The United Progressive Party (UPP) is calling Prime Minister Gaston Browne into account for the imminent threat to Antiguans’ and Barbudans’ access to United States’ visas.

Instead of the prime minister attempting to lay blame for this possible scenario, he should take responsibility for the underlying cause: that is, the compromised status of the Citizenship by Investment (CIP) programme and the porous state of Antigua and Barbuda’s borders.

These – and not the UPP – comprise the perceived threat to the security of the United States.

It was not the UPP who systematically altered or eliminated the checks and balances that were incorporated into the CIP’s original design.

It was not on the UPP’s watch that passports were being manufactured in St. Vincent & The Grenadines – outside the purview of the Citizenship by Investment Unit – a situation initially denied by Prime Minister Browne, himself. Nor has the UPP contributed to the stalling of this matter in the courts.

It was not the UPP that allowed persons whose interests were inimical to good governance and transparency and to the United States’ security interests to receive Antigua and Barbuda passports – including an individual trading in contraband on the Dark Web and a Chinese national wanted in his home country for alleged bank fraud.

It was not the UPP who created an entity called “Antigua Airways,” thus paving the runway for more than 900 West Africans – first claimed by PM Browne to be “wealthy investors” – to be landed here and to make their way, by stealthy means, into the United States Virgin Islands and into the US mainland.

However, it was, _indeed_, **the UPP who called for investigations and even a Commission of Inquiry** into the foregoing and other known security breaches.

The prime minister cannot employ his particular brand of political schizophrenia to deride the UPP as powerless and then ascribe responsibility to the Party for the country’s dire state of affairs.

Accordingly, the United Progressive Party will utilize this week, beginning Monday, April 7, to discuss these matters, as well as the other legal and financial threats posed by the Browne Administration’s ill-advised “huffing” and selling of the _Alfa Nero_ super yacht, as we put truth on the table.

These discussions will take place throughout the day and evening on Progressive 107.3 FM and on Observer Radio 91.1 FM. The public is invited to join and be educated on the facts.

**-ENDS-**