Walker reports that another donation to the Barbuda Council, from a diplomat in Spain, might also be missing

Residents are asking what excuse Prime Minister Gaston Browne
will be offering this time around, as another sum of money
reportedly was donated to the Barbuda Council for hurricane relief
but never delivered.
 
This was the revelation made by Barbuda MP Trevor Walker
during his debate of the 2024 Appropriations Bill, in The People’s
Parliament, on Thursday, January 18, at Freedom Hall.
 
Walker told a packed auditorium that he recently had been
contacted by a government source, who informed him that
US$550,000 had been donated by a diplomat to the Central
Government – for the Barbuda Council’s hurricane-relief efforts in
September 2017.

Walker says the funds reportedly came from Spain.

Speaking about other donations that were intended for the
Barbuda Council, Walker recalled that, during the 2023 Budget
Debate, it was discovered that two containers containing lumber
and other equipment for Barbuda had been consigned to a
Government senator – but had never reached the sister-island.

Earlier this week, the Barbuda MP made a revelation about the
US$1 million that had been donated by British philanthropist
Steve Morgan of the Steve Morgan Foundation, but never
transferred to the Barbuda Council.

He gave the audience some background on how he found out
about those monies:

Prime Minister Gaston Browne – while confirming Walker’s claim
– has said the money was not sent to the sister-island due to
“financial difficulties” the receiving bank was experiencing. 

He claimed that his government never received the US$1M that
was deposited in the Morgan Trust account with Global Bank of
Commerce (GBC), the proceeds of which were intended to assist
with the recovery in Barbuda.  
 
Browne claims that this information was communicated to Morgan
and his team, who were subsequently advised that arrangements
would be made for the Government to transfer US$1M to Global

Bank to assist with its liquidity and settle the transfer to the
Barbuda Luis Hill Housing Project. 
 
According to the prime minister, the US$1M was remitted and
credited to the Government’s account with GBC as agreed, but it
was later disclosed that the bank could not effect the Morgan
transfer.
 
Walker wants PM Browne to come completely clean on this
transaction and any others that possibly have not yet come to
light, because his explanation does not add up.
Rather, the Barbuda MP refers to it as a “bogus story.”

Walker says the Browne Administration lacks accountability, as it
is now seeking to get the US$1 million to Barbuda.

That was Barbuda MP Trevor Walker, speaking at The
People’s Parliament.