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The Antigua and Barbuda government has defended its $1.5 million expenditure on the One Nation Concert, arguing that the event fosters national unity and cultural cohesion despite concerns over financial constraints.
Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, Lionel Hurst, acknowledged that only $300,000 was recovered through ticket sales but maintained that the concert serves a broader social purpose.
“This is now the tenth year since it has been promoted by the government, and this is the first time that a sum of money was charged for entry,” Hurst said. “The concert, in essence, cost about $1.4 million, and we make no apology for it.”
The concert, featuring international and local artists, is intended to bring the population together in a shared cultural experience.
“These concerts help to bring people together and create a sense of unity,” Hurst said.
“Antigua and Barbuda is one of the most metropolitan states in the Caribbean, and these kinds of activities help foster a shared national identity.”
With plans to expand the event into a three-day festival in 2026, questions remain about how the government will fund the initiative while ensuring better financial returns.
“For 2026, there will be a planning committee, and they will determine how best to proceed,” Hurst said.
“It’s too early to provide details, but plans will be shared with the public in due course.”
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So over a million spent from tax payer money for a concert when we have more important needs to be addressed? Antigua doesn’t have any good roads or infrastructure. Police and firefighters don’t get risk pay. Nurses not being paid. Teachers struggling with small salaries and unruly children. Most government departments are short on staff and supplies. Pensioners receiving late money sometimes no money. The list goes on and on but this is where we choose to allocate over a million dollars? So not that the price for my license gone up I should be happy and comfortable because the roads will be fixed but they just completed squandered all that money for what reason? We don’t even have basic necessities in this country but we wasting money on this? It’s not even a cultural even it’s just an annual waste of money paid for my the taxes we as citizens work so hard to pay while taking home so little to our families. Maybe I’m overthinking it but it seems like a gross misuse of our money.
Their international university advisers is advising the same for all black nations , due to the crippled poverty created by slavery and maintained by colonialism it causes the frustrated masses to look for illusory fulfilment of happiness, so dances and gyration and sex and religion create the opium to keep them calm and the politicians rule over them oppressively , the whole Caribbean and Africa is under that social experiment.
I understand the value of cultural events, but with so many financial challenges, this seems like an unnecessary expense.
Hmmmmm… Couldn’t the money have been better allocated elsewhere?
it would be reassuring to know there were clear financial justifications for this spending.
Where can I find out more information on this One Nation Music Festival? I cannot find a dedicate website for it. I am looking forward to attending this Music Festival in 2026 and will probably bring a group of friends with me to Antigua. Marketing for such a music festival will require a vast amount of funding. They need to do a bit better with the online marketing aspect for we non-Antiguans if this is to grow as large as the St.Kitts Music Festival (stkittsmusicfestival.com), for example. Can’t wait to eventually visit Antigua for the One Nation Music Festival!!!
Max Worst and PM Browne we will always be a divided nation, the Labour Party has done a good job of that, no concert can ever heal that wound, Antiguans and Barbudans hate each other because of politics and the immigrants from the various islands come here and they also hate us quite a lot of them do not even like you politicians from both sides, I hear how they speak daily
At least this government is being TRANSPARENT and sharing information with the public.
Stil waiting on UPP Hrold Lovell for ROMANTIC RHYTHMS report 🤔
@oneness I believe the official website is OneNationMusicFestival.com
Government is the only business entity that would waste $1.5 million in hard times and then sought to recoup it from raising taxes on motor vehicle license. I reject the notion that government is seeking to raise licensing fees in order to fix roads when we know that this will never happen. The state and quality of our roads will remain the same because the more revenue the government receives, the more they spend of things like “One Nation Concert.” Our problem as a country is that we lack final control and discipline. The more money we have the more useless and wasteful spending we engage in. I am saddened to see how people just accept this increase taxation without any pushback or resistance.
Gaston the creative self enrichment schemer can waste our tax dollars on this bullshit and then raises the registration fees to help fix the roads. Keep on voting for the POS and he will keep on bleed this country to death.
You deserve what you getting now. Pay more to register your vehicles. I too glad.
https://antiguanewsroom.com/vehicle-license-fee-increase-to-include-cars-and-trucks/?unapproved=436661&moderation-hash=2f67a350e9f6ddecb137e39382c2f422#comment-436661
What an abhorrent waste of the tax-payers dollar.
This was always going to be a temporary fix of music, dancing, singing, and gut-busting food (probably the left over ham and turkey from Xmas).
It seems that the gullibility of the MANY outweighs the sensible FEW.
Again, Browne understands Antiguans better than they know themselves. Fact!
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