By Tahna Weston
A “sinister enrichment strategy of the Browne Cabinet” and a conflict of interest is how the opposition United Progressive Party’s (UPP’s) leadership and Central Executive described the Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) administration’s rental of its Nugent Avenue headquarters.
The ABLP headquarters, named “The People’s Place”, was constructed over two years ago to facilitate party activities as well as to host other events such as weddings and conferences.
But the UPP has placed on record its concern about the use of “The People’s Place” being rented out by the Gaston Browne administration to host events such as public schools’ graduation exercises.
What was surprising to the opposition party is that earlier this week, the headquarters was used by the Ministry of Education as the venue for a principals’ workshop.
The UPP pointed to the fact that the government owns other suitable properties where functions can be held by departments run by the administration, including the Harrison Centre (formerly ABICE), the Multipurpose Cultural and Exhibition Centre, the UWI Five Islands campus, the John E St Luce Financial Centre, and the National Public Library.
The party perceives that “the use of the ABLP headquarters by the ABLP administration is a conflict of interest meant to generate financial and psychological benefits for that party”.
Pointing to the Covid-19 lockdown, the opposition party said the government could not pay its creditors and refused to grant stimulus/relief packages to vulnerable families and small businesses, while the ABLP headquarters was being built “at full speed” and as the neighbouring NTTC building languished, despite its purported $20 million refurbishment budget.
“It is not lost on residents that the Browne administration has deliberately allowed the deterioration of public property – such as the abandoned former Parliament Building – in an apparent bid to justify the rental of private premises owned by Cabinet cronies and front men,” the UPP said.
It continued, “At present, the Dialysis Unit on the Holberton compound stands unfinished; the St John’s Police Station is sliding into dereliction; the Deluxe Cinema remains as it was; the Sunshine Hub appears to have been abandoned; the Knuckle Block buildings are in dire need of repair; and the Tranquility Park Cemetery remains a virtual paddock – all while the Browne administration spent millions on the upkeep of the Alfa Nero yacht and its associated legal expenses.”
The party and its leadership said while the public pays for rentals, assets owned by the state, which are basically owned by the public, are seemingly being purposefully allowed to deteriorate and depreciate.
It is therefore calling on “all right-thinking citizens and residents” of Antigua and Barbuda to condemn this injustice.
However, when contacted for a response, the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst told Observer media that “the UPP doth protest too much” as the ABLP has been renting its headquarters for some time now.
Hurst said that the rate the party rents its building for is far cheaper than those venues to which the UPP referred in its press release.
“You know, anytime you see people quarrelling about little things, they don’t have any big things about which to quarrel and clearly this is nothing but a little idea. The Labour Party sells its space at a lower cost than some of the other places that the person has mentioned in their press statement, and so we get people to come and pay … that’s all.
“And it’s The People’s Place, not a government institution. The Labour Party stands separate and apart from the government even though the Labour Party makes up the government,” Hurst said.
He dispelled the notion by the UPP that the rental of the headquarters is a conflict of interest.
“What conflict is there? Anybody at all who wants to rent it [can do so]. We have weddings there, we’ve had all kinds of meetings there. I guess they are just now catching on. The idea is to be able to utilise the space when the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party itself is not using it and it’s brand new.
“The only person we hire is someone for cleaning it and for security purposes and it’s open to anybody who wants to rent it; even the UPP if they want to have a meeting there, we’ll gladly rent it to them,” Hurst said with a chuckle.
