By Staff WriterFormer Barbuda MP and Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party minister Arthur Nibbs is among the first recipients approved for a freehold land certificate in Barbuda under the government’s controversial EC$1-per-acre programme. Cabinet ratified the inaugural certificates this week, advancing its policy of individual freehold land ownership despite longstanding opposition from Barbudans who support the island’s traditional communal land system. He said the first approvals would also lay the foundation for the establishment of the Barbuda Land Registry. “There is no further case that can be brought in relation to land ownership in Barbuda,” Merchant said. In 2017, Parliament amended the Barbuda Land Act following Hurricane Irma to allow for individual freehold ownership.