The Honourable Minister of Infrastructure Communications Utilities Housing and Tourism, Mr. Haydn Hughes, has requested the people of Anguilla to elect him to office for a second term.
In the face of recent anti-government wrangling and the people’s distaste for the Anguilla Progressive Movement’s mandates, and in light of the next election being as far as three years away, Mr. Hughes has taken the liberty to launch an early bid for re-election, not just for himself, in particular, but for his fellow-APM members in general.
In essence, Mr. Hughes would be asking the electorate to overlook the views of the pundits, and political nay-sayers, and give the current Government another term in office. His reasoning is that the government needs the time to carry on the developmental work which it started, and other work which it continues to initiate.
Mr. Hughes made his call for re-election when he was a guest on Kool FM’s Brother Lee talk show, Live Talk, on Tuesday, 30th August:
“What I would like to see is the fulfillment of the work that had been initiated under this ministry,” the Minister said. “I would like to see the work being done under this administration continue. For example, the Airport Master Plan extends over a period of twenty years, so this Government should have at least a ten-year stint to place our national development on the right trajectory for long- term stability.”
“I am therefore definitely appealing for a next (five-year) term,” he unreservedly said, “not only for myself but for my colleagues as well, because to elect me and not elect them is ‘not to elect me’. We would need to be all sitting in Executive Council, being able to make the kind of decisions that would benefit Anguilla – and set the direction in which our children and our children’s children, would be proud to call Anguilla their home.”
Prior to soliciting the future vote of the populace, however, Mr. Hughes had humbly acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding any tenure in political office. He told Bro. Lee: “I have lost more elections than I have won. I am always aware of the fact that this role is just a temporary one. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves and develop a level of arrogance because we believe we are elected by the people – and that may make us arrogant. But I continue to remind myself that this is a temporary role.
“Every day that I sit in this seat, I am honoured, privileged and humbled to be in it, and I do as much as I can today because I don’t know what tomorrow will bring. That is the way I operate in life, and that is the way I operate in this office.”
With regard to the Airport Master Plan, the Minister announced: “We have now unveiled that master plan and made it public, and we are starting to work on it. As a matter of fact, we have just concluded the surveying of the land for the new terminal and taxiway. We are now beginning to do technical studies that will determine whether there are any caves [in the terrain].”
“We have moved forward with the Airport Master Plan,” he said, “which is a prerequisite to any aerodrome development. Thanks to the kind tax payers of the United Kingdom who were able to finance the Master Plan project.”
