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Antigua PM suggests scholarships for all parliamentarians to boost leadership skills
Prime Minister Gaston Browne says all parliamentarians in Antigua and Barbuda should be eligible for government-funded scholarships, arguing that formal training is essential for modern leadership.
Speaking on his Browne and Browne Show, Browne said lawmakers in both houses should be supported in pursuing advanced studies if they wish.
“I feel as though our government should give scholarships to all parliamentarians,” Browne said. “Any parliamentarian, upper or lower house, who is desirous of getting a scholarship, the government should fund it.”
He explained that the proposal was not aimed at embarrassing members without degrees, but at raising the standard of governance across the board. “Globally, people are trained to govern. They’re trained to lead.
And there’s a direct correlation between your training and your capacity to lead,” he said. “Even if you’re naturally bright, when you have that additional training, it increases your capacity.”
Browne noted that while past generations of leaders often rose to power with limited formal qualifications, today’s challenges required more specialized knowledge.
He said the scholarships could help parliamentarians develop expertise in fields such as economics, law, and public administration.
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The proposal comes as Antigua and Barbuda continues to expand opportunities in higher education, including the launch of the Antigua and Barbuda College of Advanced Studies (ABCAS) and the rapid growth of the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus.
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Absolutely not! MP’s make enough money to pay for their own education. Government scholarships should be reserved for Antiguans from working class backgrounds and academic achievement.
Why should I pay for an MP to gain higher level education when he makes a hefty salary??
We did it for Michael Browne who said he was educating himself for the day the people rejected him.
True to his words he fled the island the day after he was rejected at the polls.
That’s not what hits me about this story.
A man who places himself for reducile is not ready for leadership.
See how Pringle has Gaston and his acolytes embarrassing him!!!
Pringle has enough of the leadership loot to see himself through to Five Islands and get some letters.
He disregarded the advice of Dr Benjamin who was his advisor.
He instead chose to listen to people with more letters at the back of their manes than the alphabet and more degrees than the thermometer.
Dr Benjamin is probably looking in from outside and laughing at a wanna be leader who doesn’t listen to sensible advice.
I really would love to hear Pringle’s bio before he addresses a function.
“Ladies and gentlemen, he is the opposition leader in antigua. He attended the Old Road Primary School and the All Saints Secondary School. He is a former teacher. He is a well rounded and educated man. Welcome him.””””
Referencing to a former president of dominica who suffered with vitiligo, a calypsonian wrote, “people would laugh at Dominica if we have a president of two turn color.”
Given the opportunity to write about Pringle that same calypsonian would probably write, “people would laugh at Antigua if they had a prime minister with no university education.””””
What a joke……..
Everytime Gaston’s imps write about uneducated people they use Pringle as their image.
Is t he ashamed!!!!!!!!
Why is there a photo of the HON. LARS JAMALE PRINGLE accompanying this article??? The DULY ELECTED LEADER has already made clear his stance on tertiary education. A piece of paper does not make one intelligent, compassionate, charismatic or grassroots.
I am all for education and as they saying goes, “Education is they key.” But any initiative to grant scholarships to politicians is ill conceive and misguided and thoughtless. Politicians gets among the highest salary paid locally. They get free water, electricity and telephone plus various other incentives. Free everything. I could think of many other persons and families who are not nearly as financially well off as politicians who would benefit from an educational scholarship. The only thing that our politicians need right now is a job description so that we can hold them to it.
Hey, Pringle, just the way he puts his arm around you, and your sheepish look, shows his DOMINANCE over you.
It does not show you as besting him for leadership.
Not only is this picture condescending, but what he has said about giving parliamentarians scholarships is ridiculous and insulting.
First, he needs to give himself one so that he could go and REALLY get that degree that he is boasting about that he got, and yet no one could find out where he got it from.
Time for him to produce that masters degree and show everybody like how Obama showed his birth certificate. When it checks out, then he can try to show himself on people like Pringle and whoever else allow him to do that.
BRING YOUR DEGREE. DAWG. Let’s have a look at it. Give us a chance to check out where you were alumni. Tired of you and your tiresome ways.
Shame on you, Pringle. What the hell were you doing there dressed in his tee shirt? Look at the picture again.
Yes, he owned you.
What hypocrisy is this. In another article the PM says government will look into family income to decide who should get scholarships. Now tell me, if parliamentarians can’t fund their own education, who the fffffff can? Give me an aspirin.
Mr Prime Minister, you have it all wrong.
We the people feel that a parliamentarian should have already had a degree before he or she enters the House. This is not 1939. In this the year of our lord 2025 you should not go in that house just because you can sweet talk and you are arrogant and know how to BS and suck up. Those days are long gone.
The scholarships are for the up and coming citizens who aspire to be productive people, and perhaps parliamentarians.
And it is perhaps because right now this is not a profession of choice, thanks to present outlook.
Prime Minister Browne had no other choice. Simply because the current calibre of ABLP politicians leaves a lot to be desired.
They aren’t leaders, because they NEVER challenge Gaston Browne when the opportunity arises – and I’m sure there has been many!
In addition, you only have to look around at how some cabinet ministers are ushered in high profile positions that they aren’t qualified to LEAD or hold.
With YouTube and AI people can learn anything online . It always about skills in the real world.
I applied for the Prime Minister’s scholarship since the application opened for my daughter for uwI , and up to now they said its in process. My daughter is so distraunt because i have to paid the entrance fee for her to secured the spot. The university told me i cant continue the process if the payment is not make .. i had to beg a lil extension time. . I explained all this to the person dealing with the scholarship program( PRINCE) n its like they care Zero n im contributing to the system n yet cant get assistant..but I gathered its a friend n family thing when it comes to scholarships assistant. Up to today its in PROCESS.
Give the police scholarship as well, so that they are able to charge some of these corrupt people. Already the police do not have the courage to investigate them, when we give them scholarship what will become of john-public?
@Audley Phillip September 22, 2025 At 9:17 am
“Politicians gets among the highest salary paid locally”
Rather then just talking for talking sake, where are your numbers to proof that what you are saying is facts. It is well known to all that politicians do not at all get paid for the kind of responsibility they are carrying. I really do not know why someone want to go into representative politics. Take for example the position of Prime Minister, equal to that of the CEO of the largest firm in the country. The CEO from WIOC get a monthly check of US$50K.
Ranking Caribbean Leaders by Salary: Who Earns the Most?
Do you think your president earns his pay?
Here is a list of the Caribbean leaders mentioned in the script, along with their salaries in US dollars, arranged from most to least:
President of Suriname, Chan Santokhi: $133,500
President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader: $120,000
President of Guyana, Irfaan Ali: $98,300
Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis: $86,000
Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Keith Rowley: $85,681
Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley: $79,550
Prime Minister of Jamaica, Andrew Holness: $58,550
Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves: $57,840
Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne: $55,500
Prime Minister of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Terrance Drew: $55,500
These are annual salaries. So our Prime Minister makes per year EC$149,850. That is the monthly salary of the CEO of WIOC. And the PM has more responsibilities then him. The average monthly salary of a GM in any mid to large company in Antigua is between $18,000 & $20,000. Most overseas companies here are paying their GM at least $27,000. which is US$10K per month. Yes you want to add their free utilities. But I tell you that doesn’t ad up at all. Private sector also give those perks to top management. Such as Car Allowance, Housing Allowance, Phone Allowance. Especially when you bring an Expat here. Then you have to pay them according to the standard in their country and all the COLA are free. With many time also included is a return ticket once or twice a year for themself or their spouse.
Again you like to make baseless statements. Think and do your research before you speak.
What I am in favor for is that we the electors start to be more mindful about the people we chose to represent us. There should be some minimum requirement such as a university degree. We are not a banana republic any longer. We have a much more sophisticated economy and have to represent our country in many international forums. See how our Prime Minister and infact all of our Ministers have so well represented us in many of these international bodies. Our PM is now at the UN and he has been the feature speaker at many events. We have attract two big events here to this Island. The first was the SIDS conference and the second the OAS Heads Meeting. And in both cases we did well. We were applauded for the standard of the conferences we held. We also had the CTO Conference here that was a success. And next year we have the 2026 CHOGM. I think this will be tjhe biggest conference to be hold in this country ever. With the guest of honor King Charles.
We cannot get higher then that. I hope we have a Golden Carriage to take him around. I mean when we were still a Colony we had a hard time getting them to come and visit us. Now the King is coming as Head of the Commonwealth. What more can we ask from our government. But it’s OK you haters will never see anything good in what this government does.
So chose qualified people to represent you in parliament so that they do not need to have scholarships to increase their intellect. They should be ready for the job. And not like in 2004 when the UPP won the election the then PM Baldwin Spencer was heard saying, “So what all we gonna do now”. Totally inept. Not knowing what to do next.