Chatham Bay sale a betrayal, says Union Island resident
The government’s decision to sell approximately 100 acres of land at Chatham Bay for preservation purposes at a cost of EC$52.7 million dollars is not sitting well with many people, among them Union Island resident Abdon Whyte.
Whyte, considered a political activist, is often very outspoken when it comes to Union Island. One of his most notable public statements concerned the decision by the Unity Labour Party (ULP), to field then Senior Radiographer at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH) Chevonne Stewart, as their candidate for the Southern Grenadines in the November, 2025 general elections.
In a Facebook post Whyte said that for nearly two decades, Chatham Bay symbolized a promise kept.
“…after an eight-year legal fight, the state clawed back this pristine 100-acre coastline from foreign speculators who sat on it and let its value climb on public investment. It was reclaimed as national patrimony for Union Islanders most of all.
“That promise now lies in ruins. In 2026, the government quietly sold Chatham Bay for $52.7 million, seemingly repeating the very sin it once fought to correct,” Whyte wrote.
He said the core grievances include no transparency, no clear development plan, process shortcuts and the fact that the buyer is unknown.
“The sale was disclosed almost as an aside, buried in a government response about the national deficit and not announced to the public as a major decision about the island’s future,” Whyte said, while adding, “no public tender, no named developer, no environmental assessment, no jobs commitment, no timeline”.
He noted also that the chief surveyor’s valuation and Attorney General’s Chambers are the accepted channels for a sale of Crown lands, but this appears to have been sidestepped in favour of a private lawyer handling the paperwork.
“Nobody outside a small circle knows who bought the land, or whether the price reflects its true worth after decades of public infrastructure investment,” he noted.
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