People's National Party vice-president Angella Brown-Burke holds United States citizenship that she is in no hurry to give up.

Despite the raging controversy over politicians with dual citizenship, Brown-Burke told The Sunday Gleaner that she would not be pressured into giving up her American passport.

However, the veteran politician and leader of opposition business in the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) stressed that she would not attempt to circumvent the Constitution.

"I believe in upholding the laws of the country ... . Parliamentarians should be eligible to sit in the Parliament, but I have not made a decision in terms of running for a seat," she said. "If the party asks me to do that, I would have no hesitation in running, but I would do what is constitutionally correct," she added.

getting nudges

Brown-Burke has been getting nudges from senior persons in the party to relinquish her United States citizenship and contest a seat whenever the next general election is called.

Her refusal has reportedly stirred up a hornets' nest. "I find that absolutely amazing," a chuckling Brown-Burke declared in response to queries raised by The Sunday Gleaner. "I have not had a discussion with anyone about my citizenship as it relates to contesting a seat," the obviously amused councillor said.

Brown-Burke, an amiable councillor, has, over the past few years, propelled herself to prominence by leading the party's cause in the KSAC. She is one of the vice-presidents assuming the slot left vacant by Portia Simpson Miller when she was elected president.

With the party now in search of strong candidates to reposition it and bolster its fortunes, much attention is focused on Brown-Burke, who enjoys the confidence of Simpson Miller.

several considerations

But Brown-Burke said the decision to contest a seat has to be guided by several considerations, including the relationship with the constituency in question.

The PNP's internal debate on the dual-citizenship controversy resumed recently after Prime Minister Bruce Golding threatened to take legal action against two of its members of Parliament.

In the wake of that announcement, The Gleaner reported that the Member of Parliament for South Central St Catherine, Sharon Hay-Webster, had renounced her US citizenship.

Hay-Webster, who was born in the United States, had initially indicated that she was not prepared to relinquish her US citizenship, but following the North West Clarendon court ruling, she told her constituents that she would.

Hay-Webster is now reportedly coming under pressure to give up the seat as party loyalists in the constituency complained that she had "thrown up her hands" in the aftermath of her 2007 election victory.