An open letter from Antiguan resident Sheryl G Cochrane-George has launched a scathing rebuke of the ruling Antigua Labour Party (ABLP), calling out the governing body for its double standard when it comes to accountability for the country’s rising violent crime crisis.
Cochrane-George begins by recalling the ABLP’s approach during the previous United Progressive Party (UPP) administration led by Baldwin Spencer. When the Spencer government held power, the ABLP did not hold back on harsh criticism of the ruling party’s failure to curb crime – a stance that Cochrane-George acknowledges was completely justified. As the sitting government, the Spencer administration bore responsibility for ensuring national security, from equipping police forces with modern crime-fighting tools and technology, to maintaining an effective correctional system, and streamlining efficient investigations, prosecutions and court proceedings. That fundamental accountability, she argues, applies to any sitting government.
Now that the ABLP holds power, however, the party has completely shifted its position, rejecting all criticism of its handling of crime, according to Cochrane-George. Since 2014, the same minister has overseen the national security and justice portfolio, a position the critic says the incumbent has seemingly been given unchallenged permanent entitlement. When members of the public raise questions about the minister’s location, plans or performance, ABLP supporters immediately lash out, deflecting blame away from the government and onto criminals alone. They claim the government cannot be held responsible for the actions of offenders, arguing critics are wrong to hold policymakers accountable for deteriorating security.
Cochrane-George also targets Prime Minister Gaston, who she notes effectively functions as the de facto acting public safety minister – and has performed terribly in that role. The prime minister relies entirely on empty rhetoric, she says, and every week shifts blame to other bodies: the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the judiciary, defense lawyers, the prison superintendent, every institution except his own 12-year-old government and its failed policies. She goes on to question why, after more than a decade in power, the ABLP administration has still failed to deliver key public safety infrastructure and programming that experts say is critical to reducing crime: a new correctional facility, structured offender rehabilitation programs, a fully functional forensic laboratory, and adequate nationwide digital surveillance networks.
The critic also expressed frustration with loyal ABLP supporters, who she says line up to defend the government unthinkingly, abandoning common sense and a shared grasp of reality in favor of parroting the party’s talking points. Any attempt to hold policymakers accountable for failed security policies is immediately shut down by the party and its base.
Cochrane-George points out the blatant hypocrisy of the ABLP’s current position, noting that if the UPP were in power and facing the same level of ongoing violent crime, the ABLP would not hesitate to organize mass public protests outside government headquarters, carrying placards and photos of crime victims to demand the prime minister’s immediate resignation. By contrast, she says, Prime Minister Gaston has refused to even make a single ministerial change to address the crisis, sticking to the same familiar script of “it is not our fault.”
In closing, Cochrane-George draws a stark contrast between the prime minister’s own safety and the vulnerability of ordinary Antiguans. While the public lives in fear of violence, praying for safety each night, the prime minister retires to a heavily secured residence surrounded by concrete barriers, top-tier security systems and armed personal protection guards, sleeping comfortably without having to worry about the risks ordinary citizens face daily. The letter concludes with a blunt statement of frustration with the current government and its continuing base of support.