As the election season heats up in Antigua and Barbuda, incumbent Prime Minister and head of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) Gaston Browne has launched a sharp pre-election critique of the rival United Progressive Party (UPP), claiming the long-out-of-power opposition bloc is financially broken and would impose harmful economic policies if voted into office.
Speaking during his regular segment on local radio station Pointe FM’s Browne and Browne Show, Browne laid out his core allegation: many opposition candidates are running for public office not out of a commitment to public service, but as a desperate source of personal income after a decade-long stretch out of government. “When entities have been out of government for a long time… many of them, they have no income,” Browne told listeners.
The prime minister went further, naming specific individual opposition figures and accusing them of lacking basic financial stability. He claimed some have not even kept up with their own pension contributions, questioning whether such candidates are fit or prepared to take on national leadership roles. Browne argued that these financial strains would shape governing decisions if the UPP wins, warning that officeholders facing personal financial precarity could govern out of self-interest or even act out of long-held vindictiveness toward their political rivals.
Browne tied these personal allegations to broader concerns about the opposition’s uncosted policy platform, pointing out that UPP candidates have yet to explain how they will pay for the campaign promises they have laid out to voters. “Notice they never said that they’re not going to increase taxes up to this point,” he noted.
He spelled out the specific risks he says voters and public sector workers face: to fund their campaign pledges, a UPP administration would be forced to implement broad tax increases and cut public spending. Among the possible changes Browne cited were the return of a personal income tax, general tax hikes across the board, and mass layoffs of public sector workers – a warning he directed straight at civil servants.
“Public servants better understand… if you think that… you can make the mistake and elect them and see what happens,” Browne said, adding that after years in opposition, the UPP could target public sector workers for political retaliation.
In contrast, Browne highlighted his own administration’s track record on public sector employment, emphasizing that ABLP has committed to protecting public sector jobs regardless of workers’ political affiliation. “Not one person will be sent home… notwithstanding your political persuasion,” he said, though he acknowledged one rare exception that came from a ministerial decision outside the government’s official policy.
As of press time, the United Progressive Party has not issued any public response to Browne’s allegations made during the radio broadcast.