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The United Progressive Party (UPP) Leadership and Executive expressed their disappointment in an article published by Pointe Xpress on April 3rd.
The article, according to the UPP, attempted to discredit the tenure of Dr. Baldwin Spencer, who led the Government of Antigua and Barbuda for ten years.
The UPP said it refuses to repeat the untruthful and envious statements made in the article, but instead, they will continue to celebrate and boast about the achievements of Dr. Spencer and the UPP.
In its press statement, the party said during his time in office, Dr. Spencer and the UPP Administration accomplished much that cannot be erased or discredited by any writer’s shameful attempts.
The statement said that the UPP’s achievements stand as a testament to the party’s vision of “People First” and serve as a yardstick by which the current Administration is measured and found wanting.
The statement claimed that the UPP Administration implemented social safety nets that brought security and dignity to society’s vulnerable members, including the poor, the elderly, schoolchildren, and single mothers, through programs such as the School Meals Programme, the School Uniform Grant, the PDV-CAB Utility Subsidy, and the People’s Benefit Card.
Moreover, the UPP established the Prime Minister’s Scholarships and the National Student Loan Fund, which benefited the youth.
According to the statement, the UPP Administration also built, began, or completed numerous state-owned structures, such as the new terminal of V.C. Bird International, the Sir Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, the National Parliament Building, the present campus of the UWI-FI, the National Public Library, and the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre.
The statement recalled that during Dr. Spencer’s tenure, the commercial transformation of the Friars Hill Road, known as “The Golden Mile,” took place. New hotels were built, others expanded, and tourism and the private sector grew while public-sector employment was carefully controlled, and LIAT was kept flying, it said
All of this, the press statement claimed, was accomplished even as the Administration was weathering the Global Economic Crisis, the crash of the Stanford Empire, which had employed hundreds of residents in well-paid jobs, and the fall of British Americans and CLICO, which took millions of people’s savings. Despite all of these challenges, not a single government worker lost their job.
The statement said that the UPP Administration also worked tirelessly to restore Antigua and Barbuda’s image in the eyes of the international community, adding that The nation transformed from being known as “the most corrupt developing country in the world” to one known for respectability and trustworthiness.
The release ended by stating that Dr. Spencer and his Administration’s legacy cannot be tarnished by petty jealousy and the writer’s attempts to belittle the UPP’s accomplishments are pitiful and puerile.
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