DEMOCRACY DURING A PANDEMIC IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S REMOTEST ISLANDS
DEMOCRACY DURING A PANDEMIC IN ONE OF THE WORLD’S REMOTEST ISLANDS 'Remote working' has a special meaning in the world's most isolated council chamber. Chief Islander of Tristan da Cunha reflects on a momentous time. The last year has altered the way many democratic bodies around the world have done their business. For the Island Council on Tristan da Cunha, our way of working has remained unchanged. What did change, however, is the range of issues we've had to consider. Emergency measures to keep our community safe from COVID19 were debated and decided in the face of urgent deadlines. Improvements to our tourism offer were put in place for when the cruise trade returns. And our decision to create the planet's fourthlargest marine reserve attracted headlines worldwide. Tristan’s Council isn't strictly a legislature, because laws for this isolated community of 244 islanders are made by the Governor (who is also the Governor of St Helena and Ascension Island). Our role is to advise, with the Tristan da Cunha Administrator as Council President providing the central link in the chain, and to date our advice has always been taken. Tristan da Cunha's South Atlantic location – 1,500 miles from St Helena and 1,730 from mainland South Africa - means our council chamber is the remotest democratic forum on
Image credit: www.tristandc.com
Below: Members of the Tristan da Cunha Island Council including Chief Islander James Glass (fourth from left) with Administrator, Fiona Kilpatrick (third from left) and other members of the Island Council. Two Councillors were absent overseas.
Earth. The Islands are home to 244 UK citizens living in the world's most isolated settlement of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. The Island Council consists of eight elected and three appointed Members, in addition to the Administrator. Elections are held every three years and a special feature of our constitution is that at least one councillor must be a woman (three took office in 2019). 2020: challenges and opportunities COVID-19 presents a special challenge to a remote island with limited medical facilities and no ventilators, where residents are also exceptionally vulnerable to respiratory disease. As 2020 began, we’d been without TV for months following storm damage, and it came as a shock when the service was restored and images of the worldwide trauma of COVID-19 flooded into our homes. So when we gathered as a Council on 4th February and again on 5th March, we had tough decisions to take. Three cruise ships were due to call in quick succession, bringing tourists with much-needed cash to spend. But our discussions considered islanders’ complete exposure to the risk of a novel virus, and we concluded that visitor landings would have to be banned. A surely unique consequence of our decision was that Tristan da Cunha's only full-time police officer, Inspector Conrad Glass, who was returning from leave aboard the cruise ship Le-Lyrial, had to sail straight past his neighbours and continue to Cape Town where he waited five months before finally reaching home. The Island Council knew that a few yachts were also due to call at Tristan and would be asking for permission to come ashore. It was agreed that the ‘no visitors’ rule would apply to all, but we would assist them with fuel, water and medical treatment if needed. Many practical problems had to be tackled. The island hospital was prepared as best we could, and extra medical supplies were ordered from South Africa to last us for more than six months. Plans were made for a mid-year supply voyage, protected by strict quarantine, that would also bring long-term stocks of essential foodstuffs that cannot
Councillor James Glass is the current Chief Islander of Tristan da Cunha. He was elected for a record
fourth term in March 2019 and so becomes the first Chief Islander to serve four terms. The Chief Islander is a Tristanian elected separately from the Island Council and serves for three years. He is also Tristan da Cunha's Director of Fisheries and makes regular trips overseas to oversee the retention of Tristan's valuable Marine Stewardship Council award for its sustainable Tristan Lobster Fishery.
42 | The Parliamentarian | 2021: Issue One | 100 years of publishing
