BBCCaribbean.com | Ditch that foreign passport?

Opinions are divided across the Caribbean in the debate over whether people holding, or seeking, political office, should be allowed to hold dual citizenship.
Clauses in some constitutions are being subjected to various interpretations.

In some cases politicians serving in their native parliament, and who have acquired citizenship from another country, may not readily volunteer that information.

So, exact figures are hard to come by.

But some holders of multiple passports have been speaking out in their own defence.

MPs with foreign passports

In Guyana the health minister, Leslie Ramsammy has US citizenship.


Guyanese MP and Minister, Leslie Ramsammy, also holds a US passport

In St Kitts/Nevis the government has been eyeing the foreign passport held by the lone opposition Peoples Action Movement MP, Shawn Richards.

But the National Security Minister, Dwyer Astaphan, has had to admit that he too has dual citizenship.

In addition to his Kittitian document Mr Astaphan holds a Canadian passport.

One opposition MP in Grenada, Peter David, is fighting the government in court over the issue.

The New National Party administration of Prime Minister Keith Mitchell contends that the National Democratic Congress parliamentarian should be excluded from the House as he still holds a foreign passport.

The government claims this is proof that Mr David's loyalties are divided.

And the controversy has also surfaced in other parts of the Caribbean: in Haiti, in Jamaica, in Trinidad and Tobago and elsewhere.

The foreign passport dilemma

Anguillan lawyer Bernice Lake says she understands why Caribbean nationals "out there trying to make a living" often end up acquiring citizenship in the country they've migrated to.

"Some recognition has to be given to that dilemma in which we find ourselves," she told BBC Caribbean, while conceding that an MP with dual citizenship could raise eyebrows.

"It gives you a protection from being as discreet as you should be in discharge of your political office," the Anguillan lawyer observed.

She also echoed the concern of several people across the region that the MPs who find themselves in trouble locally could opt to head for the other country whose citizenship they had acquired.

Ms Lake favours forcing people who hold dual citizenship to relinquish their 'foreign' passport in order to sit in the parliament of the country in which they are seeking political office.

The Guyanese Health Minister, Leslie Ramsammy, readily admits that he holds an American passport.


Some recognition has to be given to that dilemma in which we find ourselves.


Bernice Lake, attorney

But he disagrees with critics, who say that he should give it up.

"What I earned in one year in Guyana for the last eighteen years, I used to earn in a week in the US," Minister Ramsammy told BBC Caribbean.

Mr Ramsammy said he made a "conscious decision" to return to his native Guyana - a choice he also feels should be available to anyone who wishes to take such action.

He says his record of achievement speaks for itself, and shows that his holding a foreign passport hasn't affected his work as a government minister and parliamentarian.

The people's point of view

"I still don't believe they will have the kind of interest they're supposed to show in representation of the people," one man argues.

Another is more forthright against the practice: "Somebody who has American or Canadian or British passport should not be a parliamentarian".

But a third is in favour, saying: "these people would come with new innovations for our country".

Those views have been echoed in Port of Spain, Kingston, Castries and Basseterre where one individual observed passionately that "we should have our dignity. A Kittitian should be in parliament as a Kittitian".

But a woman in Port of Spain has no such problem with politicians holding more than one passport.


Trinidad and Tobago's parliament has also had to grapple with MPs holding dual citizenship

"I think once you have a commitment to the country that you want to serve, in this case Trinidad and Tobago, I don't see a problem with it," she said.

And while some Jamaicans were pointing to the "pitfalls" of having MPs who have sworn allegiance to a foreign state, one man - in his distinct Jamaican accent - was throwing his support behind the MPs concerned.

"As long as de man ah do a good job, (it) doesn't really matter to me. As long as de man ah do a perfect job inna his country and serve de people dem I don't see de problem with dual citizenship".

His views are welcomed by Grenada's Peter David, a parliamentarian the government in St Georges wants excluded from the House because the authorities contend that he holds a foreign passport in contravention of the island's constitution.

That matter is before the courts as are similar cases in Jamaica and St Kitts/Nevis.


The debate is over 'natural' versus 'naturalised' citizenship

He told BBC Caribbean: "I think rather than contracting the scope of persons who should be contributing we should be seeking to expand it".

Pointing out that there are more Grenadians in the diaspora than there are Grenadians in Grenada, Mr David said it would be an impediment to their contribution to Grenada's development if the authorities were to insist that they give up their "other passport".

An expert's perspective

University of the West Indies academic Neville Duncan told BBC Caribbean that Caribbean constitutions should be respected.

He suggests that in cases where MPs with dual citizenship are in breach of their country's constitution, they should be asked to renounce the acquired citizenship.

But he wants governments to go further "to consider a change to the constitution, to permit dual citizenship with other requirements".

Professor Duncan says these should include the potential candidate living in the country continuously for two years before be allowed to contest a parliamentary election.