Opposition Member, the Hon Hubert Hughes, said that despite the tight employment situation in Anguilla, there was still a level of construction work going on in the western end of the island. He charged, however, that there were Indians working in jobs which Anguillians had done in various islands over the past forty or fifty years.

Hon. Hubert Hughes

“We have excelled in the area of construction jobs,” he went on. “We have professional plumbers, engineers, air-condition people, masons, tilers; and even in marble we have professionalised ourselves in and have a lot of experience in building hotel accommodation. Many of the Indians who are working in Anguilla are intellectuals. Some of them are down there plastering and laying blocks. They have bachelors, masters and even doctorates as far as academic qualifications are concerned. They even have architects among them plastering walls. These pose a real danger to the social fabric of this society. The culture from where they come is that they are very conscientious when it comes to competition.”

He charged that Anguillians “were being pushed to the bottom of the table” and that even supervisors of the labour force at the construction site at Viceroy came from places like Mexico. He said Anguillians were no longer the beneficiaries of the development process and that local workers were complaining to him about the way they were being treated. Mr. Hughes’ comments appeared to have been made in response to recent statements by the Chief Minister. Mr. Fleming had said that there were an increased number of Anguillian construction workers at the project with some employed directly by the company and others working under the supervision of Anguillian contractors, apart from a number of other Anguillians at work in the operating hotel section of the project.

Mr. Hughes alleged that there was discrimination against Anguillians without any redress by the Labour Office or the Labour Minister. “I served as Labour Minister for six years and if the Labour Office could not deal with a particular issue, and brought it to my attention, we dealt with it. Is it conflict of interest somewhere along the way? It seems to be some sort of conflict as far as I am concerned.”

The Opposition Member made his oft-repeated criticism that the Government had “put too much of the egg in one basket”. According to him, people were asking why such prime property in Rendezvous and Cove Bays was made available for condominium and real estate development which would only benefit developers and those who purchase the villas, while hotels were being built all around the Caribbean. He did not agree with a statement by the Minister of Finance that Anguilla’s policy on real estate development was being regarded as a template for the rest of the region. “No economist is going to allow his prime beach land resources to be used for residential [development] for foreigners,” he argued.

Mr. Hughes contended that the Government itself could not claim to have brought any of the current hotels to Anguilla. “Like me, I can claim CuisinArt, at least, and Altamer and quite a few other small projects which are basically tourism hotels,” he stated.
He insisted that in leasing Crown land to developers, Government should have followed the example of other landowners to charge developers up to 200,000 dollars an acre upfront. He said that to the contrary “here were our Government representatives taking nothing to the Treasury out of the Sonesta deal [for example] and yet they extended the lease to 125 years; and when you look at the whole thing, Anguilla didn’t benefit. We then turned round and gave them 175 acres of extra Crown land. The [then] Governor and I discussed that and he was alarmed about it, but my problem was that he took no action.”
He indicated that the Government had made the same mistake with other projects.

On another topic, Mr. Hughes was told that the Chief Minister and Minister of Finance had dismissed his statement that the Governor had something to do with the payment of salaries to civil servants which in fact was a responsibility of the Anguilla Government.
“Our constitution says that the public service is under the authority of the Governor and the Governor represents the British Government,” he replied. “The public service is not a local portfolio and the British Government has been involved, ever since I was in Government. Financial officers used to come from England to check our financial situation. Even though we are not on grant aid, and though the British Government does not give us any assistance, they monitor and try to advise and were doing it from the time I was in Government. It is nothing new.”
He continued: “I am saying that civil servants will be paid and if the civil servants are not paid, they can protest: take industrial action. Everybody who works has to be paid. If they are not paid, just take industrial action. “But you do have a problem with that,” he added, charging that the civil servants were of the belief that the ANA Party, now the United Front, was their party. “When that party is in power they remain dormant, but as soon as that party is out of power, they get active again and this is their dilemma.”

Asked about the seriousness of his earlier statement, Mr. Hughes was adamant that “Britain should provide the money to pay civil servants.” He further charged: “The British full well know that this Government has been spending a lot of money on more or less political projects” and he sought to show a number of examples. He charged that the Government had also given away money in the form of taxes to project developers and now civil servants, with bank loans to pay, were being starved.
Mr. Hughes said he had the know-how to lead Anguilla out of its present dilemma. “I am building my election campaign on that I can make a colossal difference because I always keep a psychological distance from developers,” he emphasised. “I keep a business-like approach to dealing with developers. If I win the Government tomorrow, you will see an immediate change. The whole atmosphere will change in Anguilla. There will be no longer a dead situation, where Ministers’ hands are tied. My hands are loose. I can take all the action necessary to bring about the change and put money in the Treasury and ensure that my civil servants [are paid].

“I have a problem because people in Anguilla will suffer more and more. The water situation is messed up. Electricity has been messed up under this Government. The health situation is in chaos. These are the issues on which I am fighting the next election. They are now talking about Port Authority. That authority will cost money. Anguilla is not Trinidad. We do not have the type of business imports. Sometimes I look down Road Bay. Not a boat in the harbour…”

Told that the Port Authority was a pre-condition to Anguilla receiving its share of funds from the European Union, Mr. Hughes declared: “When the Port Authority is established, who will control it? A Secretary of State will control it through the Governor in Anguilla. Right now the Port Authority planners are saying they want the Embarkation Tax, Tonnage Dues, Port Dues and Wharf Dues. This is what they want because they must have money to run the Port Authority. It is an intermediary between the Customs and the rest of the people. So who are going to pay? The shopkeepers are going to put up their prices because the Government will have to find revenue elsewhere to earn the money taken by the Port Authority.”
Mr. Hughes added: “Even if we were the last country in the world to have a Port Authority, there is no point introducing it because of that. It is not necessary because we don’t have the dimensions for a Port Authority. We are a small place.”
Commenting on banking matters, he said the suggestion made at the ECCB Monetary Council meeting about the amalgamation of the indigenous commercial banks, including the two local banks in Anguilla, was to prevent them from going under. He said that on the question of retrenchment of workers he was “very concerned because a lot of my little relatives and friends have jobs in the banks” and he drew examples of how, in the past, he had contended with other companies that he wanted employment for his people. “I can’t afford to sacrifice jobs in Anguilla because jobs are important to my economy and to my people,” he recalled saying. He acknowledged that “the idea of merging two companies was to reduce overhead expenditure, but said it would end up with significant numbers of staff being made redundant.”

Mr. Hughes answered a question which many persons have been anxious to hear about: Where he would get the money he said he would have to move Anguilla forward? “I will raise my money from the economy and we can have a very big economy in Anguilla. I did it before and I can do it again,” he responded.

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