ST. JOHN’S, Antigua - The Director-General of Communications in the Prime Minister’s Office, Maurice Merchant, says any attack on the Housing and Works Minister Maria Browne ‘is an attack on the entire cabinet” of Antigua and Barbuda.
Maurice MerchantBrowne, who is also the wife of Prime Minister Gaston Browne, has rejected calls for her resignation as public pressure builds for an independent probe into the controversy now being called “Vehicle-Gate.”
The issue surfaced last month after reports indicated that several government vehicles were procured for various ministries without full Cabinet or ministerial approval, prompting questions about procurement oversight and the handling of public assets.
Browne has insisted that her ministry’s role has been misrepresented, telling reporters “the vehicles were purchased without proper authority. The 30 vehicles were returned. It’s as simple as that, clean cut,” adding that efforts to connect her ministry to a separate customs-related duty-free matter are misplaced.
Merchant said that “many individuals” including those within the opposition who have been attacking the Minister “would see that the Honourable Minister Maria Browne, if you remove the Honourable Gaston Browne from the equation at this time, there is no other individual at this time, who could be the next prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda.
“And so the Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda views the attack on the Honourable Maria Browne as an attack on the entire Cabinet and the entire government of Antigua and Barbuda and therefore the entire Cabinet will as one unit, defend the integrity, character of the Honourable Maria Browne,” Merchant said.
The main opposition United Progressive Party (UPP) has staged protests, motorcades, and public meetings calling for her resignation in the EC$15 million (One EC dollar) controversy.
The party had on Thursday suspended a planned protest march to make way for a panel discussion on the Throne Speech, which had been delivered earlier in the day by the Governor-General at the start of a new parliamentary term.
But the Cabinet insists that it is Browne’s vigilance which unearthed the unauthorised purchases when she noticed a Ford Bronco at a police station and raised questions.
Cabinet said the UPP has confused this issue with a separate scheme by some individuals to secure unlawful duty waivers, in which several private vehicles were sold by car dealerships with all duties waived by the Customs Department.
The government has since recouped millions in unpaid duties from at least two car dealerships.
