Molwyn Joseph

Sir Molwyn Joseph, KGCN, is an Antiguan politician and Chairman of the Antigua Labour Party (ALP). First entering politics in 1984 when he was made a Minister without Portfolio in the government of Vere Bird, Joseph became Minister of Finance seven years later, renegotiating the Antiguan national debt and introducing fiscal reforms. After a 1996 scandal in which it was discovered he had used his position to import a 1930s Rolls-Royce for a friend, bypassing normal import duties and taxes, he was dismissed from the Bird administration, returning 14 months later to serve as Minister for Planning, Implementation and the Environment. Following the 1999 general election, he became Minister of Heath and Social Improvement before being made Minister of Tourism and the Environment a few months later. As Minister, Joseph attempted to improve the perception of Antigua as a tourist destination and invest in the industry, spending 2 million US dollars increasing the number of hotel rooms on the island and providing money for both Air Jamaica and Air Luxor to provide flights to the island.

Outside of his ministerial duties, he also met with Jiang Zhenghua, Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, having led the official Antiguan delegation to Beijing. Following a power struggle in 2003, Joseph was given the Economic Development and Investment Promotion portfolio, to hold at the same time as his Tourism and the Environment position. Despite a scandal surrounding donations he had received from Texan businessman Robert Allen Stanford, Joseph was selected to contest the seat of St Mary's North in the 2004 Antiguan general election, in which the ALP lost power, being replaced in government by the United Progressive Party (UPP) led by Baldwin Spencer. Joseph himself lost his seat, but was elected Chairman of the ALP a year later, and regained the seat in 2009 with a majority of 21. The same year, he was arrested for participating in an unauthorised May Day rally protesting the UPP administration; after a lengthy trial, he and several other ALP members were convicted and fined.