Counting the pennies

摘要

Although Antigua escaped Hurricane Ivan back in September, its finance minister, Errol Cort, had devastation aplenty to deal with in his November 30th budget. When Baldwin Spencer's United Progressive Party (uPP) won an election last March, it found the coffers empty—not just of cash, but of any papers to track it. Days before the poll, the prime minister's office was stripped of files detailing debt agreements and spending contracts, a parting kick from Lester Bird and his family's Antigua Labour Party (ALP)-in office, with one short break, since 1951.