The Opposition has denounced Communications Minister Melford Nicholas’s insistence that the government is not responsible for Tuesday’s boat catastrophe that killed 16 persons.
A fishing vessel carrying Cameroonian migrants from Antigua to St Thomas overturned near St Kitts, killing three men and leaving 13 missing.
On Thursday, Minister Nicholas led a news conference with top government officials to answer media inquiries about the incident and the entry of hundreds of African migrants on chartered planes from Nigeria during November and December.
Nicholas stated the government helped them and “made no negative gestures.”
“They, of their own decision, seemingly would have opted to engage on this initiative, the government can take no responsibility,” he said.
La Belle Michelle, a Guadeloupe-registered ship, arrived at Antigua from the French overseas region on March 25 with the migrants.
Chief Immigration Officer Katrina Yearwood said the ship’s migrants were mostly men with three women.
The government’s attitude to the influx of African “tourists” from the failed Antigua Airlines business continues to be questioned.
According to the latest Cabinet notes, refugees took this perilous decision owing to “hostility” from “angry individuals”.
Minister Nicolas said most people have been “hospitable” to migrants, but some have been “bad actors”.
“They have also told the tale in the background, and… it is critical for us to understand the conditions that may have led them to take a risk-filled decision to other lands and they have told a story of… areas where they have been exploited… in so far as rent and other measures are concerned, notwithstanding the government’s decision to provide them with a legal means of staying here, that all may not been well with them,” he said.
The Cabinet notes also blamed people who accused Africans of being illegal voters, a claim rejected by multiple agencies, including the Antigua and Barbuda Election Commission.
“During campaigning building up to the January 2023 general elections, the migrants realized that they had been unfairly accused of being fake voters and other undesirable accusations,” the Cabinet notes said.
