Legal focus on Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne

THE PROVERBIAL INK had hardly dried on our Friday 14, 2026 editorial which touched on issues related to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) when another uncomfortable story broke relative to Justice across the OECS sub-region. This time it came via Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne, no stranger to controversy. The four-term Prime Minister has stepped into the media spotlight for comments in which he threatened to declare a sitting justice persona non grata. So explosive were the comments from the Prime Minister, that they have prompted a statement from the Caribbean Heads of Judiciary on the matter.

In the statement the Heads of Judiciary said that: “Apparently dissatisfied with what he regards as lenient sentences being ordered in criminal matters before the court, the Prime Minister referenced, without naming, “a particular judge” whom he considers “has a propensity to give criminals a break”.

The statement continued that “The Hon. Prime Minister ventured further in his statement to suggest that if the judge is unable to “follow the lead of the parliament to give longer sentences” he should leave the country voluntarily or otherwise be deported and made persona non grata”.

The statement by the Heads of Judiciary went on to strongly condemn what it termed the “unfortunate remarks made by Prime Minister Browne against the judge and by extension, the judiciary of the Eastern Caribbean region”.

The Heads say that the remarks are not only “regrettable but…a threat to the very independence of the judiciary… with the potential to erode and weaken the efficacy of the doctrine of separation of powers which is the bedrock upon which democracy governance rests”.

Prime Minister Browne is well known for being a colourful character who embraces a “rootsiness” with his alter ego Gassy Dread, that some find amusing. He may have just gone one step too far this time, however with his complaint from which, to date, he has not backed off.

One can very well understand the frustrations and deep concerns of the Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister seeking to contend with a troubling crime situation in his country- one that is a growing problem across this region.

It is one thing though for a politician to express displeasure with what he sees as lenient sentences being handed down by a court, but threatening a sitting judge, whom he disparagingly addressed as “brother man” as he made the persona non grata threat, certainly goes beyond the pale.

The Heads therefore denounced the Prime Minister’s remarks as “unproductive and dangerous, bearing only the potential to undermine public confidence in the administration of justice”.

We do agree that such statements from a sitting Prime Minister are very serious and warn against the tendency by some politicians to lean in on their popularity among supporters and then go overboard and disrespect well established legal norms of addressing issues with which they may disagree.

As the statement from the Heads of Judiciary reminds, the well established manner of dealing with such an issue is via “a right of appeal to the prosecution to the Court of Appeal and to the apex court, which is either the Caribbean Court of Justice or the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council”.

Prime Minister Gaston Browne may be well advised to take the course recommended by the Heads of Judiciary and to respect the separation of powers on which our democratic system is founded.

Notwithstanding the statement from the Heads of Judiciary, Prime Minister Browne has just announced that the government of Antigua and Barbuda intends to introduce legislation for mandatory minimum sentences.The proposed laws target repeat offenders, firearm-related crimes, and severe sexual offenses such as child rape, pushing for a sentencing floor of 15 years up to life imprisonment while retaining limited judicial discretion for extenuating circumstances.

This course of action by the Government of Antigua and Barbuda places the issue of separation of powers directly in the spotlight and we can expect continued legal manoeuvres within the region over the Prime Minister’s actions.