Part 2

Antigua and Barbuda Crisis: Social and Economic Dilemma

By Kwame Nkosi Romeo

Protest and the Fundamental Right to Strike

Prime Minister Gaston Browne's nonpayment of the Antigua and Barbuda Social Security (ABSS) arrears amount to US$171,851,852 million (m) (EC$464 m), worsening the pensioners' crisis. 

The pensioners' protest started on December 3 after numerous months of the government not paying benefits. Their hardship and grievance over decades of ALP wrongdoing were expressed by Browne's showing the proverbial offensive finger to senior citizens. That reaction sums up the Antigua Labour Party (ALP) government's inability to observe social security's constitutional guarantee by keeping people's economic and social rights.

Second, the government mismanages the Postal Workers' strike by dismissing the excessive moldy workplace environment health hazards rather than remedying the problem, later delegating the Defence Force to carry out postal workers' tasks while contemplating the unlawful discriminatory dismissal against the striking workers. Such actions are incompatible with human rights and labor laws.

Is this a dictatorship? What veiled message is Browne sending to the workers?  

According to the International Labor Organisation (ILO), dismissals or discrimination against strikers should not arise from the exercise of this right: 

 ".....given that strike action is one of the fundamental means for rendering effective the right of workers' organizations "to organize their activities" (Article 3 of Convention No. 87). Also, the unrestricted right to strike," with the sole possible exceptions being those which may be imposed for public servants and workers in essential services..."

Postal workers are not classified as essential services, so any ban against striking does not apply: They do not constitute essential services in the term's strict sense. Therefore, the prohibition against striking does not pertain. (ibid., para 545) (ILO Principles Concerning the Right To Strike - Bernard Gernigon, Alberto Odero, Horacio Guido)

Disempowerment of Local People

The next significant issue is severe and creates rising tension of groaning labor pains of disempowerment concerning public procurement and the loss of Nigel Joseph Mount St. John's Medical Center (MSJMC) catering business tender to Goddard Catering Group (GCG). Joseph lost the bid to continue operating the MSJMC restaurant, and 42 workers, primarily single mothers, were soon unemployed, effective January 31, 2021. GCG has been working in Antigua for decades and, on September 11, opened a US$6,851,852 (EC$18.5) million facility. 

Pedro Corbin - Caribbean Operations Regional Manager GCG's diversification plan connects to the predetermined MSJMC contract bidding. Browne supported Corbin's goal: "That you can continue to count on the support of my government...my government is pro-investment" (Goddard Catering Opens New Home/ ABS TV Radio - September 11, 2020). 

Browne's pro-investment policies and anti-local empowerment are more pronounced; however, it's puzzling to understand Browne's irrational decision, considering 42 workers will be scratching the drought-ridden economy for survival as the dough for others continues to rise.

It goes beyond GCG's decades of business. More about government oppression during this era of COVID-19 unmasks the regulatory gaps influencing public procurement and the select private sector doing business with the government. The government stifles local distributive empowerment and subverts the procurement process to benefit the preferential business; the law-politics-business source continues to overpower local companies by using unfair practices.

Nothing has changed in Antigua and Barbuda; similarly, former PM Lester Bird ignored national economic priorities and the importance of small locally owned indigenous businesses in preference for large foreign-owned resorts generating all the wealth.

According to Bird's skewed distribution, the larger hotels generate much more revenue; the variance between the two ultimately led to ongoing local disenfranchisement: 

"The average expenditure per holiday would be in the range of US $12,000 per visitor, while in the lesser hotels, the average expenditure per trip would be in the range of US $750; that's why I never went out of my way to deal with smaller hotels. In terms of the country's revenue input, we needed to go upmarket." (106.5- Bird: Gov't needs to focus on high end...Freedom FM - January 20, 2015)

Bird's vision to expand room capacity is unrealistic and politically impossible. Indeed, it is an ill-fated project. These social and economic failures mean the government needs to emphasize economic diversity. Apart from tourism, revive agriculture and build human capital. (Kwame Nkosi Romeo responds to -Antigua Observer Online Blog Antigua Looks as Guyana Welcomes Marriott-2014)

This practice is the ALP's long-held doctrine of disempowering local people. The ALP government of PM Gaston Browne recklessly bailed out banks and wildly gave concessions to politically connected affluent businesses. Billions in corrupt spending are now showing up in the crumbling economy, affecting workers' plight of struggle, economic, social, and cultural.

The Bail Out of the Politically Connected and Browne False Assessment

 

Two businesses benefiting from the bailout are the Global Bank of Commerce Ltd (GBC), incorporated in 1983, and the Caribbean Union Bank (CUB) in 2004 under Antigua and Barbuda's laws. GBC was supposedly bought out by Executive Corporate Holdings Inc. (ECH) in 2002. GBC is said to ".... having around 5,000 accounts and assets of approximately $90 million." GBC's primary target is servicing global customers while mismanaging Caribbean Union Bank (CUB). And that Ambassador Brian Stuart-Young owned both is corruptible.

CUB had no net income for growth; therefore, the Stuart-Young and Browne nexus of private interest and government decision-makers hoodwinked Antigua and Barbuda's taxpayers, pumping US$11,111,111 m (EC$30 million (m) ) of public money into the failing institution in 2016.

Did the Financial Service Regulatory Commission(FSRC) oversight of GBC not recognize the grand corruption and failing standards of CUB?

The FSRC failed under R. Allen Stanford and disregarded CUB's insolvency. CUB never made a profit for eleven years, but the government now owns 80% interest of a bank with neither retained earnings nor dividends payments, according to Browne: "...CUB has had no retained earnings, and no dividends have ever been declared or ever paid by the bank," -Antigua gov't defends investment in Caribbean Union Bank October 18, 2016- WIREDJA

Browne's flawed assessment of investing public funds in CUB is clear-cut wrong since CUB was unable to generate profit, accumulate capital, and build resilience through retained earnings as articulated in the CGFS Papers No 60; 

Banks' capacity to generate profits and get money through retained earnings is critical to their future provision of intermediation activities and resiliency. (Committee on the Global Financial System - CGFS Papers No 60 Structural changes in banking after the crisis page 39)

So after pumping US$11,111,111 m in CUB in 2016, the government borrowed US$2,296,296 m (EC$6.2 m) in 2017 from the CUB to purchase 28 acres of land for the unfulfilled housing projects in Hodges Bay and Thibeau further burdening the taxpayers with CUB liability, and numerous dubious loans at a high-interest rate. Separately, GBC procures government financial transactions from WIOC to CIP. (Govt encouraged to put more thought in housing development -Antigua Observer - February 13, 2017)

Land Rip-Off and Political Subjection

Beyond this failure is the government's lack of transparency and accountability related to land. There is no account of the 33,000 acres purchased from the Antigua Syndicate Estate Ltd by Premier V C Bird ALP government with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) loan on April 8, 1967, of US$2,081,995 m (EC$5,621,386.80).

This transaction appears pointless since the land was quickly sold or leased by former PM Lester Bird in the fourth quarter of the 20th Century. 

People vanishing resources persist—leaving nothing for those who bore the loan repayment's brunt to better future generations. The RBC loan to acquire the assets was apportioned between the Factory assets and Estates of US$970,884 and US$1,111,111 m, respectively. In 1987, the Antigua government fully repaid the RBC loan. (Lands of Antigua and Barbuda Sugar Factory Limited and the Antigua and Barbuda Syndicate Estates Limited (Vesting Act ) Cap.240 )

Antigua is no different from landless black people in South Africa. Antigua and Barbuda's population in 2011 was 85,567, with a density of 194 per sq km. With 60.5% of Antigua's population crowded in a land area of 74 sq km (18285.8 acres) of St. John Parish comprising St. John City and St. John Rural as a result of decades of the ALP rapacious land grab. The nation's last population census in 2011 published 51,737 people living on 74 sq km, amounting to 699.1 per sq km. 

St. John's Parish is the most densely populated locality in Antigua, as land is scarce for the majority but bountiful for the chosen few. Presently, Antigua and Barbuda's population is 98,262, and the density is 222 people per sq km of land, but it enlarges to 344 people per sq km for the Antigua population of 96,617. This bad living situation is way above the global average of 25 people per square km while suffering inequality, disempowerment, and grinding poverty, threatening peoples' survival. 

On the other hand, two multi-billionaires purchased 11 acres (0.045 sq km) to build a castle and a dream home compared to 51,737 people occupying  18,285.8 acres (74 sq km). This figure is approximately 0.001430311 sq km per person, representing 6.35% of the 0.0225 sq km owned by one multi-billionaire.

How does this contrast to the sardine pack living in St. John's, similar to Favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil? 

 

This political subjection comes about because people fear fighting for their liberty. Many people continue with the lousy leadership defined by ALP government grand corruption cases and land grabbing that hinders the urban policy and renewal plan since the great land purchase 53 years ago. What is there to celebrate? Land to landlessness, revolutionary to neo-slavery.

The most recent torrential rains exposed the ongoing shambolic housing scarcity and rapid urbanization. The nation's housing falls short of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) number 11 core objective: housing is a fundamental human right for social security, nutrition, and health. The United Nations SDG 13 substantiates climate change's seriousness rooted in the UN Climate action.

In the opinion of the UN, the climate crisis is continuous, Disrupting national economies and affecting lives. Temperatures and sea levels are rising, ice and glaciers are melting, and weather events are becoming more extreme. All told Browne is neither concerned about SDG 11 nor SDG 13 but seeks funds from The International Development Finance Club (IDFC) for Green Energy while destroying the environment with YIDA, Peace, Love, and Happiness (PLH), and fossil fuel.

Still, there is a severe shortcoming of all 17 UNSDG. Moral equality is lacking for the majority since equity distribution is available for the elite few. And people's fundamental needs for affordable, nutritious food, shelter, water, sanitation, environmental quality, and personal safety are nonexistent. 

How can Browne think of a futuristic city before dealing with the St. Johns City slum area and climate change?

To be continued.