Barbudans staying at the Anchorage Inn will be relocated

The government will make good on its promise to relocate 50 Barbudan residents from the Anchorage Inn to the former Nurse’s Hostel building on Queen Elizabeth Highway. Health Minister Molwyn Joseph said yesterday that the transfer would start today. “By tomorrow [Thursday], we anticipate that the transfer will take effect. We believe that we should have all the living facilities in place.
We are just behind in having the kitchen facility completed, but we have contingency in terms of feeding Barbudans who will be at that facility,” Joseph said. The Barbudans have been staying at the property, paid for by the government, since September, immediately after they relocated to Antigua due to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Irma.
On December 27, they received an eviction notice from the National Office of Disaster Services, requesting that they leave the property that same day. However, they were granted a reprieve until January 5 following a meeting between the managers of the hotel and the health minister. Prior to this most recent development, Makeda Mikael, a businesswoman, had suggested that the timeline given to the Barbudans was unrealistic and it had come at a bad time during the festive season