Antigua and Barbuda celebrated its 40th independence anniversary on 1 November but the Barbuda Member of Parliament took the opportunity to complain that the island does not get treated fairly. There are roughly 90,000 residents in Antigua and less than 2,000 in Barbuda.
For a long time, there has been a strained relationship between the two islands and how underdeveloped Barbuda is. MP Trevor Walker has claimed that nothing much has changed in the last four decades.
According to Walker, while Antigua readily felt the many benefits of independence, Barbuda has benefited little, with the exception of 2004-14.
Walker said: “Barbudans never really, other than the 2004 to 2014 when there was a change in government, had anything to celebrate.”
That’s when the United Progressive Party wrestled power from the Antigua Labour Party, which had been in power since independence, before losing control in the 2014 general elections. Only then, he explained, did Barbuda experience any kind of meaningful development. He mentioned that apart from that time, no real development on the island has been done in terms of roads, schools and general infrastructure.
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