By Kisean Joseph
Two Opposition Members of Parliament, Algernon Watts and Kelvin Simon, have strongly criticized Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s decision to abruptly end the 2025 Budget Debate, calling it a “dark day” for parliamentary democracy in Antigua and Barbuda.
Speaking on Observer Radio’s Knight at Night Show following Wednesday’s parliamentary debate session, MP Simon condemned what he described as a deliberate strategy to prevent government ministers from presenting their ministry reports and accounting for their allocated funds.
“When you have such a huge budget and the Prime Minister is instructing his ministers not to present and give an account of all the monies allocated to them, it’s a sad day for this country,” Simon said. “He doesn’t care to give an account. He spends it how he wants, allocates whatever he wants to which ministry and nobody is responsible to give account.”
MP Simon highlighted what he called a “telling contrast” between this year’s abbreviated debate and last year’s full ministerial presentations.
“Last year when we were not in Parliament, every one of the ministers presented. But this year, when we’re there, ready to debate, this man is wrapping up the debate on the second day,” Simon noted, suggesting this indicated the government’s reluctance to defend its budget against opposition scrutiny.
The opposition members revealed that attempts to resolve the impasse through dialogue were rejected by the government side. “We did ask the Speaker to suspend the House for at least 10 minutes so that we could go and have a discussion like adults … honorable men who are tagged with the responsibility to run the country. And they refused,” Simon added.
MP Watts, who shadows the agriculture portfolio, expressed particular concern about the government’s commitment to reducing the country’s food import bill. He pointed out that despite CARICOM commitments to reduce food imports by 25 percent by 2025, the government has failed to implement necessary measures.
“They’re talking about the commitment they made to CARICOM to reduce our food import bill, which is $400 million, by 25 percent by the year 2025, which is just a few weeks away,” Watts stated. “They have put nothing in place for that. If you’re reducing $400 million by 25 percent, that’s $100 million. If you put that $100 million in the pockets of our farmers today, you know how many very wealthy farmers you would have in these 108 square miles?”
Both MPs expressed concern about the broader implications for democratic governance. Simon emphasized that the government’s actions hinged on more than just parliamentary procedure: “We cannot do this to the people of this country. We have a responsibility to legislate and to be stewards of the resources of this country.”
The opposition members made these comments following what they described as an unprecedented early conclusion to the Budget Debate, where several government ministers, including those responsible for health, education, and agriculture, did not present their ministry reports before the Prime Minister moved to wrap up the proceedings.
The budget debate’s dramatic end comes as the government seeks approval for a $1.4 billion budget, which the opposition claims requires more thorough scrutiny and debate.
