The Antigua and Barbuda government says hundreds of African migrants who travelled to the island late last year from West Africa will not be afforded citizenship, but could be offered residency and work permits.
“Antiguan passport? No…I don’t think that that is on the cards, but certainly the whole idea of residency and work permits, that is part of the legal framework that we are considering,” Information Minister Melford Nicholas told reporters at the end of the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Earlier this week, the main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) called for a Commission of Inquiry to determine whether the authorities here are engaged in human trafficking after supporters staged protest action against the government’s decision to legalise the status of hundreds of African migrants.
Opposition Leader, Jamale L. Pringle, told reporters that “there is some semblance of human trafficking “after the Cabinet said that it had discussed the treatment to be meted out to the visitors who arrived on charters from West Africa.
“We are asking the government to come clean on this matter and how we can be comfortable knowing that this situation is a legitimate situation is by a public inquiry. We are just making our voices be heard, we are just showing our presence here asking for the government to call an inquiry into this situation where we are now seeing over 700 persons on the ground and they are not in a comfortable position,” Pringle said, as he led the “peaceful protest” outside the office of the Prime Minister, Gaston Browne.
But Nicholas told reporters that “one of the features we have asked the Immigration (Department) to be able to do is a skills audit …to determine whether or not we have some additional attendant benefits to be derived from some of these persons that are here.
“As the economy continues to expand, we are going to need additional skills to be able to develop some of these projects and so, from the standpoint of having them integrate, and when we say integrate we mean integrate to become a full part of our society, we are asking Antiguans and Barbudans as they have already begun to do on their own account to embrace and have an open heart in respect to this matter,” Nicholas said.
Government said last week that 637 of the more than 900 people who touched down between November and January remained in Antigua. Many of them are Cameroonians fleeing a bloody conflict back home.
But it is unclear how many of them are seeking asylum having arrived here on Antigua Airways or other chartered airlines.
Last week, the government said that it had examined the circumstances under which the Antigua Airways flights were conceived and originated. It said the passengers were to be well-off citizens of Nigeria and neighbouring countries who wished to travel to the Caribbean as tourists.
“The Cabinet was informed that the visitors remaining in Antigua can be located in several small hotels and guest houses across the island. An offer to return them to their country is to be made, though many are likely to choose to stay, it was reported. Some arrangement may likely be made to ensure that their status is legal,” the Cabinet statement added.
Nicholas told reporters that some of the African nationals are already blending into the society, engaging in sporting activities.
