"We Need to Know What It Is Costing Us" — MP Jamale Pringle Presses for CHOGM Transparency

Antigua and Barbuda is weeks of hard questions away from hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), and Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle says the country still has not been told the most basic fact about the event: what it will cost.

Speaking on Observer Radio's Voice of the People on Thursday, Pringle revealed that even as Leader of the Opposition, he has received almost no official information about the summit, which is expected to bring King Charles III and dozens of heads of government to St John's.

"As the opposition, it was just yesterday I would have gotten a link for registration with CHOGM," he said. "I haven't gotten anything else official, except that the minister came by my office [and] said he's going to send me an official letter in regards to CHOGM. I'm still waiting on that."

Asked by host Adrian Williams whether the cost to taxpayers should have been tabled before the country agreed to host, Pringle did not hesitate.

"I believe this should have been the first thing. A level of transparency should have been provided — the cost, what is our role, what assistance we'll be getting to host this conference, what is required from us, how it's going to affect businesses," he said.

The five-block question

Pringle said the business community is bracing for security restrictions it has heard about only through rumour.

"We have not gotten the brief as yet as to how things are going to operate around St John's… and if there's any truth to the five-block radius that I'm hearing about. For that period, a lot of businesses will suffer," he said. "I heard if you're between six to six, you cannot enter if you live within [a] certain vicinity or radius of the function — you can go back in before six [in] the evening."

"I heard the businesses on Airport Road cannot open for the few days of the conference," he added.

A caller who operates a small bread shop in the affected zone asked what compensation would be available to businesses forced to close. Pringle's answer underlined the information vacuum: "We have not gotten any information, as the main opposition, as it relates to what is happening around and what are the plans for CHOGM. Once that is before us, I'll be able to give a clearer update… but for now, as the Leader of the Opposition, I cannot give any information because I haven't gotten any."

The anxiety comes as the country's tourism arteries are already under strain: IATA has warned that the government's US$10 increase in the airport administration charge could hurt air connectivity, with passenger traffic through Antigua down 2.6 percent in the first half of 2026 — part of what RealNews has documented as the mounting cost of the fourth term for households already squeezed by higher taxes and utility bills.

"Bailing out a comrade"

Pringle also questioned the government's venue arithmetic, citing the former Deluxe Cinema property acquired by the state and now being readied for the summit.

When Williams suggested the retrofit had brought the total outlay to $25 million, Pringle corrected him with the figures as he understands them: "They bought it for $6 million, and it's now valued at $26 million. What we never got was how much was spent to retrofit it."

He argued the government had years to do better. "I think the government had enough time to look at a construction of a new facility — purpose-built — rather than bailing out a comrade and then spending millions of dollars to retrofit it," he said.

"I believe they could have accessed grants to help with that facility, where you have adequate parking, you're able to set it up in a way that you don't lock down the city. You look at putting it on the outskirts, even within the vicinity of the stadium, so that the security risk that you are hoping to avoid — you have adequate spacing for parking, you have a better controlled space."

Success — but at what price?

Pringle was careful to say he wants the summit to go well. "While CHOGM should be successful — because any more bad press on Antigua and Barbuda, I don't know what is going to become of us — as an Antiguan, I want us to put our best foot forward," he said. "But at the same time, we need to know what it is costing us. We need to know the requirements, and this information should have been just out there, so the people know."

"Everybody would want to put their best foot forward, but is the cost of that publicity worth it? How much will the lives of our people improve for hosting CHOGM?"

On the controversy over King Charles and the question of an apology for slavery, Pringle declined to be drawn — for now. "I'll hold my answer to that, because we're having a discussion as a party, as the leadership, within the next few hours, and I will prefer to make my statement on that after that meeting," he said.

He closed on a note that connected the summit to the season: with the country approaching 45 years of independence, Pringle warned, "I have a great concern that this very same political independence that persons would have fought for — is the same politicians who are taking us back to colonisation. And it's something that we have to seriously look at as a people."