UPP leader predicts 12-seat win in election

Antigua goes to the polls on Tuesday March 23 and BBC Caribbean Service spoke with Baldwin Spencer, the leader of the opposition United Progressive Party which is challenging the ruling Antigua Labour Party headed by Lester Bird.

Mr Spencer told BBC Caribbean Service's Bertram Niles that his party will be focusing on managing the economy and integrity in governance.

He was highly critical of the Lester Bird government in this regard, saying that any attempt the ALP has made to clean up is too little.

The Antigua opposition leader is confidently predicting that his party will win 12 of the 17 seats in the election.

Bertram Niles: We spoke to Prime Minister Bird and one of the points he made was that the UPP manifesto is promising millions of dollars of giveaways, and you're doing this despite the country's difficult fiscal situation and it seems almost reckless, how do you respond to that?
Baldwin Spencer: Well clearly, we're not being reckless, what we've done is examined this situation extremely closely.
As we say in the UPP, our motto is 'People First' and what we intend to do with this package is brighten the lives of all our people, because the co-philosophy of the UPP is that the principle purpose of government is to improve the life of its citizens and to put people first in all planning and policies and to equitably use all the resources available to the government to do the greatest good for the greatest number of our citizens and residents.

What we've done with this manifesto is to clearly outline what needs to happen at this time in the economy of Antigua and Barbuda, where people are suffering and we’re saying there must be some caring, there must be some strategy to assist the most vulnerable in our society and in so doing, we will also be energising the economy in some areas.

BN: But if I must say so, that sounds like rhetoric, what he essentially wants to know is how you can do that given the Antiguan fiscal situation. The government is having difficulty paying its bills, how are you going to be able to give the incentives you are planning.
BS: All that we are saying is the revenue base of this government is about EC$500 million per annum and all that we're saying is it's a question of how you distribute the resources available. We have a situation in this country where substantial amounts of money do not find their way in to the treasury, into the consolidated fund and these are taxpayers' dollars.
We are saying that if these funds are prudently managed and are distributed properly, we can do these programmes to assist the people of Antigua and Barbuda.
There is nothing in this programme that is going to create any dislocation, we can look at the existing situation and improve the position of the most vulnerable in society by doing what we are doing.
If what we know in terms of the revenues that are being collected by the government - half a billion dollars - we are in a position to address these issues and address them in interest of the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

BN: So you're not going to be sending home any workers?
BS: We are not embarking on any retrenchment of government employees. What we do say however, is that we are going to carry out - within a matter of months of a UPP administration - a forensic investigation looking at the human resource needs of the public service and armed with that information, we will be in a better position to determine how we go forward.
We know that there must be public sector transformation in Antigua and Barbuda but we will not be embarking on any wholesale retrenchment of public sector workers.

BN: But you can't rule it out?
BS: I will certainly rule out wholesale retrenchment of public employees, I will certainly rule that out.
Certain things will have to be done after we would have carried out the necessary forensic investigation and we are armed with all the relevant facts. Clearly restructuring is necessary, clearly transformation in the public sector is a must, but we will not be embarking on any wholesale retrenchment of any public employees.
We will be engaged in retraining and redeployment and we will look at a number of areas where we can cut out waste and extravagance in government and we will make sure that the people's tax dollars are captured in the consolidated fund to be used for their own benefit.

BN: You raised questions about extravagance and management of the economy, and people have been saying that the ALP has generally been credited with managing the affairs of Antigua - certainly in terms of the economy - quite well. The country is supposedly doing quite well, certainly better than some of its neighbours.
BS: I don't know about that. We have a debt of EC$2.6 billion and in some instances, very little to show for it in real terms. So the management of the economy of Antigua and Barbuda on the basis of the statistical information and in terms of debt and other services, no reasonable person can say the management has been prudent or good.
And that is one of the issues here, the whole question of whether Antigua and Barbuda's economy is being properly managed with a EC$2.6 billion debt and with a number of other things not operating in the best interest of the people of Antigua and Barbuda.

BN: You're saying the debt is crippling, but debt will always be there.
BS: Oh yes, and we recognise that we'll always have debt but what we're saying is the debt has never been managed.
This government has been reckless in its expenditure over the years, and it has engaged in a number of activities where we can argue that there has been serious impropriety on the part of senior members of successive ALP administrations.

BN: But the Prime Minister says he's asked his candidates to sign anti-corruption pledges, he's acted in terms of the medical benefits scandal and he's acted against those officials that have been implicated in some form or fashion. He has signed various conventions and he's made efforts to clean up his administration.
BS: Very little, too late. It's as if you're trying to close the door when the horse has already bolted. The fact of the matter is there've been no legislative measures implemented by successive ALP governments to address the question of prevention of corruption and integrity in governance and nothing has happened.
For 15 years now the ALP administrations have been stating they will pass legislation to effectively address this issue and it has not been done. It is now going to take a UPP administration within months of coming to office to do what is required by passing integrity legislation and anti-corruption legislation.

BN: The Prime Minister says he expect to win 11 of the 17 seats, what do you say about that?
BS: Well, that's an expectation that will not be fulfilled. As far as the ALP is concerned, the UPP is poised to be the next government of Antigua and Barbuda. We believe we can win at least 12 seats in this election and the possibility is that we will win even more.

BN: You are quite confident?
BS: I am very confident indeed. As long as the elections are free and fair and they do not attempt as they have done in the past to steal the election. And we have heard of a number of situations that have just recently crept in that they are doing as much as they can to manipulate the process and steal the election but it will not happen this time around.
The people of Antigua and Barbuda will not allow it.

BN: Thank you Mr Spencer.