Prime Minister Gaston Browne has delved deeper into the persistent inefficiencies and accountability issues plaguing Antigua and Barbuda’s public sector following his statements on the issue in the House of Representatives on Thursday.
Speaking on the Browne and Browne show on Pointe FM last Saturday, PM Browne shared a vivid example of bureaucratic obstruction, where a senior public servant obstructed the signing of documents critical to importing aggregates from a long-standing, trusted quarry source. Despite the absence of any legitimate sanitary or phytosanitary concern, the individual refused to process the documentation—even after direct appeals from the Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary, Hon. Clement Antonio.
“This stonewalling led to the Cabinet temporarily suspending its meeting to intervene. Eventually, a Cabinet decision was made to authorize the Minister to sign in place of the official, but even then, the official refused to release the documents. It was not until 4:30 p.m.—the end of the workday—that the very same documents were signed,” the prime minister recalled. He emphasized that this behavior was not an isolated incident and that the same individual had repeatedly frustrated both government and private citizens in the past.
“Despite frequent contemplation of disciplinary action, the administration had exercised restraint to avoid perceptions of political victimization,” the nation’s leader revealed.
However, the Prime Minister made it unequivocally clear that this tolerance had reached its limit. Any further incidents of obstruction from that public servant would result in immediate removal.
The prime minister is not one known to walk away from a challenge nor to seek solutions whenever he encounters a problem such as the current inertia within the public service. Recognizing a systemic problem within the public sector, Prime Minister Browne announced a collaborative initiative with Professor Justin Robinson of the University of the West Indies FIC (UWI) to design a governance-focused training program. This day-release program, aimed particularly at senior public servants, is intended to address the entrenched inefficiencies by exposing participants to principles of effective governance. The government has also invited Harvard University to collaborate on this initiative to further strengthen the program’s credibility and impact.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that many public servants possess advanced academic qualifications—such as master’s and doctoral degrees—but lack experience in high-functioning, efficient work environments. As a result, these individuals often default to outdated and ineffective practices that have become cultural norms within the public sector.
To address this gap, the government is seeking international training opportunities. Recently, two dozen employees from the Ministry of Public Works were sent to China for specialized training, with similar opportunities being sought in India, the United States, and the European Union.
