Two Motions introduced by Opposition Member for Road South, Hubert Hughes, dominated the proceedings in the Anguilla House of Assembly on Tuesday, October 16.

Honourable Hubert Hughes

In the first Motion he called for a suitable site to be found to re-locate the Dolphin Fantasy Project which has had to be moved from the Viceroy property, following the end of the agreed period. He noted that the project was doing a lot to advance tourism in Anguilla, attracting many day trippers from St. Maarten and providing much employment for Anguillians.

His second Motion stated that Anguillians were being denied managerial and sub-managerial positions in the tourism industry by foreign managers and called for a Government arrangement to be made to counter this practice.

Mr. Hughes commended successive Governments for accepting the dolphin project as a means of boosting the tourism industry despite the initial criticisms and he regretted its temporary closure until a new location can be determined.

“I am very concerned first of all that the dolphins had to be removed,” he said. “It was well-placed where it was on the sea side…and it was not causing any problem to anybody because it was contained in its own pool. It is sad that the project had to be removed. I think it says a lot of negatives to Anguilla if people are allowed to take a serious decision to bring such a technical and unique project to Anguilla and then they are left to wonder and to ponder as to what is going to happen. That is because a new project comes to Anguilla and found it impossible to live with it and Government does nothing but to fold its arms.” It was a charge that Acting Chief Minister, Victor Banks, later refuted.

It is known that efforts were being made to look into the possibility of having the dolphin project re-located at Sandy Point, Blowing Point, where an Environmental Assessment Impact Study was said to have been decided on. “I said to the Chief Minister if the dolphin project can’t go to Sandy Ground (where it had been setting operations), it can’t come to Blowing Point,” Hughes stated. He nevertheless held the view that “as long as a project is good and is producing for Anguilla, I will always be sympathetic towards it.”

Mr. Hughes went on: “I was very concerned that the dolphin project was being destabilised and I felt that we had to be very serious as to how we are going to encourage the project to stay in Anguilla. As far as I am concerned the dolphin project has been consistent in saying this [and] it must and should stay in Anguilla. It is not in conflict with the hotel industry. It is complementary to the industry.”

Later on Mr. Hughes further clarified his position about the suggestion that it may be possible for the project to be located in his constituency. “It is not just me opposed to the project going to Blowing Point. The people of Blowing Point have good reason for opposing the project going to Sandy Point and I can do no more nor less than go along with the majority of the people,” he stated. He was of the opinion that the Environment Impact Study was a futile exercise. “I am convinced that Sandy Point is not the right site for the dolphin pool. It may be an easier site for the developer but it is not the right site,” he remarked.

“A lot of people will be distressed if the dolphin project leaves Anguilla,” Hughes went on. “I am calling on the Government to take immediate action…This is a decision by the people [the members of the House] who are here today…We need to keep that project and we can’t afford to leave it go.”

The Motion was seconded by the Member for Road North, Edison Baird, who said: “It is true that the project brings economic benefits to Anguilla, but it is equally true that if you solve one problem and create four others, you have gone backwards. I have made it abundantly clear that my problem with the dolphin project is the attempt to locate it Sandy Ground where I foresee disastrous results…and I shall continue to oppose the establishment of any [such project] there.” He noted that there was already a very serious pollution problem at Sandy Ground and that the dolphin project would compound the situation.

Mr. Baird stated that if the people of Blowing Point were also objecting to the dolphin project there, it should not be forced on them either.

The Hon Victor Banks said he did not think the dolphin project should be in Anguilla at all. He explained that the re-location of the dolphin pool had nothing to do with Government but was a business decision between the owners of the project and the new owners of the site on which it was located. “The issue of where the dolphinarium is sited is a physical planning decision which includes the community where it is to be sited and the issues of environment and other physical planning issues which require licences and so forth,” he said. He stated that for two years the developers were aware that they had to move to an alternative site and could not expect for the Viceroy developers to have them remain at the site if it affected their business plans.

Mr. Banks acknowledged that there were a number of benefits provided by the dolphin project to persons in Anguilla and that there were concerns to that extent, but it was not the Government’s fault. He made the point that the project “does not have to be in the sea. It can be on land because it has been on land for a long period of time; and although a number of people may want the dolphinarium, those same people do not want it in their backyard.”

Banks said that contrary to Mr. Hughes’ suggestion, the members of the House of Assembly had no authority to find a site for the dolphins and that such a responsibility was for the investors and then the Government would give its approval or disapproval.

The other Motion by Mr. Hughes, in which he called for Anguillians to be appointed to managerial and other senior positions in the tourism industry was well received and supported in the House of Assembly following some amendments.

The amended motion, approved by the House, read as follows:

“WHEREAS the tourism industry has been encouraged by successive Governments of Anguilla as a main means of creating employment opportunities for our indigenous people;

“AND WHEREAS financial incentives have been given to those projects from local taxpayers’ pockets;

“AND WHEREAS foreign managers in our tourism industry appear to apply racist and discriminatory practices to disqualify locals from managerial and sub-managerial positions in the tourism industry;

“BE IT RESOLVED that a special committee based in the office of the Chief Minister and comprising officers possessing labour relations, human resources and training skills be established to assist the Labour Department in their approval or refusal of work permits for senior positions in the tourism industry.”

The Motion was seconded by First Nominated Member, Donna Banks, who has special responsibility for tourism. In her presentation, she set the tone for the approval of the measure by the other colleagues in the House of Assembly. Therefore when it was put to the vote with tail end amendments, it was given the full support of the Assembly members.

The first Motion on the Order of Business was in the name of the Second Nominated Member, Keesha Webster, but in her absence it was postponed to another sitting. It calls for the Anguilla House of Assembly, on the initiative of the Speaker, to standardise and modernise the existing Rules of Procedure for the legislative bodies in Anguilla and the other Eastern Caribbean States
The Motion further calls for the Anguilla House of Assembly to elect a Standing Committee of not more than five persons within the parliamentary body to consider and finalise the Rules of Procedure as proposed by those States with a view to adapting them to Anguilla’s legislative process and the Constitution.

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