By Kenicia Francis
Barbuda is now plagued with a great political divide according to the locals.
A tourism clerk employed at Barbuda Fisheries claims that Hurricane Irma caused it.
“At the time of Irma, the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) was in power. People said they did not come forward to make sure we were actually okay when we got to Antigua. They didn’t check-up to make sure we were actually taken care of,” she explained.
“But the Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM), some of the members did check on you. That is what really caused the ‘politicalness’ right now. People are still looking at what happened from Irma to today.”
She claims that if someone supports a different Party to his or her own, then there are people who will refuse to help that one.
However, she added, “But I don’t think that’s how it should be, because honestly, with either the blue or red, we still are one. The community is so small we just need to choose leaders who can actually govern the island.”
“We don’t need red or blue to divide us. We should come together in a town hall meeting. We have elders who do know how to help the people and run the island,” she said.
She revealed that there are even residents who, because of their support for the BPM, will not go to Antigua to purchase groceries just because the ABLP is in power.
A Mr Richardson, similarly employed at the Barbuda Fisheries, claims that the Barbuda Council is to be blamed.
“The biggest destruction that ever happened in Barbuda is introducing the Council. The Council divides people because the people who start to win start to divide us to maintain power,” he said.
He explained, “We were a people who used to live for each other, because most of us in some sort of way are connected. Then there was a councilor seat, and people could run for this or that. The bigger families would go and vote for their own people. Then after we got political Parties.”
He believes the political Parties in Antigua, joining with those in Barbuda, are causing their leaders to focus on the wrong interests.
“The Parties in Antigua join the Parties over here. They start work to help satisfy what those in Antigua are trying to achieve,” he said.
“Our leaders, when they go to Parliament, they are not supposed to be arguing anything about what is for Antigua. They’re supposed to be arguing what is for Barbuda, and what we can get to make it better. We ought not to pick up the tail-whip for the political Party in Antigua, but pick up the tail-whip for our people so that one day Barbuda can stand on its own,” he stated.
In closing, Richardson told Observer media, “I don’t have a problem with who you want to support, but at the end of the day, we need to work together as a people. We are one people, and it is high time that we put the political things that separate us behind, and try to build our two islands.”
When approached for comment, Devon Warner, chairman of the Barbuda Council stated, “As long as there is a multi-party system, there will always be a divide.”