ST. JOHN’S, Antigua and Barbuda – 9th August, 2015……….Prime Minister the Hon. Gaston Browne has told political leader of the Opposition United Progressive Party Harold Lovell to produce evidence of the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party’s involvement in a human trafficking ring or Shut Up!
The country’s leader was responding to calls by the opposition for Immigration Minister the Hon. Steadroy Benjamin to resign and pave the way for an investigation into the human trafficking ring which started under the opposition United Progressive Party.
“Harold Lovell and other members of the UPP indicate that they have evidence to confirm that there were (practices of) wrongdoing by the Minister (Steadroy Benjamin) and I challenge them to provide that information to the media,” Prime Minister Browne said.
“On the basis that they provide the information, then I will be in a position to act. When clearly there is no evidence to support their claim, therefore I am not in the position to take any action. And even though the Minister indicated his willingness to leave the position temporarily, that might construe that there was some form of wrongdoing; and as I said before, there is no evidence to that effect,” he noted.
“Harold Lovell does not run this country; the country is run by Gaston Browne. And I have nothing at all to be ashamed about. I have a mandate by the people to run the country. Provide the evidence. And if you cant provide the evidence, then just put up and shut up!”
We present below the full text of Prime Minister Browne’s statement on the issue:
“Harold Lovell and other members of the UPP indicate that they have evidence to confirm that there were (practices of) wrongdoing by the Minister (Steadroy Benjamin) and I challenge them to provide that information to the media,” Prime Minister Browne said.
“On the basis that they provide the information, then I will be in a position to act. When clearly there is no evidence to support their claim, therefore I am not in the position to take any action. And even though the Minister indicated his willingness to leave the position temporarily, that might construe that there was some form of wrongdoing; and as I said before, there is no evidence to that effect,” he noted.
Now we have been investigating this for the last couple of months. What they have done is literally prejudice our investigation. There are individuals who we are about to conduct sting operations on them (alleged smugglers) and they allow this thing to be blown out of proportion and now become a public issue when we had clandestine investigations taking place. In fact the who issue of a smuggling ring dates back many years, and even though the US government had brought this to the attention of the UPP government in the past, they refused to act. Now that we have acted and have literally broken up that ring, they are trying to shame us.
I have said it time and time again, I say we have nothing to be ashamed about; we did what we had to do. We intervened and made a lot of changes and, we have literally brought charges against a couple of individuals and were able to stop the flow of Syrian immigrants into the country. We did what we had to do and, we acted expeditiously. We have nothing to be ashamed about!
In fact, it was the UPP government that created the problem that created the problem that we are facing today, because they did not execute a proper visa regulatory programme. The system is so lucid in the country that it was not only abused by Syrians, but also by many others including Cubans. In fact, the situation of migrant smuggling literally peeked in April 2014 when 32 Cubans in one single month were smuggled into the country and ended up in the United States. They (the UPP) first of all need to account to the people of Antigua and Barbuda as to why they failed to act; or whether or not they were conflicts.
Clearly, in our case, as soon as information was received I acted immediately on the spot; and I made sure certain changes were made in the immigration department. The entire visa waiver process was eliminated. So now the officials in the immigration, they cannot give visa waivers; they must come to the Cabinet and (do so) only under exceptional circumstances. We have strengthened the visa process and have placed a brand new system in place. This has only happened in one year, when this has been taking place since 2007.
Harold Lovell is just looking publicity and they (Lovell and his UPP surrogates) do so even if it means undermining the image of the country. No terrorist has come to the country, but they are out there stating so by giving wrong information to make it seem as if we (the Government) are encouraging terrorists to come to the country. That’s why we invited the U.S. Government to come because they could not have come unless we had invited them. They (The UPP) are trying to say they came to investigate because there are terrorist here and that is not the case. They (the smuggled migrants) are not terrorists.
This is the type of misinformation that is going around the country that they (Lovell and the UPP) are pedaling our there. They are trying to stain the image of the country. The operates of the UPP called a U.S. Senator and gave him this information and he only repeated what he only repeated what he was told by the UPP. They then played it on Observer (radio) to start a panic in the country. Harold Lovell does not run this country. This country is run by Gaston Browne. And I have nothing at all to be ashamed about. I have a mandate by the people to run the country. He is wasting his time and it will be an exercise in futility. Provide the evidence. And if you cant provide the evidence, then just put up and shut up! (Ends)