Expropriation - Democracy’s Cardinal Sin

For an Island with reported debts of over US $2billion dollars and tourism offering possible salvation, Antigua’s expropriation of Half Moon Bay Resort gives no comfort to prospective foreign investors and the international community.

Though the illegal expropriation was committed by the former administration, the new UPP Government has been slow to meet its pre-election promises to abandon the forced acquisition of the US-owned property and return it unencumbered to its rightful owners.

Conventionally, expropriation is for public use to enable the building of important infrastructure such as roads, bridges and airports. It is not a State mechanism to transfer assets to another private entity. Such was the action of the former Lester Bird-led Antigua & Barbuda administration, which claimed in the country’s Parliament to have secured the blessing of the International Monetary Fund.