Will Asot be back?

The political future of MP Asot Michael should be the conversation of the day, according to one political analyst.
The uncertainty stems from Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s swift move to rescind Michael’s Cabinet appointment and relieve him of his tourism, development, investment and energy portfolios, even as the latter was a guest of the U.K. police.
Speaking to OBSERVER media on Wednesday, Peter Wickham, a director of the Caribbean Development Research Services, opined that the PM’s move was justified.
“The Antigua Labour Party has been under pressure for a long time regarding issues of integrity and I think that it is incumbent on the prime minister to take decisive action when something like this presents itself.
“I also think that there is a certain amount of information that the prime minister did not have at the time, and it’s unfortunate that he did not have that information. But having said that I think that it was entirely appropriate for him to act decisively,” Wickham said.
According to him, had the PM not acted in the manner he did, the discussion would have been about his failure to act.
The discussion now, he added, needs to move beyond Browne’s action and focus on Michael’s future.
“There are questions as to whether he will be charged in the future, questions as to whether he’ll be able to rejoin the government if he is able to clear his name and questions as to whether he’s a good and honest man.
“I think that that is a reasonable conversation that we need to have in Antigua. Mr. Michael is loved by his constituents. He’s a very generous person and I think that that is a reasonable conversation for us to have about what his political future would be,” Wickham stated.   
In his statement to the media on Monday, Browne acknowledged that he had “no firm details of the reasons for Mr. Michael’s arrest” but added that the arrest itself was sufficient reason for him to immediately revoke Michael’s Cabinet appointment and withdraw his ministerial portfolios.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)