Accepting acting Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire’s recent ruling that persons who are dual citizens cannot be Members of Parliament (MPs), the People’s Progressive Party/Civic will replace members who hold such status if it has to return to the National Assembly to set a date for the elections, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed yesterday.
“The first thing we will do is what is lawful. So if the Chief Justice’s ruling (says) the law says that no person holding dual citizenship can be present, then we will comply with that,” Jagdeo told a press conference he hosted.
Chief Whip Gail Teixeira, Odinga Lumumba and Adrian Anamayah hold foreign passports on the opposition’s side.
Jagdeo said that he could not at the time say who their replacements would be as it would have to be discussed at the party level, but he assured that they would be from the List of Candidates submitted in 2015. He also did not specify if the members would give up their foreign citizenship to be on the PPP/C list for the next elections. “We may never even go back to the Parliament. If we have to do that, it will be people who will come on the list. We will have to discuss this at the level of the party,” he said.
On the government side of the House, four persons are dual citizens: Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge and Minister of Public Affairs Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, who have admitted to holding foreign passports, and Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin, who was born in the United Kingdom.
Representative of the list for the APNU+AFC coalition Professor Harold Lutchman has said he believes that candidates’ lists for the next general elections will not include persons with dual citizenship.
“Following this court matter, I can say with some degree of confidence that none of the political parties will risk putting dual citizens on their list of representatives…,” Lutchman told this newspaper.
“Why? Because the law says so and they know it. They knew about it all the time but both sides ignored the Constitution and the outcome of the court case will reinforce that they were breaking the law…so I don’t think there will be any dual citizens,” he added.
The issue of MPs holding dual citizenship has come under close scrutiny following the passage of a no-confidence motion against the government on December 21st, when then government MP Charrandass Persaud voted with the PPP/C, leading to the motion being declared carried.
Subsequently, a court action was filed by Compton Reid challenging the validity of Persaud’s election as an MP, due to him holding a Canadian passport, and the validity of his vote. The court subsequently affirmed that anyone who holds dual citizenship cannot be an MP. The matter raised questions about parliamentarians on both sides of the House with the same status.
According to Article 155 (1) (a) of the Constitution, “No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who is, by virtue of his or her own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.”
Chief Justice George-Wiltshire has held that Persaud was not “not qualified” for election to the National Assembly by virtue of his own acts in acknowledging allegiance and adherence to a foreign power, the sovereign state of Canada, in contravention of Article 155 (1) (a). Notwithstanding his ineligibility to be a member, the judge upheld the validity of his vote and the motion.
