Press Statement - Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party

MEDIA STATEMENT

            

The Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) is painfully aware that criminals with guns are causing death and suffering among many families across the nation. Firearms are seemingly easy to acquire, and reckless criminals are unleashing their madness on innocent people who are going about their ordinary business.

            

On Saturday afternoon, July 20, 2013, one gunman shot to death Edwin Williams, a 29 year-old worker at Zephy’s Ottos Multi-Tire Shop; and, during the criminal act, the gun-toting criminal also shot Zephy Joseph, the proprietor of the tire shop, in the abdomen. The body of 29 year-old Edwin Williams is at Barnes Funeral Home, while Zephy remains in critical condition at the Mount St. John Medical Center.

           

Less than 12 hours later, in the wee hours of Sunday morning, another shooting in Cooks Extension left nineteen-year old Tevin Edwards dead. He was seated in a shop with friends when another gunman unleashed a hail of bullets, striking the youth in the upper body, killing him on the scene.

            

Antigua and Barbuda is suffering a wave of gun crimes that is spiraling out of control, the Political Leader of the ABLP, the Honourable Gaston Browne, has commented. “Our small island-state is becoming like Dodge City. Almost every day, criminals with guns are causing death and suffering in families, and spreading insecurity and utter disbelief among the entire population.”

            

The Political Leader of the ABLP, the Honourable Gaston Browne, sees an inherent weakness in the current administration, especially in its inability to curtail criminal activity; he vows to make fighting violent crime, especially, a top priority for the new administration after the 2014 general elections. During the past nine years, a wave of crime has engulfed Antigua. Robberies of businesses are especially common, but many families have also been attacked in their homes by criminals with guns.

            

The ABLP attributes a significant portion of the criminal activity to joblessness and under-employment, especially among young males. The ABLP therefore intends to create meaningful new jobs and new economic opportunities that will absorb the thousands of youngsters who are currently without hope. At the same time, the ABLP intends to provide law enforcement with the tools required to take the guns off the streets and to discourage other youth from trying to acquire guns.

            

A gun-for-money/no-questions-asked amnesty has been tried in the Point and Villa communities, and the effectiveness of that program, which was initiated by the Parliamentary Representative for City West, Hon. Gaston Browne, is still being assessed. A Parliamentary Sub-Committee on Crime was also established more than three years ago with the Honourable Baldwin Spencer as the Chair; that Sub-Committee has never met. The challenge is to put in place several new and successful solutions, rather than to suffer despair, try nothing new, and leave the Antigua and Barbuda nation suffering loss and pain, the ABLP Leader has said. The ABLP will shortly be convening another Symposium on Crime.