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Barbados land deal with MP descendant of slave-owners sparks outcry

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Guardian
20 Apr 2024 17:16
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Richard Drax ranks among the wealthiest MPs in parliament, boasting a net worth of at least £150 million.

The Emancipation Statue, symbolizing the breaking of the chains of slavery at the moment of emancipation, is seen on November 16, 2021, in Bridgetown, Barbados (AFP)

Barbados faces controversy over its decision to buy land from Conservative MP Richard Drax, whose ancestors were involved in Caribbean slavery, The Guardian reports.

The deal, valued at £3.2 million for 21 hectares and aimed at housing, has drawn criticism for financially benefiting Drax's family linked to historical injustices.

Critics argue it undermines reparations efforts and moral accountability.

Trevor Prescod, MP and chair of the Barbados National Taskforce on Reparations, said: "What a bad example this is. Reparations and Drax Hall are now top of the global agenda. How do we explain this to the world?

"The government should not be entering into any [commercial] relationship with Richard Drax, especially as we are negotiating with him regarding reparations."

Richard Drax himself has refrained from commenting directly on the issue, previously acknowledging his ancestors' role in the slave trade.

But he asserts that individuals today shouldn't be held responsible for historical actions.

Drax ranks among the wealthiest MPs in parliament, boasting a net worth of at least £150 million.

The Drax family is one of the few who were pioneers in the early stages of the British slave economy back in the 17th century and, generations later, still owned plantations and enslaved people at the end of British slavery in the 1830s.

The Drax dynasty was able to generate extraordinary wealth through the cultivation of sugar by enslaved Africans.

The MP's ancestor, Sir James Drax, was among the first colonizers in Barbados in the early 17th century.