Mottley backs away from paying slave owner for land over public outcry

Public pressure has pushed Barbados’ government to back away from plans to seize a portion of an existing estate of a former British planter who had owned slaves and switch to a negotiated settlement even as locals are objecting to the Drax family being paid a single cent given the fact that their vast wealth came from slavery.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley late on Tuesday announced plans to pause the compulsory acquisition of 50 acres from the Drax Hall plantation in the central parish of St. George for public housing, saying that any eminent domain move has to be properly and legally done or it would breach the local constitution.

Government through the reparations commission had been in contact with Richard Drax, a British Member of Parliament for South Dorset for several months, demanding that today’s Drax descendants own up to the sins of their ancestors and be prepared to make reparation payments their role in the slave trade.

Drax has stoutly resisted efforts to make the family pay reparations, complaining that neither he nor today’s kin are not directly responsible for the sins of their fore parents despite the fact that their wealth came strictly from sugar plantations in colonial Barbados. The family still owns more than 600 acres in the Eastern Caribbean island today.

Reports had been circulating about a possible compensation figure of between $3-7 million dollars for the 50 acres, but the public outcry has been so great that Mottley said it would be wise to pause the process and review where it is heading. Criticism even came from functionaries inside of her office.

“Given the conversation, I believe that it is appropriate for us to pause the acquisition to allow for greater conversation to take place, and also for us to be able to see where we are, in terms of being able to get some kind of reasonable settlement with Mr. Drax recognising that in our conversations, without prejudice to anything else, he is aware that the Government of Barbados feels strongly about this and will pursue these matters,” Mottley said in a national address as controversy swirled over plans to pay a family, which did not compensate Africans for plantation labor. “I understand the concerns of many Barbadians who may feel that they have been robbed of the opportunity of having an inappropriate settlement for the reparations that ought to be made as a result of the blood, sweat and tears of Barbadians over centuries. I want to make it clear this is not a matter that we take lightly. At the same time, I need to remind us that Barbados is a country governed by the rule of law. We have never made it a habit where we have expropriated people’s land. When people have land that is the subject of compulsory acquisition, by law we are due to pay for it.”

She did admit that previous talks with the conservative MP had not gone as well as planned noting that “we will, as we are required to do, pause, and listen to Bajans to understand what is really at stake here, recognizing that we do not cut off our nose to spoil our face. And what do I mean by that? That we should not deny ordinary Barbadians who are in need of housing, the opportunity to have housing, but at the same time, that we pursue with greater alacrity, the issue of reparations with Mr Drax and with respect to any other with whom there is a case and a chain of custody that we can justify.”

Local lawmaker and special envoy on reparations and empowerment in Mottley’s office Trevor Prescod was brutal in his attack on Drax, saying that “that estate is a cesspool of evil, that estate called Drax Hall. We deserve to have that estate as a form of redemption. I stand by this without fear of any consequences. People across the world have highlighted Drax Hall as a major estate and one that is a microcosm of the challenges we face as a people. Any effort by the government to think, regardless of what legal instrument they are using, that we should give Drax a cent more, I feel it is wrong,” the Nation newspaper quoted him as saying.

Ambassador to CARICOM David Commissiong made it clear that “we have to step up the pressure on Drax. The time has come for that. “Little did we know that our people have so embraced the reparations idea that they would have passionately objected to the idea of Drax receiving any money whatsoever for this blood-soaked land. This has been a valuable learning experience for all concerned,” he told this publication.