Prime Minister Gaston Browne and Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin were required to retake their oaths after an outdated version was used during Friday’s official swearing-in ceremony.
Speaking on a radio programme on Saturday, Mr Browne said the original oath administered at Government House referred to an older format linked to allegiance to the Crown, rather than the state.
He explained that the error was identified after the ceremony and stemmed from the use of wording that had not been updated under the Oaths Act 2025.
The revised law reflects allegiance to Antigua and Barbuda instead of the monarchy.
Mr Browne said both he and the attorney general later retook the oath in a corrected ceremony, describing the issue as an administrative oversight that was quickly resolved.
He added that the error does not affect the legitimacy of the government.
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As I have posited already I put the mistake down to an honest error on the part of the Governor General’s Office. Had it not been corrected so quickly, I know people would be concerned about the lawfulness and constitutionality of the actions of the Prime Minister and government going forward. However, any legal challenge would be difficult to succeed under the De Facto Doctrine where courts would accept the invalidity of the oath but nonetheless view actions taken by the government as legally valid. Simply put, courts do not generally invalidate executive actions because of procedural defects such as would be the case in point with the wrong oath.