Antigua-Barbuda Millennium Naturalization Act ruled constitutional

Monday,  November 28, 2005

ST. JOHN’S, Antigua: Justice Louise Esther Blenman has dismissed the case brought by Mr. Glentis Goodwin Chairman of the Organization for National Development Party (ONDP) against Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer and Attorney General Justin Simon, seeking to invalidate Section 3 (1) of the Millennium Naturalization Act of 2004, which provides for the acquisition of Antigua and Barbuda citizenship by persons who were lawfully resident in Antigua and Barbuda on and since the first day of January 2000.

Attorney Ralph Francis who represented Glentis Goodwin in the matter claimed that Section 3 (1) of the Millennium Act infringes section 114 (1) © (ii) and Section 116 (1) of the Constitution, making it invalid and unconstitutional.

It was further claimed that the constitution provides for the entrenchment of Section 114 and Parliament cannot amend the provisions without confirming to the dictates that deal with entrenched provisions. He noted that the effect of the section being entrenched is to prevent parliament from amending it without confirming to the provision of the Constitution that address the amendment of entrenched provisions. He argued that in effect parliament has amended section 114 of the Constitution by enacting Section 3 (1) of the Millennium Act.

Counsel Ralph Francis further argued that Section 3 (1) of the Millennium Act violates certain section of the constitution by permitting persons who are not Commonwealth citizens to obtain citizenship of Antigua and Barbuda in a short time as four and a quarter years instead of a period of seven years. This he said is a breach of the Constitution.

In defense, Attorney General Justin Simon Q.C. disagreed that the powers of Parliament to make laws for the acquisition of citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda are restricted as contended for on behalf of Mr. Goodwin. He advocated that Section 114 of the Constitution states the factors that entitle a person to acquire citizenship as of right, in Antigua and Barbuda.

The material section provides that a person who has been ordinarily resident for a period of seven years and person who have been domiciled in Antigua and Barbuda for a period of seven years are entitled to acquire citizenship. He maintained that there is nothing in section 114 which prescribes that domicile and residency are the only two qualifications for acquiring citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda. 

Elaborating further, the Attorney General outlined that section 114 of the Constitution does not specify how persons who are non-commonwealth citizens may acquire citizenship in Antigua and Barbuda. He said that parliament is given the power to pass laws to confer citizenship on person who are not eligible under the Constitution.

In arriving at her decision to dismiss the case brought against the Prime Minister and Attorney General, Justice Blenman quoted from the author Dr. Winston Anderson in his book Elements of Private International Law in which he gives careful consideration to the issue of citizenship and provides a very helpful exposition in stating that international law leaves it up to the states to determine the conditions under which they will grant citizenship to individuals but that the rules governing the acquisition and loss of nationality are to be found, as would be expected, in the Constitution.

In stating that Section 3 (1) of the Millennium Act is constitutional, Justice Blenman noted that she accepts the submissions by the  Attorney General as they represent the correct interpretation of the law.

Since the Millennium Naturalization Act took effect on July 18, 2004 over 300 persons from Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth countries have become citizens of Antigua and Barbuda.

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