Malaka Parker Rejoins the United Progressive Party, Calls for Renewal and Accountability.
Former senator and community activist Malaka Parker has announced her decision to rejoin the United Progressive Party (UPP) after a two-year absence from active politics, citing the need to help rebuild a fractured opposition and to confront what she describes as “a decaying political culture and failed governance under the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP)”.
“Our country deserves better – better leadership, better governance, and a renewed sense of national purpose,” Parker said. “The ABLP’s decade in power has been marked by corruption, arrogance, and the erosion of accountability. What was promised as an economic powerhouse has become an economy plagued by inequality, rising costs, and deepening public frustration. Add to this a society governed by intimidation and subjugation and a ballooning public sector, emphasizing the failure to diversify and expand the economy. This is not an Antigua and Barbuda we should accept”.
Parker, left the UPP after a bitter internal leadership race in 2016 and co-founded the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) before stepping away from politics. My return to the UPP is driven by conviction, not convenience”, she declared.
“The UPP remains the most credible vehicle for national renewal,” she stated. “I am returning to join the real effort torebuild, refocus, and re-energize the movement: to stregthen public confidence and reaffirm that honest, inclusive, people-centred leadership is still possible.”
Parker pledged to continue advocating for transparency, equality, and civic empowerment, asserting that she was happy to stand with actorsmin the UPP who have demonstrated their resillience, their integrity and their capacity to govern Antigua and Barbuda in line with the aspirations of the people.
“Antigua and Barbuda stands at a defining moment. It is time to rein in the unruly and the unconsciounable and loudly reject the vulgar disrespect towards you the people. Join me!”
