The Leadership, Central Executive and Women’s Forum of the United Progressive Party (UPP) stand in unwavering support of the position taken by the Barbuda People’s Movement (BPM), the Barbuda Council, and the people of Barbuda on the communal ownership of their lands and the primacy of the Council on matters related to the governance of the island.
We condemn the attempts of Prime Minister Gaston Browne and his Administration to deracinate Barbudans, at worst, and to marginalize them geographically and politically, at best, under the guise of “development” and “foreign direct investment.”
Further, the UPP continues to support the tenets enshrined in the Barbuda Land Act, 2007, and we condemn the current attempts to have that legislation expunged. Such an action would be unconscionable, disrespectful, and utterly contemptuous of the Barbudan people and should be seen as such by all right-thinking Antiguans.
We do not accept that Barbudans’ communal ownership and Antiguans not being allowed to purchase their land as “discrimination;” and we utterly reject every attempt to erase the identity of “Barbudans” and have them subsumed into the collective.
The Kalinago of Dominica; the Maori of New Zealand; and the Native American tribes of the United States of America all enjoy special arrangements of ownership of their ancestral lands and have a say in how they are used. Why should the Barbudans be treated with less consideration simply to satisfy the objectives of a bankrupt and greedy Administration?
Accordingly, we call upon all persons and organizations – nationally, regionally and internationally – to support and rally around the people of the sister island at this critical time. History will judge those who fail to respond to this moral crisis.