Pan-African activists have led praises for Prime Minister Mia Mottley after she withdrew the government’s bid to compulsorily purchase Drax Hall plantation lands for homes.Richard Drax, 66, a Member of Parliament in the ruling British Conservative Party, was expected to receive some $7.5 million but in a late-night address on Tuesday, Mottley said that was on hold as the government continues negotiations aimed at a payout of reparations for centuries of atrocities inflicted on enslaved African ancestors here.Dr George Brathwaite, a University of the West Indies Cave Hill lecturer in political science and international relations, commended the prime minister for backing off from the purchase, contending that Drax should not get “one red cent” of taxpayers’ money.“I don’t think the Government of Barbados should pay one red cent to Drax,” he told Barbados TODAY. “We need the land for housing purposes, let it be given, let it be a grant, let it be part of the reparations.“They have raped too much from us which has really caused aspects of our underdevelopment, and I think that, while acknowledging any atrocities in the past through slavery, I think Mr Drax himself, the descendant that is the owner, is making a serious error when he said he does not think that they should be paying any reparations. His argument, to me, is fundamentally flawed.”
