MP Richard Lewis Condemns PM Gaston Browne’s Deliberate Misinformation on Land Application by UPP MPs

MP Richard Lewis Condemns PM Gaston Browne’s Deliberate Misinformation on Land Application by UPP MPs

Prime Minister Gaston Browne was in his element on Pointe FM, spreading  misinformation and misrepresenting the facts as they relate to applications made by three UPP MPs for land under the policy established for Members of Parliament. 

This is a policy which predates PM Browne and even the UPP Administration.  I have no problem with the public knowing that I have applied for land under the policy.

PM Browne deliberately and grossly misrepresented the facts. The land in question is in a valley close to Pensioner’s, and not overlooking Royalton as he maliciously claimed. As a matter of fact, neither Royalton nor any sea can be seen from there. 

PM Browne knows that no one should be able to choose land nor the selling price the way he said, and that it is a guided process. It was a government surveyor who recommended that area as the only one in Rural West up for distribution, and took us on-site. The expected cost is about EC$10.00 per sq. ft. 

After my application was made, I was told that all lands in that area are earmarked for development, and that I should look elsewhere.

I have been reliably informed that Cabinet has decided that I can apply for a 1/2 acre.  If that is the new policy, I support it.  Let’s see if this is applied across the board going forward.

This is yet another one of PM Browne’s hard efforts to dishonour my name.  Is it that only PM Browne and those he chooses should have access to land in Antigua?  The policy for acquiring Crown lands has always been for the maximum of an acre. Yet everyone knows he got THREE (3) acres of land in the English Harbour area at about EC$0.50 per sq. ft.  He subsequently sold approximately 1/2 acre of those lands for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I have always firmly believed that all information pertaining to the acquisition of Crown lands by MPs should be transparent and made public.  Furthermore, that all benefits for Parliamentarians should be legislated, to remove any secrecy from the process. 

PM Browne, who is the leader of this nation, must stop this distasteful habit of decimating the characters and persona of Antiguans and Barbudans for sport when he gets on his radio station on Saturdays.  This is not helpful.

Richard S. Lewis MP

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