PM Browne Admits Anti-Corruption Efforts Focused Too Much on Politicians, Not Civil Servants
Prime Minister Gaston Browne has admitted that his administration’s anti-corruption efforts have focused too heavily on Cabinet ministers while systemic corruption thrived within the public service.
Speaking on his Browne and Browne Show, Browne said for too long, attention has been placed on monitoring politicians while entrenched civil servants were left unchecked, enabling years of abuse and collusion with private interests.
“What I want to ensure is that this government, this country, is governed better,” Browne said. “The focus was almost exclusively on Cabinet to make sure ministers don’t steal, not recognizing that below, they had our public servants well captured.”
He said evidence now shows that sections of the civil service — particularly the Treasury, Customs, and Public Works — were “captured” by large business operators who used public officers to bypass systems and gain unfair advantages.
“Even the Treasury, they have their own people — their own captured public servants — who they pay to prioritize their payments,” Browne said. “Sometimes a little man can’t get paid for the bread he supplies to the prison, but the big players go every week and collect their checks.”
The Prime Minister said these relationships created a system where “money and favors determine efficiency,” allowing the wealthy to fast-track transactions while ordinary suppliers were left waiting.
He acknowledged that while laws and safeguards existed, they were being circumvented by insiders who exploited weaknesses in oversight. “It’s not that we don’t have systems in place,” he said. “The systems are there, but they are being circumvented.”
Browne said his government has since taken steps to centralize financial control and strengthen checks and balances. All large Treasury payments must now be validated through the Ministry of Finance before approval. Cabinet will also review major disbursements weekly to prevent unauthorized transactions.
He announced additional reforms, including the rotation of staff in key departments to break up long-standing relationships between officials and major suppliers. “We’re going to rotate,” he said. “Some of these people have been in the same positions for 15 or 20 years — that’s not good governance.”
Browne also plans to allocate $1 million in the upcoming budget to hire private citizens as validation officers to perform random spot checks of imported goods and Customs transactions. “We’re going to have more regular, routine spot checks of containers,” he said. “I don’t care who they are — could be Epicurean, First Choice, or any of the big supermarkets.”
Describing the reform drive as a “cleanup from top to bottom,” Browne said it forms part of a broader “national reset” aimed at restoring public trust after the recent vehicle procurement controversy. “This is not about shaming anyone,” he said. “It’s about restoring integrity and rebuilding trust in government.”
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Correction to the ANR headline. It should really say:
“PM Browne Admits Anti-Corruption Efforts Focused Too Much on Cival Servants, Not Politicians”
Ahhh that’s more like it 👍🏾
ANR is quick to post this man’s propaganda stories and lies, but then try to censor free speech for others.
I see why corruption is so pervasive in this little island. This isn’t Russia ANR.
Please write the facts, other people will start loosing interest in this type of one-sided media.
Well it’s the civil servants that do the politician’s dirty work. They don’t work for themselves. The big heads are smarter than to do these deals directly
@Islanman26. Gassy Browne is the Prime Minister so of course ANR are going to post what he says, you know like every other media outlet on earth posts stories about their leaders. Stop with the BS. You don’t even live in Antigua so shut the fuck up.
This has been happening during the terms of the Lester Bird Administration it also happened under the UPP and continued under the terms of Gaston’s Administration only idiots would believe you all did not know. You just did not think the boom wudda bus wid you in charge
@that idiot that’s using my name.
You can’t shut me dude..I bet that’s what you and the foolish leader you follow wants..this ain’t J-Truth. And I don’t live in Antigua, but my people are there you idiot..
Anyway I will remain anonymous, because when idiots like you get caught, you wouldn’t even know how you got trapped.
Oh! What a wonderful magician we have in the person of Our Dear Exhaulted Indomitable Leader. Fearless! and brave enough, with the vision to close the barn gate; after the mules have bolted. And under who’s auspices lies the power of assumption; to judge, and render verdict of guilt and bly: to those deemed most assuredly set in collusion of robbery by subjunctive deception, as if malfeasance under employment contract, is somehow to be viewed as stealing candy form a baby. And left us with the innocence of denial for our capacity to render public justice by the law, and let the chips fall where they may. Sir: You can’t be judge and jury while running foot loose with the people’s partrimony. This was not a one-off occurrence, but rather, an entrenched syndicate of nefarious ambitious actors, without ambiguities to corrupt, differ, and deny necessary public projects endeavors- beneficial to nation building; at the expense of personal gluttonous gain; necessitating forfeiture and, imprisonment upon summary conviction by an en-panel jury: with mandatory sentence, pronounce by a Judge.