic Studies
• Print ISSN: 0037-7651
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 3 & 4
• Pages: 227-233
• Keywords: Turks and Caicos Islands, UK, corruption, commission of inquiry, colonialism
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/1001487