Opposition MP Sherfield Bowen has accused successive Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) administrations of plundering the Social Security Fund for decades, leaving behind a trail of unpaid loans that he claims have crippled the pension system and eroded public trust.

Speaking at a UPP townhall meeting at Freedom House on Monday evening, Bowen presented a detailed list of loans dating back to 1976 — many of which, he said, were never repaid.

The long-standing attorney and MP for St. Philip’s South said these funds were meant to support retirees, the sick, and the vulnerable, not to finance political projects.

“When the ALP government came into office in 1976, the first thing they did was borrow $4.2 million from Social Security to buy Halcyon Cove,” Bowen stated.

“Instead of putting it in the name of Social Security, they put it in the name of the government — and not a dollar was repaid.”

Bowen went on to list multiple additional loans: $80,000 for TV (now ABS), $17 million for the Antigua and Barbuda Development Bank, $3 million after Hurricane Luis, and others for equipment, infrastructure, and even monthly salaries.

“By 2005, when the UPP came to office, $330 million was outstanding to Social Security,” he said.

He criticized the current administration for downplaying the importance of the $330 million bond issued in 2010 under the UPP government, which consolidated dozens of unpaid loans into a single instrument with a structured repayment plan.

Bowen called the ALP’s repeated use of the fund without repayment “a betrayal of the people’s trust” and said it was the root cause of the fund’s current instability.

“These were monies that were supposed to be invested by Social Security so that they can meet their obligations when you’re retired — to pay for sickness, for death benefits, and for pensioners,” Bowen said.

“Instead, they took the money and never looked back.”

He also contrasted Antigua’s struggling pension fund with the Social Security scheme in St. Kitts, which reportedly holds over $1.2 billion in its long-term fund.

Antigua’s, by comparison, has less than $20 million, Bowen claimed.

The government has not yet issued a response to Bowen’s remarks.

However, Prime Minister Gaston Browne has previously stated that the fund is being stabilized through targeted investments, including the controversial Jolly Beach project.