Another politician relinquishes citizenship

Nov 16, 2019 News

Four senior ministers were forced out of their parliamentary seats earlier this year. They were Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vice President Carl Greenidge; Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; and Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine because of their dual citizenship status.
On Thursday during a post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of Presidency; former Minister of State and Director General at the Ministry of Presidency, Joseph Harmon, announced that his US citizenship has been officially renounced.
This paves the way for him to continue his political career in Guyana.
In April, the High Court ruled on barring persons with dual citizenship from sitting in the National Assembly. This stemmed after former coalition MP, Mr. Charrandass Persaud who held a second citizenship voted in favour of an Opposition tabled No-Confidence Motion against the Coalition Government.
Attorney General Basil Williams filed a court case arguing that the No-Confidence Motion was invalid since Mr. Charrandass Persaud was a dual citizen.
Mr. Compton Reid challenged the vote in the High Court. There was a ruling eventually upheld in the Court of Appeal which found that persons with dual citizenship cannot sit in the National Assembly. The former MP’s vote was valid since he had a valid parliamentarian.
There are also three PPP/C parliamentarians who hold dual citizenship; Adrian Anamaya, Odinga Lumumba and Gail Teixeira.

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