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Prime Minister Gaston Browne
The Antigua and Barbuda Bar Association has condemned Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s statement, which criticized the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court judges and magistrates for their approach to granting bail and sentencing in gun-related cases.
In a statement to the media on Friday, the Bar Association said that the courts are bulwarks of the Constitution and laws, and public officials must be careful not to undermine public trust in the judiciary.
They said fear of personal attacks, public backlash, and potential enforcement failures of decisions or judgments are consequences of public distrust and should not occur as public officials are responsible for promoting respect for the courts and judicial decisions.
According to the Bar Association, the principle of the separation of powers — that is, the separation of the Legislative (which makes the law), Executive (which enforces the law), and Judicial (which interprets the law and applies it to individual cases before the courts) branches of government — must always be observed as it aims to prevent abuses of power and autocracy.
The Bar Association emphasized that it is plainly desirable that members of the public and public officials also fact-check and be armed with all relevant information in order to have a true comprehension of the issues at hand before making statements that seek to criticize and undermine the judiciary.
The Association cautioned members of the public and public officials to understand and respect the role of our courts and to refrain from making uninformed, improper, and unthoughtful criticisms of our judges, magistrates, and the judicial system.
But in a swift response, Browne said Antigua and Barbuda is facing one of its most significant national security challenges and instead of joining the fight by encouraging stricter sentences and the ending of routine bail for gun crimes; these âweak knee, apologetics are seeking to score skewed intellectual legal points at the expense of the safety and security of our peopleâ.
âThey are literally giving comfort to criminals. If you want respect from the people, institute stricter sentencing and work with law enforcement to deny bail, when these criminals represent a threat to the societyâ, he said
According to the prime minister, âthe ugly truth offends, but I will always stand on the truth in defense of our nation and its people. A responsibility from which I shall not shirnk, irrespective of the consequences. Â I took a parliamentary oath to speak without fear or favor.
This is not autocratic leadership, itâs fearless leadership, playing my part in soliciting the full support and commitment of all stakeholders against crime and violence.
Sentencing guidelines must be realigned to deal with crime and violence which is now a public health epidemic. I said what I said. Â Come for me !â, he added
For whom do you work, Antugua News, with your inflammatory headline designed, it seems to detract and distract the public from the serious issues at hand. What the PM said, whether we like him or not, is a perception shared by every single fair minded national, publicly stated and often openly discussed. Many have even resorted to the media to openly condemn the judiciary for the appearance of its incompetent, partisan dispensation of justice. How many times have we heard the plaintive cries for justice from the public as we witness seemingly skewed judgments being handed down regularly. Have members of the judiciary taken a single initiative to offer any advice to governments on ways to reduce crime and violence in Antigua and Barbuda. They sit in their lofty chambers behind their black curtains and emerge only they perceive that their competence, livelihood and relevance are brought into the limelight by someone whose WILL BE HEARD! So wheel and don’t even bother to come again Mr. Compromised journalist!
Some of you are really shameful and need to calm down. Why are you asking the site “who do you work for”?
What are you insinuating? So, what? Everything you do not agree with is political and agenda driven? Are you serious?
The PM is using the judiciary as a scapegoat. He is trying to tell us that the reason we have criminals out on the street is because of bail and lenient sentencing.
1. What is the penal system doing to curb reoffending and recidivism? Unless everyone gets life sentences, they have to come out sometime. The PM and his Ministers are responsible for that but he isn’t saying much.
2. The f***ing prison is overcrowding you fools. He says there are 474 people out who are repeat offenders. Even if the courts sentenced all of them to prison tomorrow, where they hell would they go????? The PM and his ministers are responsible for that. But he isn’t saying anything. He expects judges to fill up an overcrowded prison with 100s more people?
3. Police investigations and prosecutions are taking too long to come to trial and to court. The same criminals on bail that he speaks of should be brought to face trial swiftly. Instead, their cases take forever while they roam. Is that the judiciarys fault? The police need the resources for swifter investigation and forensic investigation. And we need more justices on the bench as well to speed up the processing of criminal cases. The DPP needs to be involved as well.
Yall allow yall Prime Minister to spoon feed you a narrative which makes him blameless and the judiciary totally at fault, and yall swallow it and regurgitate it at will. Use your brains please.
Great words. I agree 100%
Simply ridiculous đ¤Ł
Was that photo taken as the PM was making his statement re the lame-duck, impotent judiciary? That photo I am sure was carefully selected in order to play on the psyche of a partisan puâ¸blic. My question to the Editor is therefore as relevant as your blah, blah, blah response! What was said by the PM, most people know, is accurate – criticisms that have been aired years before this PM dared to publicly repeat the obvious. So why focus on the PM and his bold utterances on the root causes of increased crime in the state. Stiffer penalties of extended stays in an uncomfortable environment is as important as parenting education, rehabilitation if possible of criminal elements, effective border control are steps that must be taken to arrest the surge in criminal activity. Remove the spotlight from the messenger and just acknowledge and accept the message. Leave the not so subtle political gimmicks out if the equation.
So ridiculous..,
people antigua has been begging for justice especially for our young girls do whatever it take PM
There should be a more stiffer penalties for anyone committed the criminal act of rape, robbery, found with guns and ammunitions, attempted murder, and murder. Our prison is filled with more marijuana and other drugâs chargesâwhere these type of crime could be more a community punishment in hard laborâcutting the bushes from the nation roadsides and cleaning the all the gutter drainsâdressed in orange jumpsuits.
Why orange jumpsuits?