Upp Caretaker – By Kisean Joseph
Upp Caretaker Backs Historic
United Progressive Party (UPP) caretaker for St. John’s Rural North, Malaka Parker, is throwing her support behind Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle’s effort to table three private member bills in parliament — a move she describes as historically significant for governance and accountability in Antigua and Barbuda.
The three bills, which the UPP has formally advised the Clerk of Parliament to place on the Order Paper, call for the establishment of joint select committees to oversee the Public Works Department, Public Health and Social Transformation, and the Social Security Board.
Speaking on Observer Radio, Parker said the initiative represents a departure from political posturing toward substantive legislative work. “Private member bills, basically in a nutshell, is legislation or proposals that are submitted by the opposition,” she said. “We have not been able to find anywhere else, really, in the Caribbean where this has been done or is being done.”
Parker said joint select committees are a standard feature of parliamentary democracies, drawing comparisons to congressional oversight in the United States, where committees have the authority to compel testimony and demand documentation from public officials. She argued that the same principle should apply in Antigua and Barbuda.
“Democracy is not winner-takes-all,” Parker said. “It is a collective endeavor, and the collective endeavor takes place at a parliamentary level where we provide parliamentary oversight — we bring air and sunlight to the issues affecting these people.”
The push for a Public Works oversight committee comes in the wake of what the UPP has dubbed the “Vehiclegate” scandal — allegations of widespread procurement irregularities and unaccounted vehicle acquisitions within the department. Parker said the proposed committee would be empowered to conduct a comprehensive vehicle audit, review procurement practices, and examine supervisory management processes for bulk asset acquisitions.
On Public Health, Parker painted a troubling picture of conditions at the nation’s primary medical facility, citing reports from staff and patients of inadequate equipment, poor coordination, non-functional community clinics, and a shortage of hospital beds. She said the situation demands parliamentary-level scrutiny beyond what the ministry alone can provide.
The third bill targets Social Security — an issue Parker said warrants urgency. She pointed to the fund’s ninth actuarial report, which she said indicated the fund was not in good financial health, and alleged that the Prime Minister has failed to lay required financial statements and actuarial reports before parliament as mandated by law. Under current legislation, an actuarial review must be conducted and tabled in parliament every three years.
Parker also referenced a longstanding UPP allegation that the Labour Party removed approximately $550 million from the Social Security fund during its prior administration — funds she said were never properly accounted for.
The UPP caretaker acknowledged that the Labour Party holds the parliamentary majority, raising questions about whether the bills will receive a fair hearing. She pointed to a prior instance in which Barbuda Representative Trevor Walker tabled a private member bill seeking changes to the parliamentary oath — a bill the government rejected outright before later adopting the same changes on its own terms.
“There’s only one other time that a private member’s bill has been brought to Parliament,” Parker said, “and they rejected it outright. And then we see now that they came back last year to change the oath as though it was a genuine and sincere idea.”
Parker and the UPP are also calling on the public to attend the upcoming sitting of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, February 26.
