By Shermain Bique-Charles
The United Progressive Party (UPP) has completed 17 days of protests to highlight and mourn the lives lost in the deadly migrant boat accident on March 28 off the coast of St Kitts and Nevis. The party ended this phase of its activism with a rally at Government House on Thursday evening.
The deceased Cameroonian migrants arrived in Antigua and Barbuda late last year, but several perished when they left illegally on a fishing boat named La Belle Michelle II, hoping to reach the British Virgin Islands.
The UPP has been calling for a public inquiry into the agreement signed between the government and Antigua Airways out of Lagos, Nigeria.
When it appeared that their request was being ignored, they amplified their voices with a petition reportedly signed by over 10,000 residents and weeks of pickets at the office of the Governor General.
Sir Rodney Williams has said that he cannot call a commission of inquiry alone and that the government has all the legal rights to do so.
But the Cabinet, according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne, has voted against any such inquiry.
Former UPP leader and party member, Harold Lovell, told those gathered at Government House on Thursday that the party’s problem is not with the Africans who were victims of an international conspiracy.
“Our problem is with Antigua and Barbuda being used as a part owner of an airline that was used in an international conspiracy to smuggle people, and try to get them into another country.
“The people do not want to be here. They want to go to the United States. Now Antigua is at the centre of all that,” Lovell said.
Meanwhile, Lovell, who is also an attorney, said the UPP is now exploring a strategy to use the court to push for the inquiry.
“We have been calling for an inquiry. We called on the Governor General who said that he cannot do it. So, if he can’t, who can do it then?” Lovell asked rhetorically.
The 17 days of protest were also held to highlight the issue of rising youth violence.
Touching on the matter briefly, Pearl Quinn-Williams, the UPP caretaker for St John’s Rural North, said that there are not enough police in the city.
“We need to search the backpacks of the young people. Do more vehicle searches. Not just on the public highways, but also the byways…day and night you must be out there doing stops and searches,” she advised.
Other issues addressed during the protests included inadequate water supply, disruptions to garbage collections, the potential by-election in St Mary’s South, and the high cost of living.