Former Turks and Caicos Islands Premier Michael Misick on Tuesday blasted the British government over its decision to take charge of the day-to-day affairs of the Islands and called for immediate elections.

I call on (British Prime Minister) Gordon Brown and request that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and (United States) President Barack Obama, the ‘President of the Free World’, request that democracy is returned to Turks and Caicos immediately and election held without delay,” he said a day after Governor Gordon Wetherell said plans were progressing toward elections by July 2011.

Last August, Britain assumed the affairs of this its overseas territory, disbanded the locally elected government and suspended the legislature after a Commission of Inquiry said it found widespread corruption under Misick’s former administration.

Misick, who resigned last March after the Commission made its findings public, once again proclaimed his innocence and likened that move to a “modern day coup” in this Caribbean nation brought about by a conspiracy involving British expatriates to bring down his government. In his opinion, Misick said the Commonwealth, the U.S. and the United Nations did not condemn the move.

“All of the democratic institutions have been suspended. The Governor is now the executive, the legislative, he sits on the panel that decides who should be prosecuted, he appoints the judges and so his position is no different than that of the ‘strongman’ that made a recent coup in Niger or any recent coup around the world. In fact, it is worst because even in Honduras after the coup they left the Parliament in place.”

On Monday, Governor Wetherell issued a statement outlining measures taken to improve good governance, pointing to the need to overhaul the Islands’ tax model, the management of public finances and Crown lands, among other areas. However, Misick interpreted that statement as a criticism of how ran his administration.

“The fact of the matter is that during the six years of my administration, the Turks and Caicos has experienced unprecedented growth, increasing the GDP from $100 million to $750 million,” he said, pointing to advances made in a wide variety of areas.

Misick blasted the Governor’s report for containing nothing new or good. He said: “It goes back to the days of slavery when the White man put our ancestors in chains and told them it was the best thing for them.”