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Letter received from Adam Pile in response to letter sent to the Foreign Secretary in respect of Governor Rushbrook's behaviour

Dear Councillor Ellick

Thank you for your letter of 8 December to the Foreign Secretary (copied to Ben Merrick) about the Governor and a protest against home quarantine that took place on St Helena on 2 December. I have been asked to reply.
I have noted your comments about the Governor and that some remarks in the challenging circumstances created by the street protest annoyed you. I know that this was certainly not his intention. He, as do all of our personnel, uphold the core values set out in the Diplomatic Service Code of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.
The Governor has been doing his utmost over the last year to uphold the safety of all St Helena residents and will continue to do so. He is passionate about protecting the island and ensuring appropriate requirements are followed to contain the impact of the Covid-19 virus. He has played an important role, largely unpublicised, in securing additional UK Government funding for St Helena to prepare for and manage the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has allowed the St Helena Government to build resilience, meet the cost of medical supplies (including Personal Protective Equipment and testing kits), extra medical staff and charter flights to maintain access to and from the island. The UK Government also agreed to a request by the St Helena Government to reallocate funding for a substantial new oxygen plant that will help if the virus does reach St Helena.
Most recently, the Governor has worked tirelessly to ensure COVID-19 vaccine supplies are sent to St Helena as quickly as possible. Consequently, I am pleased that an initial delivery of doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine arrived on island on 11 January. This will enable key health workers and front line staff at the highest risk of infection to be vaccinated and improve the island’s preparedness to utilise further vaccine allocations in the coming weeks.
I hope the above demonstrates the commitment of the Governor and the UK Government to St Helena. We will continue to work in partnership with the St Helena Government to do our utmost to ensure the island is protected from the virus.

Yours sincerely


Adam Pile Deputy Director and Head of Caribbean and Southern Oceans Department

Motions to be debated at Formal Legislative Council meeting on Friday 11th December commencing at 10am at the Council Chamber, Castle.

The Hon Jeffrey Ellick
That decisions/policies made in respect of Covid19 by Executive Council sitting as the Incident Emergency Group and where it affects the lives, rights and freedoms of individuals, these decisions are taken in an open session for the benefit of transparency and accountability.

The Hon Christine Scipio
That the Legislative Council resolves that the Honourable Clint Beard, the Honourable Cruyff Buckley, the Honourable Anthony Green, the Honourable Lawson Henry and the Honourable Derek Thomas no longer be members of the Executive Council because of the magnitude of dissatisfaction expressed by the public in regard to recent decisions made by the Executive Council and that their
election to sit as members of the Executive Council be revoked in accordance with section 37(1)(f) of the Constitution

At a public meeting held at HTH Community Centre on 25th November 2020, the attendees requested that Elected Members of Executive Council (Clint Beard, Cruyff Buckley, Anthony Green, Lawson Henry and Derek Thomas) to:

a) Reverse their decision to Home Quarantine from January 2021;
b) Arrange a public meeting to provide an explanation of their decisions in respect of COVID-19;
c) Publish immediately the national plan in the event of COVID-19 reaching the island.

Elected Members of Executive Council were given until 4th December 2020 to provide a public response; none was received.

On Monday 7th December 2020, Councillor Derek Thomas responded to Christine Scipio which is as follows:
“ExCo agreed for Home Quarantine from Jan flight 2021, subject to a number of measures being put into place which will be reviewed by ExCo before the final approval is given. It is proposed that the documents be presented to ExCo on Mon 14 Dec, what information can be made available to the public will be. ExCo is not prepared to have a public meeting to explain their decision making, at this time information will be conveyed to the public via Press Releases and Radio Interviews”

It is not understood as to why Elected Members of Executive Council do not wish to meet and discuss COVID-19 related matters with the community, their constituents.

As agreed by the attendees at the said public meeting, if Elected Members of Executive Council does not reverse their decision by 4 December 2020 or arrange a public meeting to provide explanations to their decisions on COVID-19 related matters, a demonstration will be arranged.

A procession protesting home quarantine will take place from Pilling School to the front entrance of the Castle on Saturday 12th December at 10:30am. A request is being made to Governor in Council to receive and listen to the protesters.

Banners must be related to home quarantine and must not be offensive or defamatory; marshals will be present.

Councillors Ellicks and Scipio have confirmed that they are not aware of any discussions with all Elected Members and the staff of the Governor's Office regarding Governor Rushbrook's outburst at Bradley's junction on Wednesday 2nd December 2020.

On Thursday 26 November 2020, an open letter was sent to Elected Members of Executive Council, to date no acknowledgement has been received