The deputy leader of the United Progressive Party (UPP) has voiced his disapproval with what he claims is preferential treatment being meted out to some people in the enforcement of Covid-19 regulations.
Speaking on Observer AM on Friday, Jamale Pringle alluded to discrimination in the way virus-related rules are applied at entertainment venues across Antigua – and warned that his party intends to take action against this.
“The way the government is handling this crisis, it’s totally, totally unfair to some. On one end some people can do and operate but on the other end — for instance when you go on the north side [of the island] — you hear about parties, bars open, people like crazy not wearing masks, and you see it on social media; but every week [the police] are in and out the bars on Kentish Road. What’s the difference?” Pringle queried.
Pringle said if the situation is not rectified, the UPP will be embarking on protest action in an effort to force change.
“If it continues, we are going to be picketing and raising concerns. These same business places, we are going to picket the government offices and if they are not adhering, if the locals cannot function in terms of business nobody should function because it’s all of us drives this economy, not just one set of people,” he said.
“To show you how it’s so far apart, you have a situation where you have a drive-in [event] down at Splash that was stopped, but Caribbean Cinemas can open. When you go to find out and fight these arguments you get ‘that’s above me, that came from the top’.
“What’s the difference? What is good for me is good for you, not because you live on the north side and I live on the south side. We are all Antiguans and Barbudans and we should be treated the same. We need to get rid of that and that cannot continue,” Pringle lamented.