Fellow Anguillians, The Anguilla United Front and the people of Anguilla have been listening to a number of items of deliberate misinformation being propagated by members of the Anguilla United Movement and Talk Show Hosts incredibly supportive of their cause. On this occasion I want to bring your attention specifically to the Cap Juluca issue. While we hold the position that the talk about who is to be blamed for the present challenges at Cap Juluca is not helpful to the many persons who were laid off and local businesses who are suffering as a result — it is important that we place the facts on this issue in the public domain. And let me repeat—this is not to prolong the argument about who is to be blamed but rather to establish the facts based on documentation that can be readily accessed by everyone.
Fellow Anguillians, I would therefore like you all to bear with me while I take you on a journey through the facts relevant to the situation at Cap Juluca beginning on July 7, 2009 when the Anguilla United Front finalized negotiations with Mr. Adam Aron.
On July 7, 2009 the AUF government signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Cap Juluca Properties Ltd. On page 3 of that document it reads and I quote“to set out their agreements and understandings with respect to the development of the Project, the execution and delivery of the Lease Addendum and the establishment of the Government Participation”. This exact quote is also found in the MOU.
On 16th February 2010 the Anguilla United Movement(AUM) Government ascended to office and after some six months of expressing their dissatisfaction with the AUF 2009 MoA, the AUM/APP Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Cap Juluca Properties Ltd which clearly stated on page 1 of that MoU that “upon its taking effect through affirmative House of Assembly vote, this MOU shall supersede and wholly replace the Memorandum of Agreement entered into by the parties on July 7, 2009”. Therefore the entire MOA signed by the AUF in July 2009 became null and void and was replaced totally by the AUM/APP’s MOU.
Fellow Anguillians, Under the authority of the AUM/APP new MoU a number of villas were sold at Cap Juluca in February/ March 2011. The Alien Land Holdings License for these properties, were authorized by the Ministers of the AUM/APP Government in the Executive Council were signed on February 28th and March 23rd 2011.
On May 2, 2012 Cap Juluca was auctioned as a result of Adam Aron defaulting on his settlement agreement made with Mr. & Mrs. Hickox on October 6, 2010.
My people— An MOU/MOA is a legally binding agreement between two or more parties outlining the terms and conditions of their relationship. The MOA/MOU entered by the two governments was to facilitate the development of the Cap Juluca project and in both cases the “parties recognize and agree that the MOA/MOU is entered into in good faith and that the success of the Project was dependent on the continued cooperation of the parties”.
An examination of the MOA and the MOU show that there were four material or significant areas of difference:
(1) The AUM/APP “MoU” removed the option which granted the Government (or its designated entity) the right to acquire up to 20% ownership interest in Cap Juluca.
(2) Under the AUF “MoA” lands identified for the Cove Bay National Park were projected to amount to a minimum of 84 acres (12 acres of Beach front plus the pond) whereas under the AUM/APP “MoU” this minimum was 77 acres (only 5 acres of Beach front plus the pond, and they were granted the right to fill in as much of the pond as needed for the project).
(3) Under the AUM/APP “MoU” the size of, and the responsibility for configuring or designing and building of, the National Park was placed in the hands of the Developer.
(4) The AUM/APP “MoU” granted the developer the right to clear underwater rocks (coral reefs) up to 100 feet from the shoreline this was not allowed under the AUF “MoA”.
Other than these significant concessions and “giveaways” the substance of both documents were similar in nature.
Fellow Anguillians, It is important to note that both the MoU and the MoA that preceded it contained a number of provisions to ensure the use of our land and beach resources were managed to the benefit of Anguilla.
1. In the both Agreements the same language is used on page 5 of the MoA and page 6 of the MoU and I quote: “to preserve Anguilla’s tourism economy, the Government requires that all existing and new villas that are located directly on Maundays Bay Beach and Cove Bay Beach be included in the Hotel’s rental program when such units are not occupied by their respective Buyers subject to use restriction stipulations where applicable. This requirement is a material inducement to the Government’s willingness to enter into this MOA/MOU and the Government would not otherwise agree to the terms and conditions of this MOA/MOU without the foregoing requirement”.
2. In the Developer’s covenants of both the AUF’s MoA and the AUM/APP’s MoU the developer covenanted “not to sublease any part of the Project unless the sublease is made subject to the applicable Developer’s covenants, and in furtherance of the development contemplated by this MOA/MOU, provided that owners of residential leasehold and sublease estates and condominium units shall not be responsible for the performance of Developer obligations”. This is outlined on page 33 of both of the Agreements (i.e. MoA and MoU).
3. In both Agreements the maximum scope of the project in terms of accommodation facilities and amenities is 390 bedrooms made up of the existing 18 villas (Existing Hotel Suite) as well as new villas to include the Maundays Bay Beach Villas, Maundays Bay Hilltop Villas, The Estates at Cap Juluca, Pimms Point Villas, Cove Bay Beach Villas, Lagoon View Villas/National Park Neighborhood Villas. This is clearly outlined on page 11 of both the MoA and the MoU.
4. In both agreements the Existing Hotel Suite, Maundays Bay Beach Villas, Cove Bay Beach Villas Buyers are restricted to residing in the Beach Villa 60 days in the period January through August and November through December and 61 days in September and October; and the “balance of unused days to be returned to the hotel room rental program”. This is clearly outlined on page 11 to 15 of the MoA and page 12 to 15 of the MoU.
Fellow Anguillians, The Hotel Room Rental Program/Rental Pool program allows villa or unit owners to rent out their villas or units as part of the Hotel’s transient room inventory (rooms available for rent as tourist accommodation. According to the MOA and MOU it was mandatory for the existing villas and all new beach villas to be included in the Hotel Room Rental Program and was a condition of ownership; thereby making available more rooms for transient users or tourists. This concept is not a novel or new idea being experimented with on Anguilla. It has been in existence successfully on Anguilla from the 1980’s in the likes of Carimar Beach Villas, Cove Castle Resorts and is also included in the Jumireh Project, the Solaire Project, as well as internationally for decades.
Fellow Anguillians, Given the significant similarities between the MOA and the MOU and given that the MOU of 2010 superseded and wholly replaced the MOA of 2009 there is absolutely no validity to the argument that the issues surrounding Cap Juluca are as a result of the 2009 MOA entered into by the AUF. This AUM/APP government had the opportunity and they took it– to renegotiate/change the MOA of the AUF administration. They are wholly and solely responsible for the RECENT events at Cap Juluca.
The 2010 MOU agreed and signed by AUM/APP government is what governs the operations of Cap Juluca Properties and it is in this AUM/APP “MoU” and the leases/subleases under this government that answers to the questions surrounding the sale of villas and the inclusion of rooms in the hotel room rental program must be found. The problem is not in the crafting of the MoU but rather in the implementation of the MoU. The MoU required that all EXISTING villas must be included in the hotel room rental program. Therefore these villas that were sold to the Brilla Group and others are REQUIRED to be included in the hotel room rental program of Cap Juluca Properties. Unless there is some other document agreed to and sanctioned by this government which gives the Brilla group the right to pad lock their villas at Cap Juluca on Maundays Bay Beach…The question that this government should be answering is – Is there an existing document that gives the Brilla group to pad lock their villa at Cap Juluca or Who gave Brilla the right to pad lock there villas at Cap Juluca or Why Brilla is able to pad lock their villas at Cap Juluca?
If Brilla’s claim that “it was a condition of our purchase that we have the ability to separate our villas from the resort (and manage rental ourselves or with an entity we agreed upon) and still have access to resort facilities as well as services being provided to guest of our villas” (Brilla Group, July 24, 2012),is correct then it means that there was a serious violation of the terms of the MoU signed by the Government of Anguilla and Cap Juluca Properties in August 2010. It also means that the AUM/APP Government fell asleep on the job and did not exercise the necessary vigilance for the proper implementation of the MoU. This failure now exposed has nothing to do with a 2009 MoA. To seek to prove otherwise is woefully dishonest and misleading.
Fellow Anguillians, What needs to be understood is (a) whether the claim by Brilla and others is true; (b) did the AUM/APP Government drop the ball/fell asleep on the implementation of the terms of the MoU; or (c) are there clandestine operations within government muddying the discussions.
CM Hughes in a meeting with workers of Cap Juluca on July 23, 2012 indicated to those present that he had indicated to Adam Aron that he “could not support the fragmentation of the sell-off of Cap Juluca”. Question??? At what point was this told to Adam Aron? Was there any discussion before the sale took place or was this after the sale took place? If it was following the sale how is it that Aron was not cited for violating the terms of the MOU? If it was before the sale how is it that Adam Aron would have still felt empowered to ignore the Chief Minister’s opposition to the sale.
In the same breath however, CM Hughes proceeded to separate his Government from this violation of the MoU by saying that they did not know that Mr. Aron was fragmenting this property by selling to the Brilla Group and others. Did he discuss this matter with Aron or did he not know? Which one is it? The MoU was signed by the Chief Minister and any violations require him to take the necessary action to ensure that Cap Juluca Properties was conforming to the terms and conditions of his MOU. If the CM had no knowledge of the sale the following questions must be asked:
(a) Who authorized these existing villas to be sold in the manner that they were sold?
(b) Who has the authority to make decisions above the head of the Chief Minister? And;
(c) Which agencies in government have the right to undertake actions in contravention of the terms of the MOU?
We all know that the CM is very economical with the truth(his own words)
Fellow Anguillians, Whatever the answers to the questions surrounding the Sale of the Villas are, the one thing that has no merit, no basis and must be unequivocally rebuked is the that the sale of those villas was the result of the 2009 AUF MoA. The historical facts are there – the August 2010 AUM/APP MoU superseded and threw out the 2009 MoA; and the villas were bought in 2011. All of this took place when the AUF took up its role as the loyal opposition on February 16, 2010 with no executive or administrative privileges.
Fellow Anguillians, The issues caused by the fracturing of the Cap Juluca Project lies squarely with the decisions or lack of decisions made by the present Administration.Court proceedings are not new to CJ—CJ has been in litigation for over 2 decades while achieving numerous awards regionally and internationally—no one was ever laid off in during that period and CJ remained opened and functioning and played a critical role in AXA’s economic and financial successes over the years. Those are the facts. But in the face of the challenges being faced by the people of Anguilla in these circumstances — there is no time to waste on casting blame even where blame is factually due. It is now time to fix it.To get those closed villas opened up and operational and to get our people back to work. That responsibility lies with the sitting Government. I can assure you that we(the AUF) are willing and ready to support the Government in any sensible plan of action to resolve these issues and get our people back to work.
I thank you all! God bless you all! God bless Anguilla!
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
