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2 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g<br />
Monday 13th June 2016<br />
Repeal of the Barbuda Land Act coming<br />
By Everton Barnes<br />
The government is giving<br />
serious consideration to<br />
repealing the Barbuda Land<br />
Act which it has described as<br />
a hindrance to the development<br />
of the country.<br />
The announcement came<br />
Sunday during a radio programme<br />
Insight hosted by<br />
Attorney General, Steadroy<br />
Benjamin and also featuring<br />
Prime Minister Gaston<br />
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Browne. The programme<br />
was part of activities to mark<br />
the second anniversary of<br />
the Antigua and Barbuda Labour<br />
Party’s election victory<br />
of June 12, 2014.<br />
In response to a caller,<br />
Browne announced that repealing<br />
the Barbuda Land<br />
Act is very likely as it was<br />
both a deterrent to development<br />
on the sister as well as<br />
being un-Constitutional.<br />
His comments come as<br />
the Barbuda People’s Movement<br />
has again gone to the<br />
courts in a bid to stop the<br />
proposed Paradise Found<br />
development planned for the<br />
now defunct K-Club properties.<br />
The prime minister said<br />
it is inconceivable that his<br />
government that has been so<br />
progressive on environmental<br />
issues would allow any<br />
development to wantonly<br />
cont’d from pg 1<br />
million dollars in new equipment for<br />
the Mount St John’s Hospital, the stabilization<br />
of the economy, on-time<br />
payments of government salaries and<br />
wages, regular payments to Social<br />
Security, control of government expenditure,<br />
reduction of debt to GDP,<br />
on-going digitizing of government<br />
services, the government’s housing<br />
development programme, establishing<br />
a venture capital facility at the Antigua<br />
and Barbuda Development Bank<br />
and much more.<br />
During the programme, many<br />
people called in to express their confidence<br />
in the government and their<br />
continued faith in the policies being<br />
implemented by PM Browne and his<br />
Cabinet.<br />
destroy the environment of<br />
the country. “We have allocated<br />
some $100 million for<br />
renewable energy, passed<br />
the landmark Environmental<br />
Management and Protection<br />
Act, and have adopted other<br />
measures such as the ban on<br />
plastic bags.<br />
“Nobody can question<br />
this government’s commitment<br />
towards safeguarding<br />
the environment,” he declared.<br />
The attorney general said<br />
nothing is going to stand in<br />
the way of the government’s<br />
plans to develop both islands<br />
in its stated desire to<br />
make Antigua and Barbuda<br />
the ‘economic powerhouse<br />
of the Eastern <strong>Caribbean</strong>’.<br />
“If this means repealing the<br />
Barbuda Land Act, it will be<br />
done!” he declared.<br />
PM Browne has repeatedly<br />
maintained that the Barbuda<br />
Land Act passed by the<br />
UPP Administration in 2007<br />
contravenes Section 1 of the<br />
Constitution of Antigua and<br />
Barbuda “which states very<br />
clearly that Antigua and Barbuda<br />
shall be a unitary, sovereign,<br />
democratic state.”<br />
The prime minister said<br />
that since Barbuda is part of<br />
the unitary state of Antigua<br />
and Barbuda as stated in the<br />
Constitution, “provisions in<br />
the Barbuda Land Act cannot<br />
supersede the provisions<br />
of the Constitution.”<br />
Last October, parliament<br />
adopted the Paradise Found<br />
Act which puts the project<br />
outside the scope of the Barbuda<br />
Land Act.<br />
The BPM is using the<br />
provisions of the Barbuda<br />
Land Act as a basis for<br />
their court action aimed at<br />
stopping the Paradise Found<br />
project.