Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce Oneidge Walrond today said that she has done “all that is within her power” to renounce her American citizenship prior to being sworn in as a Member of Parliament (MP) and as a result she will continue to sit in the National Assembly.
“…I am confident that I have done everything that was in my power to act morally [and] that the attempt to demerge my character has not gone unnoticed by the public. I am convince that I have full legal right to sit in the National Assembly and that I have done nothing illegal and that I will continue to sit in the Assembly as a legal representative,” Walrond told reporters at the sidelines of an event held at the Marriott Hotel.
According to Walrond, the fact that she received her renunciation certificate two days after being sworn in cannot support that argument that she was illegally sworn in as an MP.
“My position has been and always has been that the act of renunciation is one that is a unilateral act that when a citizen has done the legal standard, is when a citizen has done all that is within her power to renounce, which is what I did on the 18th ……The fact that I received my certificate two days after swearing in, in my opinion, cannot support the argument that I was there illegally,” Walrond added.
The main parliamentary opposition APNU+AFC has argued that Walrond was fully aware that she was still a citizen of the US when she took the oath of office as an MP on September 1st.
Walrond had publicly stated that she had renounced her United States (US) citizenship since August 27th before taking the oath of office as an MP on September 1st and had subsequently received the Certificate of Loss of Nationality.
Her certificate of renunciation, which was made public, however, showed that Walrond voluntarily performed the act of expatriation to relinquish her US citizenship on September 4th—after she was already sworn as an MP and minister. Two days ago, APNU+AFC filed an action in the High Court against Walrond seeking a declaration that she was illegally sworn in as a MP.
