In an early morning break-in at St Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Mucurapo, armed robbers stole centuries-honored sacred religious artifacts, leaving the local parish community reeling and calling for collective prayer for their long-serving priest and congregation. The shocking incident unfolded before dawn yesterday, when intruders forced entry into the church and targeted items central to Catholic worship, according to details shared with parish members this week.\n\nThe stolen item at the center of the loss is the church’s monstrance, a ornate sacred vessel that holds deep liturgical significance in the Roman Catholic tradition. The vessel is specifically used to display the consecrated Eucharist during public adoration and ceremonial benediction, making its theft not just a property loss but a spiritual blow to the parish. In addition to taking the monstrance, the bandits also attempted to remove the church’s tabernacle — the locked, sacred compartment positioned near the altar that houses the reserved Blessed Sacrament. Law enforcement and parish sources confirm the intruders managed to shift the heavy tabernacle before making their escape with the monstrance.\n\nIn a surprising turn of events, the parish’s beloved priest, Fr Emmanuel “Mannie” Pierre, encountered one of the intruders during the break-in. The intruder fled the scene immediately after the confrontation, leaving Fr Pierre uninjured — a outcome that has brought widespread relief to the church’s parishioners. Investigators have already received key evidence from the parish, including a vehicle registration number linked to the suspects, which has been passed along to law enforcement teams working the case.\n\n“We are grateful that Father was not hurt, but it is heartbreaking that these sacred items were taken,” one parish member shared in a statement calling for intercessory prayer. “Please pray for Father Mannie and the parish of St Mary’s, Mucurapo.”\n\nFr Pierre, who is affectionately known to his congregation and local community as “Father Mannie”, is one of the most recognizable Catholic priests in the region. He celebrated a major milestone in 2021, marking four decades of priestly service to the Mucurapo parish and wider Catholic community.
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Pierre defends crime strategy, slams UWP criticism as ‘disrespectful’
A heated political exchange over public safety has erupted in Saint Lucia, as Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre pushed back against sharp criticism from the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) during Monday’s weekly Cabinet press briefing. The clash followed a UWP-hosted press conference the prior week, where senior party figures and electoral candidates Sarah Flood-Beaubrun, Laura Jn Pierre-Noel and Titus Preville took aim at the incumbent administration’s response to a surge in violent crime, calling for bolder action and a cohesive national plan to reverse rising insecurity.
The opposition’s critique was anchored in growing public anger over recent violent incidents, most notably the fatal killing of 24-year-old Joy St Omer, whose estranged husband has been formally charged with her murder. Speaking to reporters on May 28, Jn Pierre-Noel emphasized that the killing served as a devastating reminder that hundreds of women across the island live in silent fear of gender-based violence. Beyond domestic violence, opposition leaders also highlighted that the national homicide rate has already climbed to 36 this year, a figure they say demands urgent, coordinated intervention from the national government.
When pressed by journalists to address the opposition’s demands, Pierre rejected the criticism outright, framing it as a disrespectful and opportunistic power grab. He argued that opposition leaders unfairly hold the government responsible for crimes rooted in personal passion and interpersonal conflict. “It shows a lack of respect to the people of Saint Lucia when you speak about crimes of passion and crimes of emotion and lay it on the backs of a government,” Pierre told reporters. “It’s disrespectful, it’s scornful, it’s contemptuous!”
The Prime Minister went on to defend his administration’s approach, outlining a multi-pronged, holistic strategy that combines law enforcement resourcing, social intervention, education reform, and targeted youth economic support to reduce criminal activity. A core component of the plan is enhanced investment in the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, with Pierre noting that additional details on new policing initiatives would be unveiled to the public in the near future.
As part of the government’s upstream social intervention efforts, Pierre announced that the administration will launch a major crackdown on student truancy, linking disengagement from school to higher risks of youth involvement in crime. The government is also prioritizing expanded access to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), designed to give diverse learners practical, marketable skills aligned with their interests. Pierre argued that an inclusive, flexible education system that meets the needs of all students is a critical long-term tool to steer young people away from criminal pathways.
Economic empowerment for young Saint Lucians forms another key pillar of the crime reduction strategy, with the Prime Minister pointing to targeted grant programs and small business support delivered through the national Youth Economy Agency. He also highlighted ongoing investments in early childhood education and free emotional support services run by the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF) that address underlying mental and social drivers of violence.
UWP economist and former Babonneau electoral candidate Titus Preville had pushed back on the government’s inaction ahead of the briefing, describing rising crime as a crippling burden that harms individual residents, destabilizes local communities, and drags down the island’s economic performance. Preville argued that all sectors of Saint Lucian society—including community groups, religious institutions, business leaders, and political parties—have a responsibility to address the growing public safety crisis.
Pierre, however, dismissed the opposition’s calls as empty and politically motivated. He claimed that the criticism comes from failed electoral candidates seeking to exploit public anxiety over crime to win political support they did not earn in past elections and are unlikely to gain in future contests. “That is why I respond in that way, when rejected politicians try to use crime to get votes that they did not get, to get votes that they most likely will not get. This is what is distasteful,” Pierre said. Closing his remarks, the Prime Minister extended an open invitation to any stakeholders with concrete, actionable policy proposals to collaborate, reiterating that the opposition’s current criticism lacks substance.
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‘We Have to Do Something’: Joseph Moved by Autism Numbers, Launches Support Initiative
A revelatory encounter with the true scope of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Antigua and Barbuda has spurred Health Minister Michael Joseph to launch a landmark new support initiative: the national Cognitive Behaviour Centre, a dedicated facility designed to lift up autistic children and the families that care for them.
Joseph shared the story of how this project came to be during an interview on Pointe FM’s popular public affairs program *On Pointe*, explaining that his perspective shifted dramatically during recent national autism awareness outreach activities. As he pored over official prevalence data and listened first-hand to parents describe their daily struggles, the scale of the unmet need in the country became impossible to ignore.
“CDC data puts the current diagnosis rate at one in every 31 children. That was a wow moment for me — I had to stop and ask, what is really happening here?” Joseph told the program.
This awakening did not come out of nowhere: the minister had already started questioning existing understanding of ASD prevalence during his recent election campaign in the St. John’s Rural West constituency. Over just five weeks of door-to-door campaigning, he encountered eight separate families raising autistic children across a range of support needs — a number far higher than he had expected to see in a single electoral district.
Many of the parents he spoke with shared a common, crippling challenge: balancing full or part-time work with the intensive caregiving required for children with more severe forms of autism, with little to no systemic support to ease their burden. That weight hit even closer to home for Joseph when parents shared emotional, personal testimonies at a recent community autism event, pleading with the government to expand accessible support services across the country.
He recalled one mother’s plea: “She told me straight out that we need more help, that this is so hard for parents like me.”
Moved by these accounts, Joseph immediately began pushing for action, reaching out to senior health officials to launch planning for the new support center. “I said to Dr. Bell-Jarvis, we cannot wait — we have to do something for these families right now,” he said.
Under the current timeline, the center will launch operations initially out of the existing Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, with plans to transition to a purpose-built standalone facility as the project scales. To lay a strong foundational framework for the program, the health ministry is currently in talks to recruit an ASD services specialist who is originally from Antigua and has built expertise abroad to return home and lead the center’s setup. The government is also actively recruiting additional specialized staff, including occupational therapists and speech pathologists, to join the initiative.
In a promising development for long-term programming, an Atlanta-based university with a leading department focused on ASD research and social integration has already reached out to explore a formal partnership with Antigua and Barbuda’s new center.
Unlike narrow support models that only focus on clinical care for children, the new Cognitive Behaviour Centre will take a whole-system approach to support: it will serve autistic children, their families, local schools, and classroom educators alike. A core priority of the initiative is to map tailored educational pathways that match each child’s unique support needs, while helping mainstream schools build capacity to integrate autistic students wherever appropriate.
“Inclusion has to be our top priority,” Joseph emphasized. “But we also have to recognize that autism exists on a spectrum, and different children need different levels of targeted support to thrive.”
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Saharan dust eases but ‘health risks persist’ amid rising heat
After days of widespread Saharan dust plumes shrouding much of the Eastern Caribbean, concentrations of the mineral-heavy air pollution have finally begun to drop across Barbados, but public health leaders are issuing urgent reminders that lingering hazards paired with soaring summer temperatures continue to threaten at-risk populations.
For more than a week, a thick, hazy layer of dust carried thousands of miles from the Sahara Desert covered Barbados and neighboring island nations across the Eastern Caribbean. The unusual weather event cut visibility to low levels across the region and sparked immediate public concern over rising reports of respiratory distress. On Monday, meteorologist David Harding confirmed that dust levels across Barbados and its surrounding territorial waters had fallen far enough that official air quality advisories could be lifted.
However, Dr. Lynda Williams, president of the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP), has pushed back against any assumption that the public health threat has passed. In a detailed warning issued this week, Williams explained that trace amounts of dust remaining in the atmosphere, combined with the early onset of intense summer heat linked to climate change, will continue to strain vulnerable populations for the coming days.
Williams specifically targeted guidance to people living with chronic respiratory conditions, including asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic sinusitis. She urged these individuals to stay consistent with their doctor-prescribed treatment plans, emphasizing that ongoing maintenance medications — particularly steroid inhalers and nasal sprays — are critical to preventing severe, potentially life-threatening respiratory flare-ups triggered by residual dust.
“When conditions are poor like they were last week, even small amounts of dust can set off intense symptoms,” Williams noted. “For anyone who must go outside during periods of poor air quality, wearing a properly fitted mask and limiting time outdoors remain key protective measures.”
Beyond respiratory issues, Williams also highlighted a sharp uptick in other environment-linked health complaints across local medical facilities. She reported a surge in patients seeking care for dry eye, advising anyone prescribed lubricating eye drops to use them as directed to manage irritation. She also warned of an increase in skin problems, including general irritation, worsened eczema flare-ups, and unexpected severe sunburn. The hazy cloud cover created by lingering dust often creates a false sense of protection, she explained, allowing high levels of harmful ultraviolet radiation to still reach the skin despite the overcast appearance of the sky.
Turning to the growing threat of extreme summer heat, Williams tied the more intense and frequent heat events the Caribbean is now experiencing directly to human-caused climate change. “This isn’t just a one-time issue,” she said. “Rising heat will be an ongoing, annual public health challenge for our region, and the unusual Saharan dust outbreaks we’re seeing more often are just one more symptom of a changing climate.”
To combat heat-related illness, Williams stressed that consistent proper hydration remains the single most effective preventive measure. “The best defense against heat sickness is staying hydrated,” she explained. “Clean water is the top option, and coconut water can also help replace lost electrolytes for most people. But anyone living with chronic kidney disease should always talk to their doctor before adding electrolyte supplements to their routine, as these can cause dangerous complications for that group.”
Williams also voiced particular concern for two groups that often underestimate heat risk: outdoor workers and competitive or recreational athletes. She noted that local clinics have already seen a rise in patients presenting with kidney stones, a painful condition that is strongly linked to chronic dehydration from prolonged unprotected heat exposure. Many people do not notice they are becoming dehydrated until serious symptoms develop, she explained, making proactive water intake critical.
She closed by urging anyone participating in outdoor labor, sports training, or other strenuous outdoor activity to schedule regular water breaks and monitor for early signs of heat-related illness, to prevent life-threatening complications like heatstroke.
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What is a health system, and where do you fit in it?
When asked to define a health system, most people immediately point to the tangible, visible elements: the local general hospital, the neighborhood health center, the clinician they visit when illness strikes. This common framing is understandable—these are the touchpoints that patients interact with directly, the parts of care that we experience firsthand. But according to Grenadian health expert Dr. Ishma Harford, a functional health system runs far deeper than the surface-level components the public sees, much like an anthill where only a fraction of the colony’s complex infrastructure is visible above ground.
To illustrate this dynamic, Harford draws an analogy between health systems and anthills. From the outside, any casual observer can see worker ants moving back and forth, foraging for food and tending to the colony’s daily needs. What remains hidden from view is the extensive network of underground tunnels, storage chambers, and coordinated organizational structures that make all that above-ground activity possible. The ant carrying a leaf across the anthill’s surface is just the final, visible outcome of a massive, unseen infrastructure—just as a nurse attending to a patient at a health center is the endpoint of a sprawling, underrecognized system that shapes every interaction.
Many of the most frustrating problems patients face do not originate at the point of care, Harford argues. When a patient waits multiple hours to be seen by a provider, the issue is not simply a slow reception desk. When a needed medication goes out of stock, the breakdown does not start at the hospital pharmacy. These negative patient experiences are just surface-level symptoms of deeper failures rooted in the hidden layers of the system: inadequate public funding for healthcare, underinvestment in ongoing workforce training, and unaccountable governance structures that lack mechanisms for course correction when problems arise.
Worse still, Harford notes that some systemic failures do not stay hidden. Many gaps in care are identified, documented, and debated by stakeholders, yet no action is ever taken to address them. This inaction, he emphasizes, is also a systemic failure—and it is perhaps the most inexcusable one of all.
This is why adopting a whole-system perspective that examines both visible service delivery and hidden underlying structures matters so much. Taking this view is not about excusing poor quality care; it is about identifying the true root causes of negative patient experiences. The care a patient receives on the surface is shaped long before they walk into a health facility, shaped by decisions made behind closed doors and debates about resource allocation that patients are never invited to join. Understanding this is not an abstract academic exercise: it equips patients and advocates to direct their questions to the right actors and hold decision-makers accountable for failures.
Back in 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) outlined six core building blocks that form the foundation of every functional health system, covering everything from the healthcare workforce to medication access, health technology, leadership, and governance. In the WHO framework, patients were positioned as the end goal of the entire system—the final outcome that all six building blocks exist to serve. But in recent years, public health researchers have pushed back against this framing, arguing that treating patients only as the final destination of care allows system designers, funders, and governing bodies to ignore patient voices, needs, and lived experiences throughout the process of building and running the system.
Harford goes even further in his argument: patients are not just the end goal of a health system—they are its core premise. The most critical component of any health system is you: every current or future patient who relies on care. Without patients, a health system has no function, no mandate, no reason to exist. Every budget line, every policy, every structural building block exists for one single purpose: to protect and improve your health. Harford argues that systems must be built around this central fact, not treat it as an afterthought added once the structure is already in place.
In closing, Harford poses a central question for Grenada’s healthcare system: Are the core building blocks of Grenadian healthcare actually structured around the needs of patients? And if they are not, what steps must stakeholders take to steer the system back on course?
Dr. Harford is a medical clinician with five years of hands-on experience working within Grenada’s health system, and currently a Master’s candidate in Health Analysis, Policy and Management. His column *The Health Imperative* is an educational, politically neutral platform exploring the meaning of health, the systems that deliver care, and the broader implications of health policy for communities. NOW Grenada notes that it is not responsible for the opinions and statements shared by contributing writers, and provides a channel for readers to report abusive content.
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Shaveesa Gasper Among Seven Delegates Unveiled for Queen of Carnival 2026 Competition
One of the most anticipated annual cultural events in Antigua and Barbuda, the iconic Queen of Carnival Competition, has taken a major step forward with the official reveal of its 2026 competitor lineup. Event organizers have confirmed seven delegates who will compete for the prestigious crown, with the 2026 edition centered around the evocative theme “Rhythm of a Queen: The Beat of Her Journey.”
This public announcement comes after a rigorous multi-stage selection process, where organizers evaluated hundreds of aspiring contestants to narrow down the final field of contenders vying for one of the Caribbean nation’s most celebrated carnival titles. Each of the seven finalists brings a unique background, skill set, and personal story to the competition.
The 2026 lineup opens with Denesha Samuel, an alumna of Clare Hall Secondary School who identifies as an outgoing extrovert and one half of an identical twin pair. Next is Kenesha James, a graduate of Antigua State College who continued her higher education at the University of the West Indies; James counts open-water swimming among her greatest passions, with a deep lifelong connection to the ocean. Queenela Williams, another Antigua State College graduate, has a strong creative streak, having once designed and built a wearable top entirely out of fresh live flowers for an art project. St. Anthony’s Secondary School graduate Christine Powell developed a self-taught knack for garment design and sewing, building her craft through independent practice and experimentation.
Rounding out the field are three additional competitors with distinct interests: Shaveesa Gasper, a graduate of Jamaica’s Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts who is well-known for her love of coastal living and coconut culture; Aaliyah Taylor, an alumna of Florida International University who previously competed in the Junior Calypso Competition under the performance alias “Singing Lily;” and Zaine Frederick, a graduate of the University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus and an avid basketball fan who publicly supports NBA superstar LeBron James.
Organizers emphasized that the 2026 cohort reflects a rich diversity of talents, backgrounds, and personal interests that align with the competition’s core mission. A staple of Antigua Carnival for decades, the Queen of Carnival Competition is far more than a beauty pageant: it offers emerging young leaders a platform to demonstrate their critical thinking, creative vision, performance skill, and command of a live audience.
In the months leading up to the main competition, the seven delegates will take part in a full slate of community engagements, public appearances, and pre-event activities designed to prepare them for the final showdown. As planning for the 2026 Antigua Carnival continues, organizers noted that further details regarding competition scheduling, event locations, and ticket information will be released to the public in the coming weeks.
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OPINION: Antigua and Barbuda Lost For Good
The painful, centuries-long dispossession of Indigenous American peoples stands as one of the darkest chapters in Western hemisphere history. What began with the welcome of foreign settlers eventually ended in the systematic seizure of Native lands — through brute force, calculated deception, and the full endorsement of state governments controlled by the growing immigrant population. What followed was a cultural collapse: from the Trail of Tears, the deadly 1830s forced relocation under President Andrew Jackson that killed thousands of Indigenous people in winter’s freezing conditions, to the modern reality of reservations plagued by systemic poverty, rampant addiction, political corruption, underfunded education, elevated rates of violent crime, and persistent erasure of traditional identity. Today, Indigenous Americans face disproportionately high rates of mental illness, hold the lowest-waging jobs in their regions, and have largely faded from mainstream public consciousness, their once-vibrant cultures reduced to marginalized stereotypes. As the old adage warns: those who fail to study history are doomed to repeat it. For the people of Antigua and Barbuda, this warning is not abstract history — it is an unfolding crisis that current leaders are ignoring, at the cost of the nation’s very identity.
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Antigua Cup Promises Excitement, Talent Exposure
Organized by the Young Warriors Football Club, one of Antigua’s leading grassroots soccer development groups, the highly anticipated third edition of the Antigua Cup International Youth Tournament is scheduled to take place between July 5 and 12, 2026. All matches will be hosted at the Buckley’s Primary School Playing Field, located in the quiet community of Buckley’s Village.
Marketed as the most thrilling youth soccer showcase of the summer season, the Antigua Cup has built a strong regional and international reputation over its first two stagings, drawing competitive teams from both Antigua and overseas locations. As of the latest announcement from organizers, with 35 days remaining until the first match kicks off, dozens of squads have already locked in their spots across the tournament’s five core boys’ age divisions: under-9, under-11, under-13, under-15, and under-17.
In a push to expand opportunities for female youth athletes, event planners have made targeted outreach a priority this year to grow participation in the newly expanded girls’ division, which will feature three age groups: under-11, under-15, and under-19.
For clubs and youth teams interested in competing, the registration window for both boys’ and girls’ divisions remains open until June 15, when sign-ups will officially close. No late applications will be accepted after this deadline, according to the official statement from the organizing committee.
In a formal press release shared by Young Warriors, club representatives noted, “We are thrilled to welcome another cohort of talented young players to Antigua for a full week of high-intensity, exciting football. This tournament is as much about giving emerging talent valuable exposure to elite competition as it is about celebrating the sport we love.”
To reward outstanding performance, the organizing committee has put together a robust awards structure: the first-place, second-place, and third-place teams from every age group in both divisions will take home custom trophies. Beyond team honors, individual accolades will also be awarded to the standout goalkeeper, defender, midfielder, and top goal scorer in each age category.
With the men’s FIFA World Cup set to get underway just months before the Antigua Cup, excitement is already building across Antigua and the wider Caribbean region. Young local players and visiting squads alike are already gearing up to test their skills on the pitch, tapping into the global buzz surrounding the world’s biggest soccer event to fuel their preparation for the tournament.
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Constructive Dismissal: Employees Must Know Their Rights
For months, workers across multiple workplaces have been quietly coming forward with alarming accounts of unfair, hostile treatment on the job. Far too many suffer in silence, held back by a widespread misconception: that only formal termination by an employer leaves workers eligible for legal protection. This harmful misunderstanding leaves vulnerable employees stuck between enduring abuse and giving up any chance of legal recourse – but this is not how employment law actually works.
A little-known but well-established legal principle called constructive dismissal exists to address exactly these scenarios. Under this framework, if an employer’s behavior creates a working environment so unbearable, demeaning, hostile or fundamentally unfair that a worker has no real choice but to resign, the law can recognize that forced resignation as equivalent to an unlawful employer dismissal. This is not some untested theoretical concept: it has been firmly codified through binding industrial court precedent.
The 2012 landmark case *Wayne Weaver v St. James’s Club*, case reference 35, laid out clear, enduring legal standards that define when a constructive dismissal claim is valid. The court ruled that four conditions must be met for a claim to hold: first, the employer’s actions must show they have no intention of upholding their end of the employment contract; second, that their behavior has severely undermined or completely destroyed the core contractual employment relationship; third, that the worker’s decision to resign is directly caused by the employer’s unacceptable conduct; and fourth, that the worker does not continue in their role for so long after the problematic behavior that this could be interpreted as acceptance of the unfair treatment.
These established legal guidelines fill a critical gap in worker protection, because many employees still do not understand that an employer can effectively end an employment relationship without ever issuing a formal termination letter. A wide range of common workplace abuses qualify as potential grounds for a constructive dismissal claim. These include repeated bullying and harassment, public humiliation, arbitrary demotion without cause, unapproved cuts to pay, targeting workers for retaliation after they file formal complaints, unfair disciplinary action, sudden unilateral changes to core terms of employment, and any behavior that erodes or destroys the mutual trust and confidence required for an employment relationship.
In many reported cases, workers face tactics explicitly designed to push them into resigning voluntarily: constant threats of termination, unfair targeting after they speak up about wrongdoing, deliberate social and professional isolation in the workplace, and pressure to resign to avoid the employer facing liability for an unfair dismissal claim.
For employers, this legal framework carries an important reminder: while managerial authority is a standard part of business operations, that authority is not unlimited. All workplace decisions and actions must be carried out fairly, reasonably, and in full alignment with national labour codes, foundational principles of natural justice, and widely accepted good practices for industrial relations.
For employees considering filing a constructive dismissal claim, there is a key caveat: these claims depend heavily on solid evidence to succeed. Workers who experience persistent unfair or hostile treatment are therefore advised to systematically document all relevant incidents, preserve all work-related correspondence, take detailed notes of any relevant meetings, and consult an experienced employment law professional before moving forward with resignation.
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LISTEN: Senator Shoul Says Wehner Is on His ‘Hit List’ After Observer Radio Interview
A fresh political feud has erupted in Antigua and Barbuda’s Senate following a contentious parliamentary walkout last week, with a ruling party senator declaring a first-term opposition legislator has landed himself on his political “hit list” after public criticism of the governing administration and the Senate’s top official.
Government senator Philip Shoul recently opened up about the falling-out during an on-air discussion on local outlet Pointe FM, explaining that he initially extended an olive branch to new opposition Senator Jonathan Wehner when the rookie lawmaker took up his post. Shoul said he had been willing to give Wehner space to find his footing as a first-term parliamentarian, even encouraging him to carve out an independent political identity. “I looked across the aisle and I said to him, ‘Do me a favor. I’m really happy that you’re here. You’re young. You have a lot of potential. Be your own man,’” Shoul recalled of his initial outreach.
That goodwill, however, evaporated within hours of Wehner’s swearing-in ceremony, according to Shoul. The new opposition senator appeared on local Observer Radio that same afternoon, where he delivered sharp public rebukes of the ruling Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) and Senate President Alincia Williams-Grant. Wehner later joined other opposition lawmakers in walking out of the parliamentary session, part of a larger protest over a procedural dispute involving Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle, who attempted to participate in a joint sitting before completing his required oath of allegiance.
Shoul argues that Wehner’s choice to publicly criticize Williams-Grant – the same Senate president he will have to work with for the duration of his term – was a unnecessary and unwise misstep. The public attack, he said, has completely changed his approach to the young politician. “You know, if this young man had one ounce of sense, right? Because I also know right now he’s on my hit list. That’s what I say right now,” Shoul stated firmly.
Previously, Shoul said he had planned to hold back from challenging Wehner during his first major address to the Senate, a common courtesy extended to new parliamentarians making their maiden parliamentary contributions. But that plan is now off the table, he confirmed. “I had planned to leave him in his maiden presentation, right? Just leave him alone. But I’m not going to do it,” he added.
Beyond the procedural dispute, Shoul also pushed back against Wehner’s recent criticism of the ABLP administration’s budget estimates, dismissing the opposition lawmaker’s comments as uninformed. “He talks about budget estimates — that’s his favorite word. He doesn’t understand what a budget estimate is,” Shoul claimed.
The latest exchange of barbs marks a deepening of the political tensions that grew out of last week’s walkout, which has already sparked an ongoing war of words between government and opposition figures over how parliamentary proceedings were handled during the opening session.