标签： Antigua and Barbuda

A months-long pay dispute affecting frontline public workers in Antigua and Barbuda is moving toward resolution, after Prime Minister Gaston Browne publicly ordered government agencies to cut through bureaucratic red tape and speed up outstanding salary and overtime payments to Public Works employees.

Speaking during his weekly public radio program, the *Browne and Browne Show*, on Saturday, Browne confirmed that a number of recently hired workers, who joined the Public Works department within the last two to three months, had not yet received their first salaries. Additionally, long-standing staff across the department have waited weeks or longer for earned overtime compensation that has yet to be processed.

The Prime Minister traced the root of the delay to cumbersome internal government bureaucracy, rather than a lack of available funds. In response to growing worker frustration, he has issued formal directives to three key bodies — the Permanent Secretary of the Public Works department, Public Works internal leadership, and the national Treasury Department — to prioritize processing all outstanding payments and cut unnecessary procedural hold-ups.

“All we did was ask the PS and the staff to expedite, as well as the Treasury Department, so they can be paid,” Browne explained to listeners during the broadcast.

Midway through the program, the Prime Minister updated the public on initial progress: he had just received new information confirming that all overtime payments through the month of January had already been fully processed. With that backlog cleared, he instructed officials to turn their full attention to processing the remaining payment vouchers to bring all outstanding overtime payments fully up to date.

The government’s action comes directly after a public demonstration by Public Works employees, who gathered recently to highlight their concerns over delayed wages and overtime that had created financial hardship for affected workers. Browne noted that he had already held one-on-one meetings with the protesting workers to hear their grievances directly before issuing the formal directive to resolve the issue.

As of Saturday’s announcement, the Prime Minister has not shared a specific firm deadline by which all outstanding payments will be fully disbursed, nor has he disclosed the exact number of workers impacted by the pay delays.

A devastating tragedy has struck a well-known political family in Buffalo, New York, where 21-year-old Kenyah S. Potter, son of former United Progressive Party (UPP) candidate Gladys Potter and her husband Mark Potter, has died following a reported drowning incident at Buffalo Harbor State Park.

Kenyah, an Antiguan national who was pursuing his studies and residing in West Seneca near Buffalo, went missing after he entered the outer harbor waters of the park just before midnight on a Saturday. The young man had only celebrated his milestone 21st birthday less than two weeks before the fatal incident, adding an extra layer of heartbreak to his family’s loss.

Immediately after reports of Kenyah’s disappearance, local emergency response teams launched a large-scale, multi-agency search operation. The collaborative effort included personnel from the Buffalo Fire Department, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, the Buffalo Police Marine Unit, and the department’s specialized Underwater Recovery Team, all working through the night to locate the missing student.

Rescue teams recovered Kenyah’s body just after midnight, only a few hours after he first went missing. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office was called to the scene to process the incident, and authorities have confirmed that an official autopsy will be conducted to formally confirm the cause of death and clarify the full circumstances surrounding the tragedy.

The United Progressive Party has publicly shared its grief with the Potter family in an official statement released following the recovery of Kenyah’s body. Party leadership, the Central Executive committee, and all rank-and-file members of the UPP said they were standing with the Potters in mourning. “We watched [Kenyah] grow from boy to young man,” the statement read, adding, “We extend sincere condolences and sympathy at this difficult time, as you all remain in our thoughts and prayers.”

A promising young Antiguan student has lost his life in a tragic drowning incident at Buffalo Harbor State Park, leaving his family, including his mother — a former political candidate — and tight-knit community of friends reeling from overwhelming grief.

Kenyah S. Potter, 21, who had only marked his milestone 21st birthday less than two weeks before the fatal incident, was a resident and student in West Seneca, New York. According to official incident reports, he entered the park’s outer harbor waters shortly before midnight on Saturday, and never resurfaced above the water after going in.

Local authorities launched a large-scale coordinated search operation immediately after receiving the emergency call that Potter had gone missing. Multiple response agencies joined the effort, including personnel from the Buffalo Fire Department, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, the Buffalo Police Marine Unit, and the department’s specialized Underwater Recovery Team.

After hours of intensive searching, Potter’s body was recovered by members of the marine unit and underwater recovery team just after midnight Sunday. The Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office was dispatched to the recovery site to begin processing the case, and a formal autopsy has been scheduled to confirm the official cause and specific circumstances surrounding his death.

Potter’s mother, Gladys Potter, who previously ran as a candidate for Antigua and Barbuda’s United Progressive Party, is now confronting the devastating loss of her son. Since news of the tragedy broke, an outpouring of condolences and shared grief has flooded in from relatives, classmates, and friends, who all recall Kenyah as a gifted, driven young person with a full, bright future ahead of him.