Barbudans would welcome inquiry into hurricane-relief donations but have little hope GG will comply, Warner says

Barbudans would like to have an inquiry conducted into Hurricane
Irma-relief funds that – more than six years after they were
deposited – have not been remitted to the Barbuda Council.

Newly appointed Council Chairman Devon Warner says he is hoping
that overtures to Governor-General Sir Rodney Williams will be
favorably received and a Commission of Inquiry will be
commissioned.

However, based on the past reactions of the governor-general to
such calls, Warner says, he is not holding his breath.
But, he assures, Barbudans will not allow the matter of those
missing funds to be swept under the carpet.

Further, he notes that even before the recent revelation, the Council
had been calling on the Gaston Browne Administration for a proper
accounting of all donations.
 
According to Warner, Antiguans and Barbudans, as well as the
donors, deserve to know what actually happened to these funds.

In the meantime, the Council chairman says he believes that even
more accusations about missing donations for hurricane relief will
come in.
 
A Pandora’s Box has been opened, and more shocking revelations
can be expected, he says.

That was the newly appointed chairman of the Barbuda Council,
Devon Warner.
 
As it now stands, it appears that the Barbuda Council and the people
of Barbuda were deprived of over EC$6 million for its hurricane-
relief initiatives.
 
Last year, Barbuda MP Trevor Walker revealed that two shipping
containers – packed with building materials and other equipment
for the sister-island’s rebuilding efforts –were never received,
either.

While Finance Minister Gaston Browne has offered a rather garbled
explanation for Barbuda’s non-receipt of a US$1 million donation

from a British charity, there has been no official explanation about
the contents of the shipping containers so far.