By Robert A Emmanuel
The Barbuda Land Rights and Resources Committee (BLRRC) has released a public statement rejecting the government’s “shameless gaslighting” over efforts by the Barbuda Council to distribute lands on the sister island.
Last week, Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin issued a statement calling on Barbudans not to engage in “illegal acts”.
His comments were in relation to reports that Barbuda Council members at a recent meeting were inciting people to occupy lands and fence them off as their own.
Benjamin described such actions as “malicious, misleading, and wrong”, and said the government would not hesitate to uphold the law as the Privy Council had already ruled that lands in Barbuda belonged to the Crown, and therefore the Council had no right to encourage people to occupy them.
However, the BLRRC said in a statement that the insinuation was “that Barbudans have been acting unlawfully for decades simply by having their Council allocating them land to build their homes and utilising Barbuda’s resources to sustain themselves and their children”.
The release added, “Barbuda has long suffered as a result of the irresponsible actions of the central government administration that claim they do not need the consent of the Barbudans to dispose of Barbuda lands and believe that billionaires and tourists – not Barbudans – represent the future of Barbuda,” the release added.
Last Thursday, Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lionel Hurst, shared similar sentiments to the Attorney General on behalf of the Cabinet.
“The words that were uttered [last week Wednesday] in Barbuda, encouraging people to fence lands that is not theirs and lands that is the Crown’s is a mistake, and the Barbudans ought not follow the instructions of an unlawful act that is being encouraged by the speakers who took to the podium,” Hurst said.
Meanwhile, Keisha Thomas, a Barbudan who attended last week’s meeting held by the BLRRC, shared this message: “I visited Barbuda twice earlier this year prior to my recent return home — each time significantly different and more alarming than the previous.
“As I drove past Martello Tower toward Palmetto, my heart sank – newly built fencing in sacred areas signified more division, more greed, more corruption.
“Between the continued devastation of vegetation for selfish gain and faces in the community becoming less and less familiar…what is happening to Barbuda? What have we come to? Do people understand the magnitude of what lies ahead or are we so diluted that Barbuda, at its core, means nothing to us anymore?”
She said that the meeting last Wednesday was vital, and the fact that people “can come together under one common goal and discuss the issues openly, without prejudices, shows that there is still hope”.
Thomas added, “There were heavy topics discussed with an air of openness, which reassures me that Barbudans can unite – beyond party affiliation, beyond the global waters that seemingly separate us.”
She called for all Barbudans to come together “regardless of association – young and old, red and blue, on-island and diaspora, from shop owners to council workers—our fate rests in our hands”.
She posited, “We must place utmost importance on securing our lands and land registration certificates, as these will be our lifeline.”
The issue of Barbuda lands has long been a bone of contention between the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party administration and the Barbuda Council.
In August, changes to the Registered Land Act to bring land ownership and registration processes in Barbuda in line with standard practices in Antigua raised concerns that it will reduce the Barbuda Council’s decision-making power over land-related matters.
The BLRRC said that while the 2015 Gravenor Bay development project, which includes “building casinos and turning the salt pond into a mega-yacht marina has never materialised, it represents a potential threat to Barbuda and its sensitive ecology if it was to be realised”.
“We will not be intimidated and will use all legal means available locally and internationally to expose and resist this shameless land grab supported and encouraged by the administration for the benefit of the international disaster capitalists,” the press statement said.