Senior Opposition Member, Hubert Hughes, held his weekly press conference on Wednesday, regretting that his colleague, Edison Baird, was still not available for health reasons to assist him.

Mr. Hughes charged that the Government could not deal with the island’s declining economic situation and it would take “a fast track situation to bring the island back on course.”

Hon. Hubert Hughes

He was of the view that despite claims of no money in the Treasury, civil servants would be paid their salaries. “The Governor is responsible for the public service and whatever happens its workers will be paid,” Mr. Hughes said.

“As far as the application to the Foreign Office for borrowing is concerned, the Foreign Office had never told any Anguilla Government that they cannot borrow,” he stated. “The question is that the British Government will have to guarantee that borrowing because it comes down to contingent liability. They will be liable to pay if we do not get our rationale correct.”

He went on: “What Britain is asking, in the borrowing guidelines, is that you send a proper analysis and appraisal on how you conceive a particular project from an economic standpoint and how you intend to pay back the loan. As far as the British Government is concerned, monies borrowed must be invested in income-bearing projects. You must prove to her that you have a financial and economic appraisal of the project and you have to convince her that that project will earn sufficient income to pay back the loan.”

Mr. Hughes criticised the Government’s use of the technical personnel in the Ministry of Finance to deliver presentations, in the House of Assembly and again at the Teachers' Resource Centre, on the island’s public financial situation. “I think the civil servants were taken advantage of. They brought the technical officers just to show you the worst case scenario,” he continued.

“They talk about hiring some financial consultant to evaluate the financial situation in Anguilla and make recommendations as to what they should do. That is most ridiculous. They have two people with doctorates in economics in the Ministry of Finance. How higher can one get when it comes to qualifications? Do you need to pay a consultant who may not even have a doctorate to come here and tell you what to do when these two guys are fully acquainted with what is happening in Anguilla and should be able to tell you what to do?”

Mr. Hughes charged that the Government was short-sighted and needed to call an early general election as a way out of its problems.

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