Get Real

First, it was scrapping the voter identification process for its members. Now, it's a retraction and clarification of the meaning of permanent amnesty. The opposition Antigua Labour Party is either out of touch, or is simply taking the citizens of Antigua & Barbuda for fools; or both.

Come on Lester Bird. You are supposed to be the leader of an institution that has been in operation for more than half a century.
You must know better.

If you are out of touch, please give it up and let someone else take over the reins of the party. This is just too insulting.

When it was announced that the ALP had imported a machine capable of printing fake voter ID cards, your deputy, Gaston Browne, denied any such doing. In light of the evidence presented, Browne vehemently denied any hanky panky.

Browne barked and demanded apologies from anyone who would suggest any criminal act by the angelic ALP. He even suggested that it was the party's custom to print party ID's, a process which had been "outsourced in the past".
What Browne failed to say was who these ID's were outsourced to, or to show those ID's that had been printed. Had the ALP had no ulterior motive, why suspend the printing of its ID's for, as Browne put it, more than 20,000 members? By the way, where did Browne get those numbers from?

Reports indicate that the ALP maxed out at over 17,000 votes in 1999 when they won the election. By 2004, when the UPP won, the ALP captured over 16,000 votes. While it's agreed that there have been a considerable number of new voters added since the 2004 elections, how does Browne know that the ALP has over 20,000 members?

There is something else troubling about that statement. Except for the executive of political parties, it's difficult to pinpoint members who will vote in any election. There are persons who switch sides from time to time before, during and after general elections. Therefore, the numbers will always vary.

Following the ALP's Hope concert, it was suggested that the ALP had tremendous support from the general public, because of the number of persons who went to the free show. Now, if that is not illusionary, someone please say what is. To count the number of persons who turn out to witness some of the hottest singers in the region for free is really fooling oneself.

Anyway, back to the ID making machine. There is nothing at all wrong with having a ID machine if the use is genuine. The Antigua & Barbuda Football Association has a similar machine capable of making ID cards. The ABFA does this for its members and it is totally legit; no problem there.

So why did the ALP cancel its membership identification drive? Something is not right. Then, there is the release accredited to Bird that spoke to the idea of permanent amnesty. After much to-do in the public domain, here comes Browne again with his damage control, which left more questions than answers.

It's almost as if one lie led to another. Browne stated that the leader of the Party, Lester Bird, had not read the statement. Well, if that is so, the ALP has more serious problems than I thought.

How could such a release reach the public without the designated leader perusing the document? Perhaps the "leader" is really not the leader then, as is suggested by the ruling United Progressive Party?

So, if Bird is not the leader, then who is? Why isn't the public, or even the followers of the ALP, aware of this? What does the ALP have up its sleeves?

Certainly, those are legitimate questions that must be asked of those persons seeking to lead the nation.

If the ALP wins, who would be prime minister? If not Bird, then who?
Will it be Browne, Asot Michael, Steadroy Benjamin, Molwyn Joseph, Daven Joseph or even Chet Greene?

Seriously, the public has the right to know.

The statement on permanent amnesty has done more harm than good to not just the ALP, but the nation. The statement has done more to weaken
the already strained relationships between natural-born citizens and immigrants.
Is this the type of country the ALP would like to assume leadership of? I doubt that.

It's obvious that the ALP, who ruled Antigua & Barbuda for 28 unbroken years, would like to assume office again.

The party need not, however, attempt to assume that role by any means necessary. For if that is the case, then it will be reasonable to assume that the ALP has ulterior motives for winning the next election.

Wow!

Take warning ALP: the people are watching, listening and reading attentively; something you may not be aware of.

Time to get your act together. The people are not fooled, at least not all.

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