In the second in a series of political debates, organised by the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School Literary and Debating Society, the participating candidates were Mr. Hubert Hughes, Leader of the Anguilla United Movement, and Mr. Brent Davis, Leader of the Anguilla Progressive Party. Both candidates are contestants in District 6 (Road South).

Mr. Hubert Hughes

The debate was held at the Rodney MacArthur Rey Auditorium on Thursday evening, January 14. The moderator and main questioner was Ms. Valarie Hodge, a retired public servant, having served as a Teacher at the Comprehensive School and a Human Resource Deputy Director at the Department of Public Administration. Four students also fielded questions to the candidates. They were Michelle Romney, Rachel Hazel, Michael Matthew and Mickela Skellekie.

In his opening statement, Mr. Davis thanked the Literary and Debating Society for organising the historic series of debates, which he described as an important event in the evolution of politics in Anguilla and a new trend “of holding the feet of the political candidates to the fire.”

He said that as the candidates were offering themselves to serve the people, it was only fair and fitting that they should be available for questions which the students, the future of Anguilla, were concerned about.

Mr. Brent Davis

Mr. Hughes said he had always been keen to have such an opportunity for interaction with the young people of Anguilla. He noted that he and Mr. Davis had one common cause, almost saw eye to eye on everything and had the same ideology. He, however, thought that there was a topic for the debate with pros and cons to consider and points to score rather than questions. “I don’t intend to debate Mr. Davis. We are good friends and neighbours, belong to the same constituency and fighting for the same purpose,” he remarked. “We are challenging the incumbent elected United Front Government in power for the last ten years and we are dissatisfied with the governance under that particular organisation…”

Following are the first seven questions posed to the candidates and their answers, all of which have been carefully streamlined. The first question to both candidates was:

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing Anguilla today, and how would you and the government you are part of address this?

Ms. Valarie Hodge (right) with Timekeeper Uldine Trim

Mr. Davis: “It is one of financial and economic crisis. The economic policies of the United Front Government have brought us to a point where Anguilla is bankrupt financially and we need direction. The Anguilla Progressive Party has a plan to take the island out of this crisis…It is a 10-year economic plan and it is focused on stimulating the private sector as a means of sustainable economic development as compared to increasing public sector borrowing.”

Mr. Hughes: “It is the question of disunity among our people. Divide and rule will always consume us…The fact that Britain, the administering power of Anguilla, has agreed to many of the commitments of the European Union…, a lot of the things that are happening to us are puzzling. The draconian legislation passed in the Anguilla House of Assembly, which the local Bar Association is in serious conflict with, can adversely affect the stability of this island for generations to come if nothing is done about it. There is depletion of the scarce natural resources in terms of land; there is counter development of our human resources; and there is a question about the country being invaded by people from different cultures and different religions.”

ALCHS Junior Choir

The second question was: What unique proposal does your party have to help Anguilla’s tourism industry to strive in this increasingly competitive market?
Mr. Davis: “We, in the APP, have a comprehensive plan to reviving and re-directing the Anguilla tourism product. We believe that our product has lost its way. We have many unique attractions such as the Fountain Cavern which has been sitting there…The Anguilla Progressive Party will aggressively develop it into a national park where tourists and locals alike can see a display of our culture. We can have a boat-racing museum down there showing the various aspects in the evolution of that culture; we can also have a museum depicting the Amerindian culture that Anguilla has been known for…That is something that we can market…and I think that based on legend…we have something to run with. That is just one of the many areas that we [will exploit] to make Anguilla’s tourism product unique.”

Mr. Hughes: “The question is whether or not we are really developing a tourism industry. The type of development you are hearing about in the MOA signed by the Government lays more emphasis on real estate…which does not create a tourism industry. It creates residential areas…It is unsustainable. It does not provide for the needs of our human resource. We cannot develop academics in our high school to sweep floors and make up beds in rich people’s homes…It is for a new government to reverse the trend of real estate and housing development and direct the industry to tourism and hotels.”
The third question was: Hotel development raises the value of the surrounding land area, allows greater employment opportunities for residents nearby and less transportation costs. Yet successive governments have failed to direct any large-scale hotel development to the east [of the island]. What are your views on a balance of hotel development in Anguilla?

Section of the audience

Mr. Davis: “The APP believes that the time is now to have a major tourism development on the eastern side of the island. One of the main reasons for most of the tourism development to have been focused in the west was because of the Caribbean side: the beaches are better and the waters are calmer. The APP will not give any duty-free concessions to any more developers to build hotel projects on the western side of the island. Instead, we will use duty-free concessions as a mechanism to attract investors to build projects on the eastern side of the island. This will also provide jobs for people in the east which are closer to their homes, where they can develop businesses such as restaurants, apartments and other sectors that result from tourism development.”

Mr. Hughes: “The record will prove that in 1994, when I came in government, the first project was for the Junks Hole estate in the eastern part of the island. I believe that development should be spread out…to other parts of the island. This has to be done.”

The fourth question was: What are your views on the Memorandums of Understanding and the Memorandums of Agreement between the Government of Anguilla and the various developers – in particular the number and type of concessions given to investors such as the Flag and Viceroy Projects?

Mr. Hughes: “There is a fundamental difference between an MOU and a MOA. I think it is criminal for any government to sign a Memorandum of Agreement outside …the participation of a real national discussion. We have had this Government breaching all principles in signing three Memorandums of Agreement, in secret, which gave away endless millions of taxpayers’ money to rich Americans for no purpose; and today the country is suffering because we have not collected revenue from the development process.”

The four students who fielded some of the questions

Mr. Davis: “Memorandums of Agreement are standard practices in modern economic development. However, [as regards] the policies of the United Front administration, I totally disagree with the manner in which duty-free concessions were used as a tool. We believe that duty-free concessions are necessary, but we believe the projects were given too much duty-free concessions for too long a period. For example, Flag was given duty-free concessions up to 20 years and that is becoming a norm. We believe that duty-free concessions should be given for a specific period and for specific products. We believe that is the way MOAs should go in the future. The APP will make that a focus to give concessions when necessary and when needed.”

The fifth question was: Anguilla is culturally and geographically tied to our neighbouring islands, but still retains a special political and economic relationship with Britain. Which of these relationships you think is most valuable to Anguilla’s future?

Mr. Davis: “Anguilla is a part of the Caribbean and we need to integrate more with our CARICOM brothers and sisters. We believe that the future of Anguilla lies within the CARICOM region. There are many benefits that we can derive from being a member of CARICOM and there are many benefits that we derive now from being an Associate Member of CARICOM and the OECS. Two examples are cost-sharing in terms of medication by international organisations and the whole aspect of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, where we share responsibility for monitoring the financial banks and institutions in the region…I think CARICOM is the way forward.”

Mr. Hughes: “This is probably the most critical question for us to answer because Anguillians carry the same passport as the Germans, the French, the Spanish and 30 other member countries of the European Union. Anguilla is in reality engulfed in the European Union. We are, for all intents and purposes, politically and constitutionally and otherwise, tied to the European Union. At the same time, we have a very unique situation as being an Associate Member of CARICOM and the OECS. We are in the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, we benefit from the Caribbean Development Bank. We are therefore unique and some clarity has to be found.”

The sixth question was: Would you describe our relationship with England since 1967 as beneficial of exploitive?

Mr. Hughes: “I see it as being mixed. There have been some benefits of the relationship but we have not maximised the benefits. This is not mainly because of Britain, but because we have not been astute enough to maximise those benefits from the relationship with Britain. We could have got more from Britain if we knew how.”

Mr. Davis: “I believe there were some benefits, but that more benefits would have been obtained if governments from 1967 were more proactive in their approach to development. There are a number of initiatives that we can benefit from being European citizens and they were never exploited – for example the transshipment business. We started that, but destroyed it. There are a number of areas that we can tap into in terms of educational opportunities for social advancement and attracting European investors to Anguilla because of the Common Law system. We benefited from grant aid in the earlier days, and capital projects, but I think that what we need now is real development so that we can build a sustainable economy to make Anguillians as independent as possible. We can benefit from other initiatives being a part of the European Union.”

The sixth question was: Mr. Hughes, you have been the representative of Road South for over 30 years. What specific project or programme for District 6 can you point to that has come about as a direct result of your vision, negotiating or persistence?

Mr. Hughes: “The question of area representation on the basis of constituency is not one that can be clearly defined. It should be understood that even though you have been elected to a particular district, it is the government of the day which decides what happens in any part of the island. Most of the time that I was elected, I have been in opposition and as such the divisive politics made sure that very little was happening in my particular constituency. But what I have made is national contribution. I brought in a real hotel…and I transformed the economy…I cannot build a hotel in Blowing Point. I encourage the building of a hotel in Rendezvous Bay [CuisinArt].

The seventh question was: Mr. Davis, we know that you have not yet had the privilege to serve in office, but how have you been involved in the social or economic uplift of the District 6 community?

Mr. Davis: “My record of community involvement in Road South goes back to almost 30 years and I am just 37. In the area of sports, I have organised, managed and coached the young men of the Blowing Point and South Hill areas in basketball, volleyball, cricket, football and just about every sport over the last 30 years. I have been very instrumental in the establishment of the Blowing Point Community Centre, an initiative that I started in 2000 and today it is the first community centre in Anguilla and I am a member of the Board of Directors. I am a businessman and I have contributed significantly my personal skills and talents to the development of young businessmen in the district and across Anguilla. I established a company called Dream Makers which was designed to help young Anguillians to establish businesses – not just in the district, but across the country. My record is very long when it comes to community involvement and those are just a few of the things that I have done.”

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