Antigua’s Special Economic Zone Amendment Bill 2024: Attorney General Highlights Police Role to Prevent State Within a State
Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin emphasized the critical role of law enforcement in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Amendment Bill 2024.
He stressed that the proposed amendments are aimed at preventing the SEZ from becoming a “state within a state.”
The Attorney General highlighted that the presence of the commissioner of police within the SEZ’s Advisory Board is crucial.
This ensures that the SEZ remains subject to the laws and jurisdiction of Antigua and Barbuda.
Benjamin underscored that while the SEZ can have its own security forces for internal purposes, any breaches of the state’s laws would require intervention by the central police.
” We can’t have a state within a state,” Attorney General Benjamin declared. He clarified that while the SEZ operates as an economic development tool, attracting foreign direct investment and promoting industries, it must remain under the purview of the country’s laws and regulations.
The SEZ Amendment Bill 2024 aims to maintain law, order, and development within the SEZ, ensuring that it functions as an integral part of Antigua and Barbuda’s economic landscape without undermining the country’s sovereignty or legal framework.
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Antigua’s Special Economic Zone Amendment Bill 2024: Attorney General Explains Objectives in Parliament
In a session of the Antiguan Parliament yesterday, Attorney General Steadroy Benjamin addressed the House on the objectives of the Special Economic Zone Amendment Bill 2024. He emphasized the need to align the legislation with the current realities facing Antigua and Barbuda and to enhance the representation within the zone’s governing structures.
The Attorney General highlighted that the amendment aims to broaden the composition of the Advisory Board overseeing the Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Previously, the board consisted of seven members appointed by the minister, including representatives from Customs, immigration, the business sector, and an independent person. However, experience has shown the necessity for a more diverse representation to fully realize the zone’s purpose.
The purpose of the SEZ, as outlined in the original ACT passed in 2015, is to serve as an economic development tool to promote growth and investment. The SEZ seeks to attract foreign and domestic investments, along with technology, to Antigua and Barbuda. To ensure effective operation, the Attorney General’s Chambers reviewed similar legislation in other jurisdictions, including Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, and India, to tailor the amendments to Antigua and Barbuda’s unique circumstances.
One significant change proposed in the amendment is the appointment of no more than nine members to the Advisory Board. These members include high-ranking officials such as the commissioner of police, commissioner of revenue, chief immigration officer, Labor Commissioner, and Controller of Customs, or their nominees. Additionally, two persons representing the SEZ license holder and one person appointed by the cabinet will be included.
The Attorney General clarified that these amendments are primarily administrative in nature, aimed at ensuring the proper administration of the SEZ. They are intended to guarantee compliance with Antiguan laws related to taxation, Customs, immigration, labor, and public order. The presence of the commissioner of police within the Advisory Board is crucial to maintaining law and order within the SEZ, while also ensuring that the zone does not operate as a separate entity from the state.
In conclusion, Attorney General Benjamin emphasized that the proposed amendments are essential for the continued success and development of the SEZ. He commended the House to debate the amendments, highlighting the importance of ensuring that the laws of Antigua and Barbuda are observed within the SEZ for the benefit of the country’s development.
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You all screwed up with Yida Economic Zones.Now you are trying to clean up your messes.Giving Yida all of the autonomy of a country inside Antigua was a disaster.We the not so bright people of Antigua and Barbuda told you so then.Who do not hear feels.
The person(s) who negotiated and signed whatever documents on behalf, of the People of Antigua, Barbuda & REDONDA which gave these SEZ – Special Economic Zones, such powers within Our Nation, that they have to be amended, to prevent The State Within A State from happening, MUST be brought up on TREASON!
You cannot fix #stupid!
Jumbee_Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat_Bastard
Vere C. Edwards
You must remember the people who sign these agreements only think about what they are getting out of the deals. To think they have an AG, a lawyer, and only now he realizes there is a problem. A who bad play them?
@Wharf Rat
“We the not so bright people of Antigua and Barbuda told you so then. Who do not hear feels.”
They heard you. What they did was not a mistake or error in judgment. What they did, are doing, is deliberately done for personal gain. They are only doing this now, taking this step with the SEZ, because it is about to explode in their faces.
As long as we keep thinking and saying that the actions of this administration is due to poor judgment or poor planning strategy, we will forever get it wrong. Everything they do, they know exactly what they are doing. There is benefit in it for one or two of them. You just don’t see it, nor for some of you, want to see it.
They know EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING. They are not giving away the land. Hogwash. It’s paid for. All the concessions and incentives given are bartered. Every cent that was meant for Barbuda had another destination. And strange enough, all that is done, is done out in the open.
They are not afraid of UPP’s mouth. They are not afraid of the plenty fancy talk. Because they know it is just that. Talk. Their motto is you keep the talk, give me the lucre.
All the fancy questions in Parliament are treated askance with disdain, dismissal, lies, arrogant, more lies, haughtiness, arrogance, etc.
And there is no fear. After all, who should they fear? Nobody is there to MAKE THEM AFRAID.
Gaston Browne rules this fiefdom like an overlord. How does he succeed in doing this?
He has thrown a pall of fear over a nation of sufferers who are so afraid of their own shadows.
The sad thing is, he is an utter coward.
Nikki Haley’s husband said in reference to Trump:
Animals do not allow the weakest of the pack to lead them”.
They knew what they were doing it the first place. A blind donkey knows that allowing a foreign entity to own mass amounts of lands, build and operate factories and housing developments while paying no taxes and not hiring any Antiguans is ignorance. This is simply damage control.
We the enlightened warned about this, but the clowns running the country thought they knew better, and look at the dogs mess they’ve left us in.
Will any resignations be forthcoming? Nooo!
Will government officials admit that they were wrong? Nooo!
Will Gassssston hand out more ham 🍖and turkey 🍗to distract the gullible once more? Yesss! 🤣
Again…they have taken Antigua from Antiguan’s, and give it to foreigners, right out in the open and in front of the world.
These people are dangerous dangerous people. Who other government in the Caribbean can do human smuggling right out in the open and get away with it.
They brought in a 1000 Africans, with no papers at all whatsoever, then they simply disappeared without a trace, and not one soul got locked up or went to jail.
They keep spitting in the faces of Antiguan’s and keep getting away with it.
@Ras. Treason is too good of a charge for some of these sellouts we have here running Antigua right now..these people should be banished from the land and jailed on a alligator infested island far far away from Antigua.
Mr Simon, you could not be presented with a bigger opportunity to stand up for the people of Antigua, than right now.
I call on you to be the voice of the people..you are the only man I see that have the guts to stand up these sellouts.
It’s your time Shuggy.
Any of the Africans still in Antigua? Haven’t heard anything about them recently.
@Islanman26…Twenty-five(25) plus years, when my dad was physically alive, he gave me a SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT from a local newspaper, it was entitled, AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA AND ASIAN VILLAGE ANTIGUA LIMITED; he told me, “hold on pan dis ya. E goh kum bak, and haunt Antigua.”
He was right!
Antigua Newsroom – ANR should do a reprint of this AGREEMENT.
To be honest, I still can’t fathom, how the opposition even then Harold Lovell, Baldwin Spencer and their legal department let this go without a fight.
At least, the Barbudans are going to the Courts, all the way to the Privy Council to try and protect their inheritance.
Jumbee Picknee aka Ras Smood
De’ole Dutty Peg🦶🏿Garrat Bastard
Vere C. Edwards
The presence of the commissioner can’t even stop crime within the force.
Oops my bad! These young white Caucasian usually write what they want us to pass into laws in parliament while having wine, they were probably junk when this was done, so they now gave me the correct documents they want me to table through parliament, I hope they put in my shares in the document for when I leave office I can be paid from these businesses.
I hope the government of Antigua-Barbuda consulted with the Prime minister of Jamaica, so he can tell them about that highway there. Jamaicans have to pay to cross over,’or leave their vehicles there until someone brings them money. That was built by CHINESE.
I hope the government of Antigua-Barbuda consulted with the Prime minister of Jamaica, so he can tell them about that highway there. Jamaicans have to pay to cross over,’or leave their vehicles there until someone brings them money. That was built by CHINESE. YOU MADE A MISTAKE IT’S MY FIRST TIME POSTING.
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