(Jamaica Gleaner) South Central St Catherine Member of Parliament (MP) Sharon Hay-Webster has decided to give up the land of her birth – the United States of America (USA).
Hay-Webster, an Opposi-tion MP, has initiated the process of renouncing her US citizenship in order to remain a member of the House of Representatives.
Fifteen months ago, an unyielding Hay-Webster, with legal team in tow, was ready for a showdown with her political adversaries to prove that despite possessing a US passport, she was eligible to sit in the lower house.
But on Saturday Hay-Webster hoisted the proverbial white flag. “I told my constituency executive on Friday night that I intend to renounce and the party chairman is also aware … I told them I have been in discussion with the embassy already,” she told The Sunday Gleaner in solemn tones.
Hay-Webster could not say when the process to renounce her status would be completed.
“I have no assets in the United States of America. I really have an intention to continue service to my country … if they (constituents) continue to endorse me,” she said.
Hay-Webster denied that pressure from Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s decision to file a constitutional motion in the court against her and Ian Hayles, MP for Western Hanover, was the reason for her renunciation.
“Whether or not he filed a motion, I would have had to take a decision,” she said.
Her move to relinquish her US citizenship is the latest causality in the politically charged dual citizenship maelstrom rocking Gordon House.
Already, the court has booted three MPs – Daryl Vaz, Gregory Mair and Michael Stern – from Parliament because of the constitutional breach that rendered them ineligible to sit in the lower house when they were elected in the 2007 general election.
So far, two by-elections have been held in which the Jamaica Labour Party’s Vaz and Mair took back their seats. The court is to make a ruling in the Stern case as to whether the seat should go to Richard Azan or if there is to be a by-election in the constituency.
Under the Jamaican Constitution, non-commonwealth nationals, who have pledged allegiance to a foreign power, are disqualified to sit in the House.
