The Big Issues

Russian Sputnik V, and Chinese Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines could be in Antigua and Barbuda in the near future, and you could be asked to line-up to get your jab. But the press around these vaccines has been bad, with a lot of the English language international news from North America and Europe reporting skepticism and a lack of transparency around them. On this episode we try to figure out how much of that is the normal politics of West vs. Russia or West vs. China, and whether the vaccines themselves are safe, effective, and a good option for Antigua and Barbuda. 

Since mid-February, we've been using the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine for our public immunization programme. So far over 20,000 people have been vaccinated, but the government has had to halt the programme due to a limited supply of AZ doses. Then the government said it was approving the importation of Russian and Chinese vaccines even before the Pharmacy Council has approved their use. The rationale is that if and when these vaccines are approved by the WHO or Western regulators, their price is likely to go up rapidly and their availability will likely diminish.

The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on March 14, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.

Ministers in Antigua and Barbuda are not accountable to Parliament. How could they be? The Cabinet (of ministers) and the Parliament are virtually the same body. How can a minister provide oversight of himself or herself? That's like hiring yourself to audit yourself. 

Why it Doesn't Work: We have a parliamentary system adapted from Britain where there are hundreds of MPs. For them (the British) parliament is a massive body and the Cabinet (of ministers) is a tiny portion of those MPs. In Antigua and Barbuda we don’t have hundreds of MPs. We have 17. So the Cabinet is not a tiny portion of the 17, it's virtually always the majority of the 17.

It Has Never Worked: Regardless of which administration you look back to, the result is the same. Cabinet is virtually always the majority of Parliament. It's a structural problem representing the ineffective separation of executive and legislative powers and it has always been a flaw in our political system. And needless to say, no party - once in power - has ever changed it.

How it Should Work: Parliament is supposed to be a largely separate group of representatives who pass laws in the best interest of the people that voted them there. And they are supposed to review the work of the ministers and ministries to make sure the people are well served by the Cabinet. A Cabinet is supposed to come up with policy for the nation, then convince Parliament to pass that policy in the form of legislation. 

This simply does not occur in Antigua and Barbuda. Here, the Cabinet arrives to Parliament and only has to convince itself (because they are the majority of MPs) to pass its own legislation. On this segment, we asked: If parliament were to be reformed, what would it take to turn it into a truly effective legislature? The host is Kieron Murdoch.

Our guests are

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on March 7, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.

It will cause infertility (false). It's a chimp virus (misleading). It contains aborted fetus cells (false). It is the Mark of the Beast (what?). It will change your DNA (again, what?). It contains a microchip (false). It has dangerous "side effects" (misleading). It contains poisonous chemicals (false). These are the typical falsehoods or misleading statements about COVID-19 vaccines that have gotten many people on edge, wondering whether they ought to get jabbed. And who could blame them when there are so many myths, so many lies , and so much misinformation being shared?

This is our second episode devoted to vaccine facts and myths and we talk about all the issues listed above, and much much more. We brought together a pharmacist, a pathologist, and a pediatrician to tackle popular myths, misconceptions and misleading statements that have been shared about COVID vaccines. If you've been worried about getting vaccinated, you should have a listen. If you know someone who's been hesitant about it, share it with them as well. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on March 7, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.

Health Minister Sir Molwyn Joseph looked like Moses trying to part the Red Sea. And many of those around him were seeing red (forgive the pun) after queuing in line for hours to receive their first jab of the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) vaccine when Antigua and Barbuda's national COVID-19 immunization programme opened to the public on Tuesday, March 2nd. Word travels fast, and the response was overwhelming. Far more people than it seemed were anticipated turned out, creating anxious scenes at some centres which have since been widely shared.

In stark contrast, many report that inside the centres the process was smooth, orderly, and COVID protocols were observed. So what went wrong outside? Why weren't there officials to marshal the crowds? Did it matter if you made an appointment? Things reportedly got better as week drew on, and over 14,000 people have been vaccinated so far. On this episode, we went to the Cayman Islands, to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and to Austin, Texas, to find out how immunization schemes are being managed there, if they've had similar occurrences, and if lessons could be shared. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on March 7, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online. 

Political patronage and clientelism are part of the way in which corruption in the English-speaking Caribbean takes form. On this segment we use the candid talk of MPs in Antigua and Barbuda's parliament in the February budget debate to have a discussion about the nature of both. The first concept, patronage, involves the distribution of resources based not on need, but on partisan loyalty. Such resources could be employment, investment, material assistance, and out-of-pocket financial aid. The second concept, clientelism, is similar to the first but incorporates the notion of an explicit or implicit quid pro quo, in that political support from voters is being exchanged for other supports directed by politicians at those voters. 

Our guests call out the practices for what they are - a corrupt system of allocation that extorts political support from voters, punishes disloyal partisans, and distorts democratic voting systems. But they also warn that it is not new, and has been unchanged from the inception of independent government in region. They describe the measures necessary to arrest the problem and rescue true democracy. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on February 28, 2021.

"Yuh black self. Yuh nuh see how you black and ugly? Wha mek ya mudda bun you so?" It's the sort of thing you might hear uttered in a schoolyard between friends no less, the speaker unaware, seemingly, of the grotesque assumptions the statement bears about race, human worth and dignity. 

It assumes that Black people - that is to say people of Black African descent - are inherently inferior to others, inherently ugly because of their darkness of skin and the texture of their hair, and inherently without dignity. It is a frightening assumption to make. It belongs in the past, in a slave society where race and the characteristics of a race were imbued with inextricable social meaning, such as the binary absolute that Black is ugly and White is lovely. Sadly however, the assumption is still with us today.

On this segment we speak about colourism - when as Black people of varying degrees of mixed and unmixed ancestry, we love and loathe one another according to darkness and lightness. We speak also of Black hair, and its natural afro texture still being seen as unattractive, unkept and ungroomed, and in needed of shaving, straightening or covering. The truth, if we are willing to face up to it, is that self-loathing of Blackness is part of our psychology. We learn to hate it. 

We covet mixed ancestry - to know that we are something other than just Black, because we've understood from our society that Black is not good enough. Black bodies are loathed for their darkness, textures and shapes. We openly yearn for lightness, skin of a brown or olive complexion, to be "butter-skin" "brown-skin" or "red", to have straighter hair, to have looser curls, to have hair that falls and tosses, and to have faces without the noses and lips and cheeks of Africa.

This incoherent, self-deprecating, monolithic Frankenstein of a collective mindset is a major problem in virtually every Black society in the Americas whether acknowledged or not, and Antigua and Barbuda is no exception. On this segment, our guests share their experiences with it, their research, and their insights into how to make some positive changes. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

A maskless Akon, maskless bikini-clad babes, and a dining hall of maskless guests. Those were the scenes that went viral after charity matchmaker Todd Krim posted videos and photos about a Valentine’s Day mini-bash at the Hodges Bay Resort and Spa in Antigua and Barbuda amidst a pandemic on the rise outside the hotel walls. It all appeared as if happening in another reality.

In everyone else's reality restaurants have been barred from seating diners, bars have been told not to entertain patrons, and police patrol the beaches to break up gatherings. But in this other reality, a throng of maskless guests fills a dining hall shoulder to shoulder, people are dancing almost skin-to-skin, and a dozen and a half maskless bikini-clad women are inches apart in the sand, posing for beach photos. 

It convinces many in Antigua and Barbuda that if you just got off a plane and you plan to stay at a hotel, you can live in a different reality. Added to that, the authorities will oblige you. Get caught doing that sort of thing in everyone else's reality however, and you may end up in jail, or short a few thousand dollars you paid in fines. 

So what became of the whole situation? Tourism Minister, Charles "Max" Fernandez promised an investigation which one of our panelists is confident will never be spoken of again. The hotel denied that anything worth being called a violation of health regulations had ever occurred. And the police are not known to have arrested or fined anyone on the property for the incident. On this segment we asked whether there really is a double standard, and if we can balance offering a welcoming environment to visitors with enforcing public health rules. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

Our guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on February 28, 2021.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 have begun in Antigua and Barbuda, and frontline workers as well as public officials have been stepping forward to take the jab. Many people aren't sure whether they should get vaccinated and they want to know more about the topic. Many have misconceptions that could easily be cleared up with the right information. 

So, on this segment the listeners asked all the questions. We talked about the nature of vaccines, the process of certification and testing they go through, the differences between the brands, the logistics of where residents could register to get vaccinated, the issue of allergies and comorbidities, the issue of vaccinating children as well as a variety of other topics. All our guests are part of the national coordinating effort to roll-out the vaccine. The host is Kieron Murdoch. 

Our guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on February 21, 2021.

In a jaw-dropping speech in Parliament, the Prime Minister Gaston Browne hurls never before heard accusations of fraud and attempted acts of corruption at the scandal-ridden, disgraced MP for St. Peter, Asot Michael who once sat in his cabinet, but with whom he has now irrevocably fallen out. 

In so doing, Browne reveals that he and others have been concealing the true extent of corruption at the highest level of government for years. Further, and in a paradox of logic, Browne admits that he kept Michael in his Cabinet for several years despite numerous alleged attempts at corrupt acts during Michael's time as a minister.  

In a country with near completely inert anti-corruption enforcement, Browne's oft repeated assurance that abuse isn't occurring in his administration would seem to suggest that at every turn, where there allegedly are attempts to commit corrupt acts, he is there to personally stop it. 

This episode features a pre-discussion analysis of structural weaknesses in Antigua and Barbuda's government which leave it exposed to the possibility of chronic abuse in the public sector. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on February 21, 2021.

More people are openly calling for another lockdown in Antigua and Barbuda as active COVID-19 cases get closer to 400. When this programme aired, active cases were at 370, inclusive of a record 50 new cases declared in the most recent update. Among those calling for a lockdown - what some also refer to as a shutdown - is Dr. George Roberts, a medical doctor in Antigua and Barbuda, and a well-known ear nose and throat (ENT) specialist. 

He joins the panel to share his argument as to why the current measures in place - a 6:00 pm curfew, face-to-face school suspension, and bar and restaurant closure - are unlikely to bring the situation under control. Joining him for this short segment is an economist from a fellow Caribbean nation which was in lockdown during our discussion. The host is Kieron Murdoch.

The guests are:

This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on February 21, 2021.