CaribWorldNews, LONDON, England, Mon. Aug. 17, 2009: `Our country is being invaded and recolonized by the United Kingdom.`
That`s how Premier Galmo Williams summed it up after Britain on Friday imposed direct rule on the Caribbean islands of the Turks and Caicos.
The British government suspended the island government and legislature and put London-appointed Governor, Gordon Wetherell, in charge Friday.
The move comes after an investigation found evidence of corruption among the island`s governing officials.
The British Foreign Office minister, Chris Bryant, said the suspension could last up to two years while Governor Wetherell `put the islands` affairs back in good order.`
Williams insists that dismantling a duly elected government and legislature and replacing it with a one-man dictatorship is equal to colonization.
But Gov. Wetherell insisted it is not a take over. `Public services will continue to be run by people of the Turks and Caicos Islands, as indeed they should be. But I hope we can now begin to run them better,` he said.
Queen Elizabeth is the head of state of the British territory, and the governor is her official representative.
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