fp Turks and Caicos

Creating good government is the basis for prosperity, new Gov. Ric Todd told the fp during a Sept. 20 interview.

The Turks and Caicos Islands have lots of potential, and the prospects for growth are good, but key factors have to be addressed in order to attract the much needed inward investment, he said.

Todd’s road map to attracting investment includes clear economic policies which encourage business and having honest, open and transparent government “because nothing undermines business more than bad government.”

Todd is also clear on how this will be done.

“There are not going to be concessions, favors, sweetheart deals or any of the other even less attractive things offered in the past,” Todd said. What there is going to be is completely open and transparent arrangements.

“I don’t want the government to be in the business of seeking or offering favors,” the governor said. “It is going to be in the business of offering good conditions for investment in an open, fair and transparent way. So you won’t be able to bribe or buy or induce good deals.”

A sense that the economy is developing and moving is also key to growing the economy, Todd says. “The biggest single factor attracting investment is previous and successful investment.”

He admits that getting the message out is challenging, but he plans to let the current agency responsible for attracting investment, TCInvest, do so.

“I take the view that public bodies should do the things which they say they do, and should do them competently and professionally. So I am not looking to create new institutions or organizations. I want the ones we have to work well.”

Todd says he wants government to work properly.

“In order to create the conditions for long-term prosperity, you need to have sustainable and affective public services,” he said. This includes public servants who feel proud about being public servants and “do what I am sure they want to do, which is make acontribution to the islands.

“I don’t think you can run a good public service unless public servants feel empowered to carry out their responsibilities and are confident if they do that they will be supported by their line managers and their ministers or their governor. Because it is corrosive of relations between government and citizens if civil servants feel they are under improper pressure or citizens feel they are not being properly treated.”

Also, Todd says creating a sustainable and effective public service is not just not about an affordable quantity of money being spent — “It is also about the public services being spent on the right things.” This includes capital and maintenance costs which matter “very much.”

During meetings with the business community this week, Todd says he got the message loud and clear that the business community wants to be heard by government, including the governor and other public officials. But Todd says he also wants business to listen to government.

“There are also things which business always wants, which are sensible, but have to be looked at in the wider context,” he said. One such topic is immigration.

“Immigration is something we are working on,” Todd says, but a drastic change is not to be expected. “We are going to develop what I see as a clear statement of what the problem is and the options for dealing with it. And I want to talk about that with the Advisory Council, Consultative Forum and also with citizens and with groups within society and then we have to take decisions.”