House to reconvene on April 11
Minister of State Joseph Harmon
Minister of State Joseph Harmon

THE National Assembly will reconvene its sitting on April, 11, 2019 and government will await the outcome of the appeals at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) before it acts on the court’s ruling that dual citizens should not be sitting in Parliament.

This is according to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, on Friday at a post-cabinet press briefing. “The attorneys representing the State will advise the government with respect to the situation with members of the government that are dual citizens, so in that regard I will say that this matter is still engaging the attention of the courts and cabinet has not made a ruling on it,” Harmon said.

Further, he said that on April 11, when the National Assembly reconvenes, all of the members on the government side will be present. “The decisions will be made in the public’s interest,” Harmon said.

When asked to comment, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo claimed that government was being duplicitous by recognising only parts of the Court of Appeal’s ruling. Harmon said that is not the case, noting that the government will abide by the ruling of the CCJ. “Well you know the opposition leader has accused us of many things that he himself is guilty of, but I am not sure that those labels accurately describe us as an administration.

I see nothing duplicitous about it. The fact of the matter is that the Court of Appeal has dealt with the matter and the matter is now under appeal at another level. In so far as we are concerned, the Court of Appeal has made a determination on all of the matters before it and so we will abide by what the Court of Appeal has said. If at the level of the CCJ these matters are dealt with and they are definitively pronounced upon, then certainly we will abide by what the court says.”

A number of PPP MPs also carry dual citizenship including longstanding member, Gail Teixeira. Also MPs, Adrian Anamayah, Odinga Lumumba and others have dual citizenship.

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