Opposition demands Parliament release Tourism Minister’s US renunciation certificate within 24 hrs …or face legal action

Nov 04, 2020 News

Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond-Allicock.

Kaieteur News – The APNU+AFC Coalition Opposition gave Parliament an ultimatum yesterday to publicly release the Certificate of Renunciation of US citizenship by Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Oneidge Walrond-Allicock within 24 hours.
Failure to comply with the request, the Opposition said, “would result in the institution of legal proceedings to prevent this flagrant breach of the Constitution.”
In a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, the Opposition noted that on October 25, it requested a copy of the certificate submitted by the Minister. However, to date, it is still awaiting a copy which prompted this new request with the ultimatum.
“The information released by Mrs. Oneidge Walrond-Allicock and which is in the public domain,” the Coalition said “indicates that Mrs. Oneidge Walrond-Allicock was not qualified to be appointed as a Minister of Government and or Member of Parliament. It is clear that the appointment of Mrs. Oneidge Walrond-Allicock was in breach of the Constitution and consequently invalid.”
As such, the Coalition stated that the Tourism Minister is not a “lawful member of the National Assembly” and ought to be so declared.
Further, the Coalition told the Clerk, “The inaction by yourself and the Speaker of the National Assembly in the face of the unconstitutional appointment of Mrs. Oneidge Walrond-Allicock is unacceptable and constitutes a violation of your obligation to uphold the Constitution of Guyana.”
The concerns regarding the renunciation of the minister’s dual citizenship status came to the fore after the Clerk of the National Assembly related that he had not been provided with evidence to support such.
Minister Walrond-Allicock later on revealed that she opted to do so out of an abundance of caution, despite it not being a legal requirement since she sits in the National Assembly as a Technocrat Minister.

Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs.

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.”
But Minister Walrond-Allicock was not elected, seeing as she was not on the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic list of candidates. Minister Walrond-Allicock had explained that after she was asked by President Irfaan Ali to serve in his Cabinet on August 5, she immediately began making arrangements.
On August 18, she wrote to the US Consular Office renouncing her citizenship and compiled with that process by August 27 before she took her oath of office on September 1.
It should be noted that a person immediately loses their citizenship on taking the oath before a Consular Officer. That was revealed by US Embassy spokeswoman, Violeta Talandis who was quoted in another section of the media as saying that a person loses his/her citizenship “on the day they appear before the Consular Officer” and not the date on the Loss of Nationality Certificate issued after.
Therefore, as per US laws, Minister Walrond-Allicock lost her US citizenship since on August 18.
It is unclear how the Opposition plans to take legal action against the Minister’s appointment since the time for any effective legal challenge has expired. In 2019, the former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran had, in a comment to Kaieteur News, alluded to the ruling of the Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, in which she had said in her decision, in the case challenging the legitimacy of the Persaud NCM vote, that, “If you have dual citizenship, you are in breach of Article 155 (1) (a).”
Ramkarran reminded that one has the discretion to vacate the office, but the CJ has also added that if anyone is going to challenge the validity of the member to remain in the House, they could only do so by way of an Election Petition. Ramkarran had noted too that the time for a petition is 35 days after the election, and that time has already passed.
The issue of Member of Parliaments (MP) possessing dual citizenships arose after a case was brought up and upheld against former Alliance For Change (AFC) member, Charrandass Persaud. Since then, political parties have been adamant that dual citizens cannot hold a seat in Parliament.