Prime Minister Gaston Browne has defended the socio-economic policies of his ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) since coming to office in 2014 amid preparations for a general election that is likely to be called ahead of the constitutional deadline of June 2023.
Addressing the ABLP’s convention on Sunday, Browne giving an account of the stewardship of his administration, said significant sums of money had been spent on education, health, housing as well as providing duty and tax-free waivers exceeding millions of dollars (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents).
“I am blessed to be leading the ABLP, the greatest political institution in this hemisphere,” said Browne, who has on more than one occasion informed supporters to be prepared for a snap general election.
He told cheering supporters that the government had provided student grants from preschool to tertiary levels amounting to over EC$240 million.
He said other expenditure on education included the expansion of most secondary school plants and the establishment of the fourth landed campus of the University of the West Indies located at Five Islands, which he described as the crowning jewel of Antigua’s education system.
Browne said significant sums of money had also been spent to improve and expand the health care infrastructure, more than EC$300 million on over 1,000 subsidized homes and duty-free and tax waivers exceeding EC$250 million to facilitate car ownership, home ownership, and for capital purchases for small business development
The ABLP, which in the 2018 general election won 15 of the 17 seats in the Parliament, on Sunday endorsed its slate of candidates with the chairman of a Suitability Committee, Hilroy Humphreys, telling supporters that the incumbent Member of Parliament for St. Peter’s, Asot Michael, was deemed unsuitable by two of the three members of the panel.
Humphreys explained that the committee was only empowered to make recommendations, with the final selection of candidates left to the selection of the convention.
Michael had filed several court actions to stop the ABLP executive from removing him as the candidate and also from the party.
In May, Antigua’s High Court granted injunctive relief and restrained the party from naming a new candidate until the matter is heard or the party abided by its rules for selection.
But following several amendments to the party’s constitution, the 17 candidates, minus Michael were presented and all approved by the convention.
In his remarks, ABLP chairman, Foreign Affairs Minister E. P. Chet Greene said the party has proven itself through its record of achievements over the past eight years.
“We introduced measures to keep our economy afloat and to continue paying government workers and paying pensions, even though the economy had declined by more than 20 percent and the government was getting little or no revenue. We fought hard to ensure there was at least one person per household being paid,” he said.
Greene said people are now back to work, hotels have reopened and ports of entry to the country are bustling.
“There is no denying that our economy is bouncing back, that has happened despite the blows delivered by COVID-19 and, it happened only because the government of this great ABLP rose, once again, to the occasion of safeguarding our nation’s economy and protecting the welfare of our people,” he added.
The main challenge to the ABLP will come from the main opposition United Progressive Party, which won one seat in Antigua’s 2018 general election.
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