Back-pay versus One Nation Concert: A Call for Priorities
In times when many citizens are struggling to make ends meet, it’s essential for the government to prioritize meaningful support over fleeting entertainment.
The “One Nation Concert” offers only a brief moment of enjoyment—an evening of music that will soon be forgotten. Meanwhile, the back-pay owed to workers represents the fruits of their labor, providing real, lasting improvements in their lives.
For workers, receiving these payments isn’t just about having extra money; it’s about achieving stability. With the back-pay owed to them, citizens can make deposits toward mortgages, secure loans for land, refurbish homes, or cover children’s educational needs.
These are life-changing uses of hard-earned money that far outweigh the benefit of a single night of entertainment. So, which is truly more important?
The answer seems obvious, especially as the cost of living continues to rise. Food prices are climbing, rent is becoming unaffordable, and households are strained under mounting pressures.
As daily needs become harder to meet, citizens are forced to make tough choices just to survive. The government, too, should focus on what truly matters, especially when public funds are involved.
Moreover, we cannot ignore the country’s deteriorating infrastructure. Roads are riddled with potholes, sidewalks are crumbling, drainage systems are inadequate, and many still struggle with access to running water. T
hese issues affect everyone and serve as a constant reminder of the work that needs to be done.
Funds that might be wasted on a one-night concert could instead be directed toward repairing roads, building sidewalks, improving drainage, and ensuring water access for all—investments that would benefit the country in the long term, not just for a few fleeting hours.
It’s deeply concerning that funds, which could ease financial burdens and address critical infrastructure needs, might instead be spent on an extravagant event.
Foreign performers may entertain briefly but will take with them a portion of our national wealth. This raises the question: is the government delaying back-pay payments for political reasons, hoping to gain favor as elections approach? If so, this tactic would be profoundly disappointing. Citizens will remember who stood by them—and who did not.
It’s time for the government to take meaningful action. Citizens demand and deserve more than empty promises and temporary spectacles. Stop diverting resources to “cheap thrills” while telling citizens to tighten their belts.
Don’t insult our intelligence by using public funds for foreign artists while ignoring the rightful claims of local workers and pressing infrastructure needs.
The government must prioritize the back-pay owed, respecting the hard work and sacrifices of the people, and take steps to improve the conditions we live in every day. A concert at this time is simply unjustifiable.
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This is a one-sided and emotional post. The truth of the matter is that an event like the One Nation Concert, International cricket or Carnival or the SIDS Conference all create economic benefits that spread through the whole economy, more that back pay ever can. It is exactly these benefits which PM Bird has recognized and why he intends to make the One Nation a three day music festival from next year. In any case, we have 15,000 civil servants, when the country actually need about 3,000. So 12,000 are there on a free ride for political reasons. Back pay to them is a crime against the tax payers of this country.
The writer has some valid concerns. Got me thinking.
Were years of backpay a priority when Harold wasted millions on Romatic Rythms? No.
Has ABLP paid way more back pay up to today than the destroyed UPP did in their 10 years? Yes.
Should the government speed up the payment of backpay after the end of year payment? Yes. Yes YES!
Does that mean the now One Nation Music Festival should be abandoned? No.
Leave the larger number of local acts, vendors, stores, hair salons and whoever else to get the economic benefit of the 2 day and later 3 day new music festival.
It will likely be a profitable venture or at least break even. Not waste millions like UPP’s Romantic Rythms, at a time when way more backpay was owed.
It is a matter of giving the people what they want. We complain about everything but at the end of the day, we prefer to jump and wine and “‘jam the hurt and hardships away.”
Antigua and Barbuda lacks fiscal discipline. We spend more than we earn and we fund that spending with more wasteful spending. Monitory policy goes hand in hand with fiscal policy, something that has eluded us for a very long time. At a time when cost of living is killing citizens, our roads are in a deplorable conditions and some workers still crying out for their full severance payments, we prefer to waste monies in unsustainable and useless things than in things that will ease the squeeze on our suffering people. We are creating a nightmare and a burden of debts that will be an albatross around the necks of future generation.
Doing away with a 370K investment to pay a over 34 million debt (wages for 2024 are budgeted at 414 million)? Writer it has been stated publicly that the concert will no longer be free. Even when it was, its been pointed out that the event generates economic activity which then results in added tax revenue. Considering your logic, we should have no events? This event may help in paying future back pay.
Maybe dem a try fu get de money Fram Sandals fu de back pay – just thinking aloud
One nation concert cannot go to AUA supermarket or pay school fees but back pay can. I already worked
@Just saying –The vendors and local artists for One Nation also have such bills to pay. Government revenue can’t only be for the benefit of public sector workers. As things stand you all already get over 60 percent of the pie, allow others
One nation as a free concert was never free, it was paid for by tax dollars while we were continuously incurring debt which could have been reduced with the thousands of dollars used for the concert. Now it’s not free but it’s still going to take tax dollars to fund. Pay government workers. Fire fighters don’t have equipment to properly fight fires or extricate persons from vehicles, stations are full of dead animals, animal stool, black mold and worse. Fire fighters don’t get risk allowance. Neither police. Nurses suffering. Hospital does not have any equipment and they are understaffed. Teachers are in schools with literal gang members and killers. People are risking their lives every single day in the government system and they can’t even afford rent. Give the people their full backpay, one month salary is only a fraction of the money everyone is supposed to collect. Police and firefighters are not even established workers anymore, they get paid last and if the Treasury says there is no money then they don’t get paid at all but they can’t say “I’m going to strike” because then innocent people who have nothing to do with the matter will suffer. The powers at be are not focusing on the big picture and it’s a pity. Backpay won’t fix our problems but atleast it will help a lot of the grunt workers in government who make little to no money a bit more comfortable in life. I only wish as Antiguans we could all come together and overthrow the system that is not working for us the same way that was done in the 2024 US presidential election.
Pay the people what they done work gor. To hell with the concert.
I read the rational arguments being used for holding the One Nation concert. If it was the UPP doing this with government money while poor people catching dey rear end, the out cry and the out rage would have been monstrous.
You all are such hypocrites!
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