…U.S. resident Harry Gill urges colleagues to step down

AMID the fallout over parliamentarians holding dual citizenship here, reports are that the opposition, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), has a number of MPs who are citizens of other countries,-among them being Gail Teixeira, that party’s chief whip.
To have dual citizenship as a MP is a breach of Article 155 of the Constitution. Teixeira, a Canadian citizen, has been a Member of Parliament since 1992 although the Constitution bars against MPs having dual citizenship. The Guyana Chronicle was told that a number of others, including Adrian Anamayah, are also citizens of other countries.
Article 155 of the Constitution states: “(1) No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who – (a) is, by virtue of his or her own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.”

PPP LONG VIOLATED CONSTITUTION

AS such, there are increasing calls for Teixeira and her fellow MPs with dual citizenship to resign from Parliament with immediate effect. Veteran Trade Unionist Lincoln Lewis said the PPP/C has long violated the constitution.
“When Anil Nandlall, former PPP/C Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, has taken the route to deceive, he must be held to account. He should have admitted his political party is not an innocent bystander nor has it been advocate or enforcer of the extant article,” Lewis said in a letter to the editor. He was at the time responding to an article in the Stabroek News whereby Nandlall was quoted accusing government MPs with dual citizenship as duplicitous.

MP GILL URGES COLLEAGUES TO STEP DOWN
For his part, PPP MP Harry Gill has also called for a stepping down of parliamentarians with dual citizenship. He said the country’s lawmakers should not be allowed to violate the constitution. Gill, while denying that he is a citizen of another country, admitted to being a resident of the United States of America (USA). “I am 100% Guyanese. No I don’t have dual citizenship,” he told this newspaper when contacted.

The PPP/C MP said he lived in the U.S. for more than 23 years and has only acquired residency status. “I have resisted the temptation of going in for my citizenship. My daughter, we had had frequent quarrels on this subject because she is a U.S. citizen, and she has been encouraging me to go in for it but I have always had political ambition,” he said.

Gill noted, however, that he complies with the Laws of U.S., and renews his residency status when required. “I have residency, residency that I have always renewed, but I was never a citizen. I do not have a U.S passport. I do not have citizenship there,” he clarified.
The MP said he fully agrees with retired judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Duke Pollard that the National Assembly of Members of Parliament should be cleared of all MPs with dual citizenship. Gill said there should be no cherry picking of the laws, and as such, MPs with dual citizenship should do the honourable thing and step down. “Everybody must account for their status,” he said.

Justice Pollard had said there should be a thorough sweep of the National Assembly to rid the Parliament of all MPs with dual citizenship. Professor Pollard emphasised that the constitution must be respected by all. “This is not any kind of partisan approach; it is an approach by anyone who is committed to transparency and good governance,” he urged.

AFC CLEARS THE AIR
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Alliance For Change, said of its 11 MPs: “Ten of the party’s MPs are citizens of Guyana only. The other MP, Mr. Dominic Gaskin, was born in the United Kingdom but is a citizen of Guyana by descent.”

The issue of renouncing citizenship does not apply to Guyanese who were born in another country,” the AFC said. It is of the opinion that Minister Gaskin, constitutionally, sits as a duly elected MP without any hindrance or issue.

The issue of dual citizenship was brought to the front burner after AFC MP Charrandass Persaud broke ranks and voted in favour of the opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion to bring down his own government last December. A farmer of New Amsterdam, Compton Reid, is challenging the validity of the vote of no-confidence on the basis that Persaud is a dual citizen. The government has also raised the issue of dual citizenship with respect to Persaud. Persaud was expelled from the AFC and recalled from Parliament.