From Anguilla to TCI, New Lady Governor expert in Law & Change Management

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, December 16, 2022 – The Turks and Caicos will get its first female governor in the form of Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam next year as she moves from her post as Governor of Anguilla to take up residence in Grand Turk.  The Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office made the announcement of her appointment midday Thursday December 15, 2022.

Of Sri Lankan heritage and called to the Bar 23 years ago, Selvaratnam has a Master’s in Public International Law and has reprised several leading  roles in the UK Ministry of Justice giving her significant legal experience .

Much of that experience is in the realm of Strategy and Change.

She was Deputy Director of Strategy and Change in HM Courts and Tribunal Service which oversees all the courts of England and Wales including the criminal civil family courts and others from 2011-2015.  She then moved on to the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy as Director of Strategy and Change in The Insolvency Service, a government agency that says it ‘helps to deliver economic confidence by supporting those in financial distress, tackling financial wrongdoing and maximising returns to creditors.’  She was in that position from 2015 to 2017.

Selvaratnam will bring with her extensive experience of the UK and by extension Turks and Caicos Islands court system.  She enters her role in the TCI, at a time when the country is bleeding millions of dollars through lost court cases owing to mistakes in all arms of the justice system.

In this year alone there have been repeated court losses for reasons ranging from improper treatment of detainees, crown prosecutors introducing witnesses improperly to conflict of interest with police translators even charging suspects with incorrect offences.

The announcement of her appointment also comes as the TCI struggles to get off of the EU blacklist of non-compliant tax jurisdictions.

The Governor’s background usually sets the tone for what the UK is hoping to accomplish with their appointment in an overseas territories.  TCI is no exception.

Governor Nigel Dakin,for his part, was a military man and had extensive experience in National Security prior to his appointment in the country.  Since his arrival he has seen to the establishment of the first-ever Regiment and several islanders have now been trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, an historic feat for the TCI.

Dakin has also concluded the signing of a ship-rider agreement and the skeleton of a Coast Guard is also coming together under his watch.

Selvaratnam will take up her appointment during June 2023.