Every boat that sails into English Harbour or Falmouth pays fees to the National Parks Authority. Entrance fees on arrival. Exit fees on departure. Processing fees. Port entry permits. Health protocol fees. Every passenger on every vessel. Every day they stay.
These fees are charged coming and going. A single vessel arriving with a crew of eight pays the NPA upwards of $500 US before they've had their first drink ashore — and pays again when they leave. Multiply that by the hundreds of yachts that pass through every season — and you're talking about millions of dollars collected annually.
I want to ask a simple question: where does that money go?
I don't ask this to be provocative. I ask because I have looked for the answer in the places it should be — and it isn't there.
What the Government's Own Records Show
The Office of the Director of Audit publishes Public Accounts every year, showing whether each statutory body has filed audited financial statements. I have read the most recent report — the 2021 Public Accounts, published in February 2026.
On page 131, every major statutory body is listed. The Airport Authority. The Development Bank. The Social Security Board. Each row shows their auditor, their last filing, and their audit opinion.
Page 131 of the Office of the Director of Audit's Public Accounts of Antigua and Barbuda 2021, published February 2026 — in the table titled 'Status of Statutory Bodies / Agencies Financial Statements as at December 31, 2021' — lists: Antigua and Barbuda National Parks.
Every column is blank. No auditor. No last audited report. No unaudited reports. No audit opinion. Nothing.
This is not my opinion. This is the government's own constitutional audit office recording the fact that the NPA has not submitted its finances for independent examination.
The National Parks Act — the NPA's own founding legislation — is unambiguous. Section 15(3) states that the accounts of the Authority "shall be audited by the auditors to be appointed annually." Section 15(5) requires that after each financial year, audited accounts be transmitted to the Minister, who "shall cause a copy of every statement and report to be laid before the Legislature." Section 18 requires the Authority to present an annual report containing "a statement of its accounts audited in accordance with the provisions of section 15" — which the Minister must again lay before the Legislature.
This is not a guideline. It is written into the Act that created them. They are breaking their own law.
Who Is Responsible?
A Prime Ministerial appointee runs the NPA. The minister who oversees it is the constituency MP. Millions in fees are collected from the yachting industry — with no published accounts and no independent scrutiny.
I want to be precise. I am not alleging corruption. I am not claiming funds have been misused. I do not know what has happened to the money because nobody does — and that is exactly the problem.
The absence of accounts is not evidence of wrongdoing. But it makes accountability impossible.
The Pattern Is Wider Than the Numbers
This is not only about financial reporting. The NPA's record with local businesses tells a consistent story.
These are not isolated incidents. They are part of a pattern of an authority that enforces obligations on others while remaining exempt from its own.
What I Am Proposing
The fix does not require new legislation. The National Parks Act already gives the responsible minister the power to act.
- 01 Reconstitute the NPA board. Under the First Schedule of the Act, the minister can revoke any board appointment at any time.
- 02 Commission audited accounts for every year outstanding — immediately.
- 03 Require annual financial reporting and transparent, legally grounded licensing procedures for businesses operating in the park.
This is not a radical proposal. It is the baseline of what any responsible public authority should already be doing.
If elected, I will use every mechanism available — parliamentary questions, direct engagement, and public pressure where necessary — to bring the NPA into compliance with its own legal obligations.
A Simple Standard
The people of St. Paul's live and work alongside Nelson's Dockyard every day. They pay fees to enter it, to berth in it, to do business in it. The visitors who drive our economy pay fees to come and go from it.
All of us are entitled to know how that money is managed. All of us are entitled to an authority that holds itself to the same standard it applies to everyone else.
The records are there for anyone to read.
I have read them. Now you have too.
