By Hayden Boyce - Publisher & Editor-in-Chief

Hundreds of persons in the Turks and Caicos Islands will take to the streets in the island capital of Grand Turk this afternoon Friday December 4, 2009, protesting Britain’s imposition of direct rule and the manner in which Governor Gordon Wetherell and his Interim Government are handling the affairs of this country.

Placard-bearing protestors are expected to march the streets of Grand Turk and picket outside the Governor’s official residence, Waterloo, a beach-front mansion where Wetherell is expected to have an early Christmas party tonight.

Scores of angry and frustrated residents from throughout the islands, especially the most populated Providenciales, have flown over to Grand Turk to join the protest action along with Civil Servants, some of whom were only paid their November salaries today. This is the second time in as many months that Government workers have been paid late.

“We want our country back. The Brits need to go now,” said one resident as he was about to leave on a plane from Providenciales to Grand Turk.

“All the Governor is dong is running this country into the ground and treating the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands like slaves,” another said.

“How can the Governor be hosting a Christmas party that will cost thousands of dollars at a time when the people of this country are hurting and suffering because all the British government is doing is imposing hardships on the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” said an angry Civil Servant from Providenciales who asked that her name not be printed because she feared victimisation from British officials here.

The Police Force has been placed on alert but sources told The SUN that there could be a sick-out by officers who are also disgruntled because of poor working conditions, inadequate equipment and the slashing of their allowances.

Throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British colony, there has been increasingly strong opposition to the British imposition of direct rule and the suspension of parts of the Constitution which led to the dissolution of Parliament, the abolition of trial by jury and a UK-appointed Governor essentially performing the role of Premier and Governor General combined.

Economic activity in the Turks and Caicos Islands has virtually ground to a halt. There has been a sharp decline in imports and customs duties because of limited activity in the construction sector. Tourism, the country’s main revenue earner, is experiencing an unprecedented downturn because of poor hotel occupancies. There has been a significant increase in unemployment especially in the construction sector and the numbers of jobless are expected to rise because plans are afoot to streamline the Civil Service.

Businesses and individuals are owed millions of dollars by the Government which is unable to pay many of its bills including utilities for Government departments and rent for commercial spaces. Three state-owned sports facilities, including the athletic track which hosted the successful CARIFTA Games 2007 have been closed because the water bill has been unpaid for months.

Basic hospital supplies are scarce. Pharmacies are without certain drugs and schools have become so over-crowded that 40-foot cargo containers have had to be transformed into classrooms.

Turks and Caicos Islanders are complaining of being victimized by the Brits. The Registrar of Lands, Kendle Williams and Director of Tourism, Lindsay Musgrove, resigned under pressure.
The Governor is expected to leave for England in the next few days and Chief Executive Mark Capes, a former Deputy Governor of Bermuda, will act in his capacity.