Political party A New and United Guyana (ANUG) has welcomed the government’s announcement that its Members of Parliament (MPs) who hold dual nationality have resigned their positions and will not be returning to the National Assembly.
“ANUG welcomes their resignations as a refreshing step in the right direction at a time when political forces have been only too willing to cherry pick the laws and the legal decisions they would choose to abide by,” ANUG said on Wednesday in a brief statement.
The statement came in wake of government’s announcement that President David Granger had accepted the resignations of Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin and Minister of Public Service Dr Rupert Roopnaraine.
The Ministry of the Presidency has stated that the resignations will not take immediate effect as certain constitutional steps have to first be followed.
Harmon holds US citizenship while Greenidge, Gaskin and Roopnaraine are British citizens.
Both the High Court and the Guyana Court of Appeal have ruled that the holders of foreign citizenship are ineligible for election as members of the National Assembly by virtue of Article 155 (1) of the Constitution. According to Article 155 (1) (a) of the Constitution states, “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.”
ANUG noted that its positions on the issue have been that the provisions of the Constitution and the law must always be fully obeyed even though an individual of dual nationality is capable of giving his or her undivided loyalty to Guyana.
ANUG also noted that the government’s parliamentarians have all executed important portfolios and it recognised their service to the nation. “ANUG also wishes to commend the former Parliamentarians for their obedience to Article 155 of the Constitution which has been tested and upheld by the Judiciary,” it also said.
It further urged all political parties to follow suit and obey the Constitution in this regard, and called on all Guyanese to maintain a state of peace, calm and restraint as they await an end to the current political impasse.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has also said that the three PPP/C parliamentarians who hold dual citizenship will by next week submit their resignation letters to the Speaker of the National Assembly.
PPP/C Chief Whip Gail Teixeira holds Canadian citizenship, while Odinga Lumumba and Adrian Anamayah are both holders of US citizenship.
Jagdeo said that while Teixeira and Lumumba have given clear indications that they will renounce their foreign citizenship, Anamayah has opted to keep his American citizenship due to family commitments.
“He has explained to me that there are family obligations and other issues, so he will not renounce because of those commitment he has with his family and others but Odinga Lumumba and Gail Teixeira, they will renounce,” he said.
