By Staff Writer

Former Barbuda MP and Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party minister Arthur Nibbs is among the first recipients approved for a freehold land certificate in Barbuda under the government’s controversial EC$1-per-acre programme.

Cabinet ratified the inaugural certificates this week, advancing its policy of individual freehold land ownership despite longstanding opposition from Barbudans who support the island’s traditional communal land system.

Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant said certificates were approved for Nibbs, Atien Davis, Chaz Askey and Evie Mae Askey-George.

 Under the programme, eligible Barbudans can obtain up to one acre of land for EC$1. People occupying parcels larger than one acre will have the additional land professionally surveyed and independently valued as part of the process to regularise ownership.

 Merchant said the certificates would provide recipients with legal freehold ownership and allow the land to be transferred, inherited or used as an economic asset.

 He said the first approvals would also lay the foundation for the establishment of the Barbuda Land Registry.

Asked whether any legal proceedings could prevent the programme from continuing, Merchant said the land ownership issue had been determined by the Privy Council and the adjudication process had concluded.

“There is no further case that can be brought in relation to land ownership in Barbuda,” Merchant said.

In 2017, Parliament amended the Barbuda Land Act following Hurricane Irma to allow for individual freehold ownership. The changes were challenged in the courts by the Barbuda Council and other claimants but were ultimately upheld, with the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council dismissing the final appeal. During Thursday’s briefing, Merchant said the adjudication process had concluded and there was “no further case that can be brought in relation to land ownership in Barbuda”.