The Parliamentary Representative for Barbuda, Trevor Walker, has threatened to take the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) to court if it fails to expedite the reconnection of power on the sister isle.
“The Honorable Robin Yearwood; he must answer us because we take the law to him and if they refuse to do it, we take them to court. We are not playing this time. Going on two years people don’t have current in Barbuda,” Walker said at the Barbuda Council swearing in ceremony on April 2.
The Barbudan MP has been in a back-and forth-with the State utility provider for quite some time, and on each occasion his demands have been met with excuses from the company.
APUA has blamed the reconnection delay on protocol issues, saying it is mostly because some of the homes are simply not ready.
In February of this year Walker gave the company a two-week deadline in which to complete restoration of electricity on the sister isle – a demand which APUA said was not feasible.
“I have no intent in going to war with the Council because we have to work with them. When you hear about these deadlines and you know nothing is happening in Barbuda it would be nice to get some more assistance. We are challenged in Barbuda,” the manager of the Electricity Business Unit at APUA, Andre Matthias, told OBSERVER media in February.
Since then, power has still not been restored to all the homes in Barbuda that were affected by the passage of Hurricane Irma back in 2017.
“It’s not right and nobody in Antigua would have accepted this. They would have had riots and pickets all over the place… We are not going to sit quiet anymore,” Walker said.
Last week a utilities committee was set up by the Barbuda Council and it is expected to take the matter to Sir Robin Yearwood, the Minister for Public Utilities.
According to Walker, if that committee is not satisfied with the minister’s response, legal action will be taken.