Tabor blasts Administration for using land as inducement for votes; says ‘check your minister’ benefits only ALP supporters

Senator Damani Tabor is blasting the Gaston Browne Administration for politicizing the land-registration and distribution process.

Housing and Lands Minister Maria Browne reported recently that the Ministry has received tens of thousands of applications for lands, which will be made available in at least four locations in Antigua and also in Barbuda.

Browne says that previous requirements for land ownership were onerous, and many people could not meet them. Therefore, she says, the Government will be reducing the price of Crown lands to about $3 per square foot with certain stipulations.

Senator Tabor, Public Relations Officer for the United Progressive Party (UPP), notes that – for years – residents have applied for land and been turned down or their applications remained unprocessed.

Now, for a second consecutive time, he says, the Administration is using land as an inducement for votes.

Tabor says the “check-your-minister mentality” must cease in this country, since only supporters of the ruling Antigua Labour Party (ALP) benefit from it.

Senator Tabor says the employees of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHAPA) ought to be allowed to do their work, and there should be accountability in this land-distribution programme.