Plans for a multi-million-pound payment to British Conservative MP Richard Drax for the acquisition of 53 acres of his plantation, Drax Hall, have been shelved by Barbados’ prime minister, Mia Mottley.
A local newspaper said that the compensation plan had infuriated supporters of the Caribbean reparations movement, who believed Drax, the MP for South Dorset, ought to give the 617-acre plantation to the Barbados people in whole or in part.
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Mottley explained the government’s reversal in a seven-minute national broadcast that was just made available on YouTube. She also stated that she had chosen to put the acquisition on hold to allow for more conversation.
She noted, “I understand the concern of many Barbadians who may feel they have been robbed of the opportunity of having an appropriate settlement for reparations that ought to be made as a result of the blood, sweat, and tears of Barbadians over centuries. This is not a matter we take lightly.”
The leader of reparations efforts on the island of Barbados and MP for St. Michael East, Trevor Prescod, feels that his nation “should not pay a cent for Drax Hall.” While he accepted Mottley’s declaration, he voiced reservations with the word “pause,” saying: “I hope I don’t see a renewal of this commercial relationship with Richard Drax.
“I’ve been getting calls from around the world, and I would like to thank the Observer for bringing this to the attention of people in Barbados, the African diaspora and our friends in England who support reparations. People see the relevance of the damage inflicted on African people. We are the people who were described as chattel slaves. Why should we pay those whose family has enslaved us? The taxpayers of Barbados have risen up.”
The plantation was handed to Drax, who is worth over £150 million, in his late father’s 2017 testament. The sugar plantation was established by their forefathers in the middle of the 17th century, and for 200 years, slave labor was used to run it. The family was compensated more than £4,200 following the abolition of slavery in 1834, a substantial amount at the time.
The 53-acre property has been chosen to accommodate 500 middle-class and lower-class homes. With 20,000 housing applications still pending on the island, Mottley has promised to build 10,000 homes to fulfill demand.
The market value of the agricultural property with an alternate use for housing, according to a senior valuation surveyor, would be around Bds$150,000 (£60,000) per acre. Drax might make £3.2 million from the 21 hectares at this price.
Drax traveled to Barbados in October 2022 to see Mottley. It is believed that he was requested to provide Drax Hall Plantation, all or a significant portion of it, as compensation.
Mottley expressed her displeasure with the speed at which talks were moving in her program. She indicated that the administration was considering its legal alternatives, “not only against the owners of Drax plantation but also all others who have contributed to the conditions of this country being, regrettably, one of the worst examples of modern racism in the Americas”.
Barbados-born Sir Hilary Beckles, the chair of the Caribbean-wide Caribbeancom Reparations Commission, has called Drax Hall “a crime scene,” believing that 30,000 Africans perished there as slaves.
Drax chooses not to respond. He has previously said that his forefathers’ involvement in the slave trade was “deeply, deeply, regrettable, but no one can be held responsible today for what happened many hundreds of years ago”.
