Bartlett (left) and Vaz.

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

GOVERNMENT BACK-BENCHER Dr St Aubyn Bartlett says Parliament should consider amending the Constitution to allow Jamaican nationals with citizenship elsewhere to sit in the legislature.

"All Jamaican nationals should be able to become parliamen-tarians, but there should be a clause which limits some posts to Jamaican nationals with undivided loyalties," argues Bartlett, the member of parliament (MP) for Eastern St Andrew. "I believe that the posts of prime minister, the minister of national security and the minister of finance should be reserved for Jamaican nationals who do not have allegiance to any other country," Bartlett reasons.

Bartlett says the country needs to decide whether citizenship is more important than nationality. He opines that nationals, whether also citizens of another country, may have a lot to contribute to the country through the legislature.

"You may have citizenship in another country and you can lose it, but nationality is not something that you lose," Bartlett states.

Dual citizenship

The issue of dual citizenship and the eligibility of persons to sit in Parliament has been a contentious one in recent months and is now the subject of legal battles.

Daryl Vaz, who was elected MP for West Portland in the September 2007 general election on a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ticket, was disqualified by the court after his opponent, Abe Dabdoub, challenged his eligibility. The court held that Vaz is the holder of a US passport and by virtue of taking steps to acquire, renew and travel on the passport, has pledged allegiance to a foreign power, which disqualifies him.

Section 40 (a) of the Constitution states that no person shall be qualified to be appointed as a senator or elected as a member of the House of Representatives, who is by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power.

Constitutional lawyer Dr Lloyd Barnett says amending Section 40, which speaks to disqualification, only requires an absolute majority vote in both Houses. However, he says that it would require a referendum to amend section Section 39 of the Constitution, which governs the qualification. Section 39 allows non-Jamaicans, who are Commonwealth citizens but have lived in the country for the 12 months preceding an election to become a MP.

Ridiculous

"This is a specially entrenched section. It is the more difficult part to amend," Barnett points out. "It would require a two-thirds majority of both houses (House of Repre-sentatives and the Senate) and must be approved by a majority of the electors," he adds.

Barnett argues it is ridiculous that nationals may be disqualified under Section 40 while non-nationals can qualify under Section 39 of the Constitution.

However, Dabdoub feels strongly that persons with divided loyalty should not be a part of the country's legislature.

"I am not in favour of that. What we need to do is to ensure that only Jamaicans who have undivided loyalty to the country can run for the House of Representatives or be appointed to the Senate," Dabdoub tells The Sunday Gleaner. "If you want to become a member of the legislature, then you must serve one master. You must give up one," he states.

Last week, Dabdoub told members of the Rotary Club of Kingston that "our Constitution rightfully demands of all the people's representatives an unwavering loyalty and fidelity to the people they have offered to serve. There should never even be an appearance of divided loyalties".

Avoiding hardships

He added: "The very idea that they could pass laws that affect us whilst they have the luxury of going elsewhere and avoid the hardships such laws may impose, including taxation, flies in the face of true democracy."

Three other JLP MPs - Michael Stern, Shahine Robinson and Gregory Mair - have been dragged to court in cases similar to Vaz's. People's National Party (PNP) MP Sharon Hay-Webster has admitted to having a US passport, by virtue of birth. The PNP and the JLP have expressed a willingness to meet on the matter, but neither party has said whether legislative changes would be a part of the talks.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com