….. URP leader reminds President

UNITED Republican Party (URP) Leader, Dr. Vishnu Bandhu, reminded President Irfaan Ali that, in selecting his future parliamentarians, he must ensure that none of them is a dual citizen.

In a statement to the press, on Tuesday, his party stated: “The United Republican Party leader Dr. Vishnu Bandhu is calling on the newly-elected President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, to ensure that his parliamentary selections are not dual citizens…Dr. Bandhu is adamant that former parliamentarians and new admissions to parliament must not be dual citizens.”

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.”

In 2019, this led to the relinquishment of foreign citizenship by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira and her colleagues Adrian Anamayah and Odinga Lumumba. It also saw former Ministers of government Joseph Harmon, Carl Greenidge, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and Dominic Gaskin resigning as MPs while Harmon and Greenidge relinquished their foreign citizenships.

Dr. Bandhu, as leader of the URP, also relinquished his American citizenship on January 16, 2020, making him eligible to contest in the General and Regional Elections on March 2, 2020.

The issue of dual citizenship came up in 2019 after former Member of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Charrandas Persaud, crossed the floor in favour of the current government in a no-confidence motion against the now Opposition, in December 2018. The APNU+AFC was later ousted through the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

Following legal challenges, the Court of Appeal ruled that a person holding dual citizenship was not entitled to be a member of the National Assembly.