Deputy Festivals Commission Chair defends board’s actions as Commission bill passes Senate

Deputy Chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Festival Commission Senator Michael Freeland defended the Commission board’s record, arguing the legislation was necessary precisely because advice from the board had repeatedly gone unheeded by the ministry’s administrative office.

The Antigua and Barbuda Festivals Commission Bill 2026 passed in the Senate on Tuesday with Freeland, who has served as deputy chair for three years, telling the Senate that the breakdown in the relationship between the Commission board and the permanent secretary’s office was the driving force behind the bill.

“When the Festivals Committee meets and gives advice to the ministry for execution, and that advice goes unnoticed because the office decides that they know more than the commission, this is why we’re here, because things fall apart,” he said.

He also confirmed on the record that three years of requests for audited accounts had gone unanswered.

“Based on numerous requests to have audits, the last three years we have not seen one,” Freeland said, adding that a new permanent secretary had since initiated one, which he expected to be tabled at a future sitting.

Freeland’s defence came amid attempts by Minority Senator David Massiah to raise concerns about the bill’s timing.

Massiah withheld his support, arguing the legislation was being rushed through without adequate stakeholder consultation, and alluded to recent upheavals within the existing festivals structure.

“There needs to be a bit more brainstorming and not rush to the process, because we don’t want to then come here, [pass the bill], and then we have to come back to amend it within a short space of time,” he said.

The Senate debate followed a more explosive confrontation in the House of Representatives days earlier, where Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle was ejected from the chamber.

Pringle argued the bill did not properly address long-standing concerns about accountability, record-keeping and the handling of funds within the festivals system.

The document at the centre of the confrontation was a six-page letter, which Permanent Secretary Sharon Stevens wrote to the Prime Minister, raising concerns about financial misconduct, unauthorised expenditure, and contracts signed in her name without her knowledge, directing those allegations at those responsible for the Festivals Commission.

Among the claims, Stevens said $132,445.35 generated through the Ticketing App system was unaccounted for, that a contract for an artist was signed on her behalf without her knowledge — which she described as fraud — and that her name appeared in another artist’s contract without her approval, an act she characterised as an indictable offence.

Freeland disputed the weight of those concerns in the Senate, stating that no Commission board members held signatory authority over Commission accounts and that what had been characterised as a report was not one in any substantive sense.

“That is not a report. That is somebody venting out of bitterness and anger,” he said.

The bill establishes the Festivals Commission as a statutory body corporate with powers to contract, collect revenue, license festival branding and manage a dedicated Commission Fund.