Senior Opposition Member in the Anguilla House of Assembly, the Hon. Hubert Hughes, spent most of the time of his press conference on Wednesday on the Cap Juluca MOA, a matter of continuing political debate on the island.

Hon. Hubert Hughes

Mr. Hughes outlined a number of his concerns to reporters. He said that a Memorandum of Agreement could not be signed at the beginning of any project discussion, but at the conclusion instead. He saw it as a contract incorporating a lot of taxes which he charged were given away to the developer. “British constitution stipulates that you cannot give away peoples’ taxes without the consent of parliament,” he stressed. He criticised the Government for allowing the project to become a real estate development and to sell the majority of its rooms with only 15 percent of the property remaining as the hotel.

“That says a lot for the long-term status of the workers at Cap Juluca,” he said, disputing the Chief Minister’s statement that the over 400 employees were benefiting much from the agreement with the developer and the planned development of the property. He charged that the number of workers would be progressively reduced as the real estate element of the property took shape.
Mr. Hughes called the MOA “a complete secret” and took credit for obtaining a copy and circulating it. He dismissed the Government’s explanation that it was in fact a public document and that it was not possible to have all the details of the agreement publicised beforehand. “Why did the Government make this a complete secret and say they could not involve the people?” he questioned.

The Opposition Member said he would call together a number of lawyers and other influential persons for an examination and discussion of the MOA. He charged that it did not have the force of law behind it, and that if elected and to office as Chief Minister, he would challenge the agreement.

On the question of joining in the planned public discussions on the 2010 budget in which the Government will involve members of the community, Mr. Hughes indicated that he had no interest in the matter. He added that in due course he would be working on his own budget on becoming the new Government leader in Anguilla. “Don’t ask me where I will get the money from,” he added.

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