The Barbuda Council is pushing back against what it describes as ongoing efforts by the central government to establish freehold land ownership and facilitate land sales on the island.
In a statement issued Wednesday, the Council criticized recent reports regarding Cabinet’s approval of a plan to create a land registry in Antigua and begin registering land in Barbuda. The Council argued that similar announcements have been made over several years and are intended to encourage investment in what it called a non-existent luxury real estate market on the island.
The Council also objected to what it described as attempts by the Gaston Browne administration to use existing legislation to register and sell land in Barbuda without the Council’s consent.
“The People’s land will not be accepted or allowed” to be unilaterally registered and sold, the statement said.
Council officials noted that the matter remains before the courts. According to the release, a court hearing was scheduled for June 9, with another hearing expected on June 11.
The Council urged Barbudans to remain vigilant and avoid actions it says could undermine their rights to communal land ownership.
It further maintained that the Barbuda Local Government Act, which is entrenched in the Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda, grants the Council responsibility for administering the island.
The statement concluded with a declaration that “Barbuda’s Lands are NOT for Sale.”
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The lands in Barbuda are CROWN land (except where privately, LEGALLY owned). The BPM does NOT own, administer or control CROWN Land!
Now this is what living in a democracy is all about.
People coming together and having forthright discussions, as to what is in their best interests for Barbudans, and not being dictated to by a Prime Minister who sees them as “deracinated imbeciles”.
Browne may have had HIS say on making Spanish, Antigua’s second language without any referendum for the electorate to vote on, but I really do admire the articulate Barbudan’s, because they stand up for themselves and recognise vindictive practices by an out of touch autocratic leader.
More power to the Barbudans, they can definitely teach we Antiguans a thing or two.
NOW THIS IS DEMOCRACY AT WORK… ✊🏾
@ Really,
You are demonstrating that you illustrative. You are not alone.
The majority of the people in Antigua and Barbuda parrots misinformation.
You write on an issue you know nothing about.
The lands of Barbuda are subjected to the Constitution in a different way than the lands of Antigua.
Barbuda land tenure policies are based on the Barbuda Local Government Act of 1976 which is part of the Constitution. It preceded the Antigua and Barbuda Constitution.
Parliament and or any Cabinet cannot change the Constitution.
In any Court with credibility, what Gaston and Cutie are attempting to do at the moment will fail.
Stop making a fool of yourself with a meaningless statement that Barbuda lands are Crown lands
You obviously did not listen to the Monday evening program on radio “Constitutional Corner”
The fact is you are not an anomaly. Most of those who read, they only read internet social media junk.
Yes Really! you are misinformed.
WHAT ARE THE REAL REASONS BEHIND THE $1 LAND OWNERSHIP. THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEMS TO BE. IS THERE ANYONE IN CABINET WITH LAND INTERESTS IN BARBUDA? SO WHEN LANDS GO FOR PEPPERCORN PRICES.THEY WOULD THEN JUST REVERSE THEIR TRUCKS AND LOAD UP. THE POLITICIANS AND THEIR FAMILIES ARE GETTING RICHER.WHILE THE PEOPLE AS A WHOLE ARE GETTING POORER,DAILY. THEN AGAIN,WE ARE GETTING WHAT WE VOTED FOR.
Well! well! the royal family of the UK is the biggest real estate owner from since the 1600’S during slavery to today, had the lands been given a new nomenclature like ” land held in trust for the people” or something that shows the worth of a nation instead of “crown lands” it would have been treated differently by our leaders.
Yes the Barbuda council should have been more attentive to the aspirations of the barbudans, what is happening across the Caribbean post independence is our leaders are delighted to have colonialism devolved to them as black descendants of our ancestors who slaved blood and sweat for this land, independence was granted without any economic or social mechanism for the people, the council should have allowed and set about an agenda to have all the Barbudans building small hotels and Airbnb on those beaches with grants and loans from the council sand mining scheme, if that was done the ALP Gaston brown administration wouldn’t have had that latitude to maneuver, imaging PLH and other white people is able to get 500 acres of lands plus buffer zone! That is because the land laid unoccupied, so when I say colonial power devolved, it is just for our leaders to enjoy the formalities their former white successors enjoyed, just conspicuous consumption of power where some prime minister rightly compromised marionette leadership, skilled in confabulating with white monopoly capital to sell the land resources or passing legislation in our parliament for the foreign extractive economy like hotels, these leaders can’t run a candy shop if they get the opportunity, instead because their upbringing was deprived and distorted by poverty, they pursue their sociopathic desires that were cultivated during their traumatic childhood years of hunger and poverty to enrich themselves at the cost of the nation, hospital and roads and government offices and school in shambles, even pensioners prostrate for the meager monthly benefits , the politicians and prime minister instead sacrifice the country’s interest on the alter of self interest, they and their families must be wax rich at the cost of the people.
Back to the Barbuda council, they maintained the colonial boundaries and kept the barbudans living around the former white master estate and refused to expand to the beachfront, twin with that is the acceptance of white colonized religion which harvest the people brain and inculcate in the people that they are going to heaven in the sky so there is no need to choose these nice beachfront lands, that is the reason also why the politicians get away with not fixing the roads because in heaven the roads are streets of gold, so the people become tolerable with bad roads here on Antigua and Barbuda and continue to vote for these crooks.
Has the Barbuda council given economic independence to the barbudans people , Gaston could not in this modern day giving economic independence to white people who already has white privilege from their metropolis. I condemn both Gaston and the council for failing the people of Barbuda.
I stand with the barbudan ppl, a so ablp want sell out barbuda like antigua, so the ppl cant go beach in them own land? In jamaica 90% of the beaches are private, they can only go by the river. Up verandah hotel, that was once indian creek, we use to fish there now we can’t, they destroy the mangrove, go ahead gaston just take everything we own and sell all kinds of ppl in the world,
One of the biggest myths promoted for decades by the Barbuda Council is that communal land ownership is the best path forward. It is time for Barbudans to wake up and recognize that obtaining title deeds to their property is a powerful form of wealth creation and economic empowerment. Barbuda is twice the size of St. Maarten—just imagine the opportunities for investment, homeownership, and business development if people had secure ownership of their land.
It is so refreshing to see the people of Barbuda standing up for your constitutional rights. Future generations will honour you for taking on this arrogant, bullying and corrupt ABLP administration. Can we recall the rampant, selfish, and cynical exploitation of Barbuda’s sand resources a few decades ago? In this new round of attempted exploitation…its the LAND they want..keep fighting Barbudans..
All indigenous Antiguans stand in solidarity with Barbudans. The ALP only wants to thief the land and give it to foreigners.
One would think that this issue of Landownership of Barbuda was not yet adjudicated. Because these council member doesn’t seem to like the judgement that was handed down by the Privy Council the highest court of the land. The council is only there to administer the lands on behalf of the Crown which is the government. The Myth that the land was owned in Common has already been exposed and debunked. However these group of persons are consisting to continue living with the myth. And I say this will continue until they will feel it in their own pocket. Government should pass laws that permit another government agency to take the very same government to court and this while the government ultimately pays for the legal cost. This is crazy. The council collect taxes o.b.o the government and uses the tax revenues to pay for court fees they incurred to sue the same government. Antigua and Barbuda is a Unitary State. When will the Barbudans accept that. They are not an independent state. The Prime Minister of Antigua is also the Prime Minister of Barbuda. So too is the Governor General and all the Cabinet Ministers. Barbuda is guaranteed a representation in Parliament by the constitution. And so is each parish of Antigua. So Barbuda is considered a Parish. And let me explain something to some of these political hacks here. The Council o.b.o the people in Barbuda has exercise their democratic right. They have taken the case to the court ALL the Way to the highest court. The Privy Council. At every level they have lost their case. However they are not accepting the rulings of the court and continuing their case. Be it in a different form. That is what living in a democracy is all about. But at one point one should also respect the court rulings. If not we will become a lawless country. Or a country that promotes some of us above the law. And that cannot happen. The government meanwhile has been developing Barbuda without the consent of the council. And Barbudans are now living with full employment. And many Antiguans and other nationals living here are finding employment in Barbuda. So while council members are doing everything in their power to stop the development, it is continuing to the benefit of all Barbudans. And so will the sale of land do good to ALL Barbudans and Antiguans alike.
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