While government is optimistic about its latest amnesty offering for residents in Antigua and Barbuda, the United Progressive Party (UPP) is not so convinced.
The announcement was made in this week’s post-Cabinet report, that outstanding monies owed to the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre (SLBMC) and Inland Revenue – through property taxes – will be waived, as a post-Covid relief measure.
The debt forgiveness does come with certain stipulations with the APUA bills and property tax waiver only applying to customers in arrears before and up to December 31st, 2021 and the hospital waiver only applying to those who are in arrears for more than 180 days.
While this initiative will certainly come as welcomed news to many residents, the UPP said that it will not be sustainable, as many of the root causes of their delinquency remain unaddressed.
The party’s spokesperson, Senator Damani Tabor, spoke on the matter during an appearance on Observer AM on Friday.
“The people getting the relief are likely to fall behind again because the unemployment has not been addressed. You have dozens of failed projects, a great shortage of jobs, so for those who are behind because of unemployment, the government has failed to address the root cause.
“In likewise manner those who fell behind due to the government’s failure to address the high cost of living, the high cost of living persists because they have not taken steps to reduce the cost of goods and services.
“So, on the one hand the recipients of the relief will fall back into the same hole because they are not benefitting from broad based reductions in the cost of living and the empowerment of having a good job and finally, they are not benefitting from getting the higher wages that the UPP has been lobbying for,” Tabor said.
Furthering that point about the continued high cost of living, Tabor questioned the lack of relief for persons who have been diligent with their bill payments.
“What about all the people who have been paying on time, you know, where is there relief? What we are calling for is comprehensive relief for the entire population. So, this is good but its not good enough in isolation. What we need is measures to produce the cost of living,” he added.
The Senator also pointed out an apparent lack of movement where the national minimum wage is concerned.
“It is our position that the minimum wage to be raised to national minimum wage that is in line with the level of inflation and after Harold Lovell called for that you recall that the Labour minister promised quick action and that was about eight months ago from February until now,” Tabor said.
After Thursday’s initial announcement, the government noted that it will have to discuss these amnesty measures with the various statutory bodies involved, before they are implemented.
