As he awaits the approval of the renunciation of his United States Citizenship, Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency Joseph Harmon says that he will be on the APNU+AFC list of candidates for the next election and cannot wait to serve.
“I am excited because I want to continue to serve the people of this country. I believe that there is a certain quality which I have that can help the president in running this country in a proper way, and I believe that I have something to offer the people of Guyana,” Harmon, the former Minister of State, said in Linden on Saturday.
Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal have found that constitutional provisions make those who hold citizenship in another country ineligible for election to the National Assembly.
The rulings were made in the proceedings related to the December 21st 2018 vote on the confidence motion against the government and effectively required several members on both sides of the House to tender their resignation.
Specifically Article 155 (1) (a) of the Constitution provides that “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.”
Harmon was one of four government ministers who were affected by the ruling and were forced to resign from the House. The others were Dr Rupert Roopnaraine who was Minister of Public Service, Dominic Gaskin, who was Business Minister and Carl Greenidge, who was Foreign Affairs Minister.
Greenidge on Saturday announced that he had renounced his UK citizenship and that he too stands ready to serve the country.
Harmon informed that he understands that the process should be near completed as he concluded the filing and other processes over one month ago. “I have completed my renunciation process over a month now. I have to wait now on the US State Department to formally notify me that they have accepted all of the documents. All of the affidavits and everything have been signed, I have [paid the fees…I expect that anytime now I will get a feedback from them.
He said that the fact that he didn’t hear back from the US State Department “seems to be that all the procedures and paperwork are in order”.
But he was confident that by the time the coalition is ready to prepare its list of candidates, he “will be ready to go on the list”.
