Last week, cabinet ministers in Antigua and Barbuda took their oaths of office without swearing allegiance to the British monarchy as part of a growing trend across the Caribbean to change customs and national symbols to reflect local identities rather than their colonial past.
In late December, the federation’s parliament approved a constitutional amendment that allowed for a change of clauses which had previously demanded that oaths be made to King Charles, his heirs, and successors. Rather, sworn allegiances must now be made to the state of Antigua and Barbuda, as the federation has been independent since 1981.
During the debates, Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin said the old system should have been long discarded as, “…in my view, to what prevails today in Antigua and Barbuda. We have noted that the people of this nation are now so conscious of their independence that they believe we ought to be swearing allegiance to the state of Antigua and Barbuda and not to His Majesty the King in England. The time is right,” he argued as the bill was debated. “We will once and for all finally not be swearing to His Majesty in England, his heirs and successors in England. We are swearing the oath of allegiance to the state of Antigua and Barbuda, its constitution and its laws.”
The swearing in followed general elections held at the end of April that saw the Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) winning by a landslide, carting away 15 of the 17 seats. In doing so, after the results had poured in, its cabinet ministers and other officials became the first to actually swear allegiance to the federation rather than to the British crown.
Meanwhile, it appears that the umbrella University of the West Indies (UWI) is also heading in the direction of regionalistic change as it is moving to cut decades-old ties with Britain.
The multi-island school system announced recently that it plans to jettison the British royal charter which was used as the legal foundation to establish the university system back in 1948.
The Barbados Today reported that the school will now be defined by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, the founding legal or regional charter document establishing the 15-nation Caribbean Community more than 50 years ago. The change will allow for the school to be an “independent regional university forever,” declared Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles.
As the school genuflects from its colonial origins, Beckles contends that the future would be more defined by “reparatory justice and intellectual liberation.” “We have the power to give degrees, compliments of the King of England. If the King of England woke up one morning and said, ‘Well, I’m revoking that charter,’ then the UWI would not exist. It would be abolished in a stroke,” said Beckles.
Regional leaders had endorsed the switch to the treaty at their summit in St. Kitts in February, with Chairman and local Prime Minister Terrance Drew suggesting that the move brings the region a step closer to “indigenizing that institution.”
The constitutional amendment by the federation is part of an effort across the Caribbean community to change symbols and other relics from the British colonial era to reflect the cultural and political realities of today, officials say.
Last year, Trinidad and Tobago ditched images linked to the ships of Christopher Columbus’s initial voyage to the West Indies, replacing them on the national coat of arms with the steelpan, the national instrument.
Grenada, Barbados, and Jamaica have also localized their national oaths, with Barbados taking it a step further by opting to become a republic in late 2021. In doing so, it also dumped the British king as its head of state and installed a local as ceremonial president.
“I do, or solemnly affirm that I will faithfully bear true allegiance to the state of Antigua and Barbuda, its constitution and laws, so help me God,” reads Antigua and Barbuda’s brand new oath.
