11/12/2020
The Guyana ‘Citizenship’ Constitution Explained
Citizenship VS Dual Citizenship and the Parliament
by Accabre Cheddi Sepaul
The FACTS I’ve presented here will surely not settle well with many, however I’m not writing for the benefit of no political party. My vocals are specific to enlighten the masses of the failures of our leaders and the entire administrative system: the President and our ministers and the opposition; by all political divide; to rule justly; to serve the people scrupulously, equitably and in a fervent manner.
The Constitution
The Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana was published on the 6th October 1980. The Constitution was enacted by the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana 1980 (Act No. 2 of 1980) which was passed by the National Assembly on the 14th February 1980 and assented by the President and published in the Gazette on the 20 February 1980. It came into operation on the 6th October 1980 by proclamation No. 2 of 1980 made by the President on the 1st October 1980, and published in the Gazette on the same day. There are a number of Amendments that were published from 1984 to present.
Citizenship and Deprivation of Citizenship
Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana is titled ‘Citizenship’. There are 9 Articles under Chapter IV that addresses how a person becomes a citizen of Guyana and also how they can also lose that citizenship.
With regard to Dual Citizenship, it is not recognised. The Constitution of 1980 states that any person who obtains the citizenship of another country after May 1966 (except through marriage), shall lose their Guyanese citizenship.
Therefore, it is not only for Parliamentarians as Guyanese are being led to believe but most importantly, DUAL CITIZENSHIP DOES NOT EXIST IN GUYANA.
Within Chapter IV is Article 41 to Article 49, of which includes; Article. 46 which is headed, “Deprivation of Citizenship of, or Exercise of Right of another Citizenship” and which states,
“(1) If the President is satisfied that any citizen of Guyana has at any time after 25th May 1966 acquired by registration, naturalisation or other voluntary and formal act (other than marriage) the citizenship of any country other than Guyana, the President may by order deprive that person of his citizenship.”
“(2) If the President is satisfied that any citizen of Guyana has at any time after 25th May 1966 voluntarily claimed and exercised in a country other than Guyana any rights available to him under the laws of that country, being rights accorded exclusively to its citizens, the President may by order deprive that person of his citizenship.”
Now, let me make this very clear, Dual Citizenship does not exist in Guyana. Therefore, the prolonged and unnecessary debacle of legal processes and squabbles by our legal organs and their representatives speaks volumes of their incompetence or rather deliberate acts of fraudulent contention.
Hence, the very notion of utterance of Dual Citizenship details the stupidity of our legal minds.
With that said, let’s turn our attention to Article 42 (2) which will enable any person who is seeking citizenship or previously lost their citizenship to apply for citizenship, which should have been done by all those MPs who renounce their foreign allegiance. But somehow was not done and they were automatically reinstated as citizens of the Co-operative republic of Guyana and raised to seat the chairs of our Parliament without question.
The Parliament; Its Representations and Deductions
Chapter VI of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana is titled, “Parliament”.
Here, we find Articles 51 through 70 which include Article. 53, which is headed, “Qualifications for election of Members” and which states, “Subject to article 155 (which relates to allegiance, insanity, and other matters) a person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly if, and shall not be so qualified unless, he –
(a) Is a citizen of Guyana of age of eighteen years or upwards: and
(b) Is able to speak, and, unless incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, read the English language with a degree of proficiency sufficient to enable him to take an active part in the proceedings of the Assembly.”
Under Article 155 which is headed, “Disqualifications for elections as members” at (1) (a), it is stated that, “is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state;”
The Legality of the Dialogue
On the 2nd April 2019 the former Head of State, David Granger received the resignation of four MPs based on the notion that they held Dual Citizenships and were sitting Ministers of Government. With reference to this, the current Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall who was then the former AG at the time, stated in an ‘Evening News’ interview that, “This obviously do not apply or does not apply to a Technocrat Minister. …Technocratic Ministers are not supposed to be elected ministers of the National Assembly. They are not elected from a list of Candidates. They are appointed by the President from outside and they sit in the Parliament by virtue of their appointment as ministers by the President. But again, they have to sit in the parliament and that demonstrates or illustrates the fact that you cannot be a minister and ‘not’ be in the Parliament.”
With regard to the appointment of ‘Ministers’ including Ms. Oneidge Waldron-Allicock who is NOT a Technocrat Minister but rather an elected member of Parliament and appointed Minister of Tourism, the powers that governs Ministers is cited in Article 103 (2) of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana but DO NOT EXCEMPT THEM FROM ARTICLE 46 (1) and (2) and Article 155 (a) and must be in compliance with Article 53 of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
So here, Mr. Anil Nandlall is WRONG.
Therefore, subject to Article 163 of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana the High Court shall have EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION to determine any question –
(a) Regarding the qualification of any person to be elected as a member of the National Assembly or
Whether -
(b) (ii) - the seats in the Assembly have been lawfully allocated and also
Article 156 (1) (c) – If he ceases to be a citizen of Guyana.
Here, these Articles indisputably proves Mr. Anil Nandlall is WRONG again.
The Certificate of Renunciation of Citizenship
The rationalisation of the illegality of Ms. Oneidge Waldron-Allicock to sit as a Member of Parliament and hold the office of Minister can be alluded to the details I present here as they are also governed by the Articles of the Constitution of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana as stated above.
Ms. Waldron-Allicock said, “…the act of renunciation is one that is a, is a unilateral act that when a citizen has done, the legal standard is when a citizen has done all within her power to renounce. Which is what I did on the 18th (August 2020)… on the 27th of August, all of this before I swore in.”
I dare Ms. Waldron-Allicock to produce the Laws that governs the sentiments that she have so evidently repeated with confidence, which supersedes Guyana’s Constitution. And also, I request that she, make known the USA Embassy Official that would’ve indicated that to her.
Even so, if Ms. Waldron-Allicock did present herself to the US Embassy prior to September 1st 2020, the process was NOT completed and she was not in possession of her certificate of renunciation at the time of her swearing.
This is so, because based on documents from the US Embassy presented to the Clerk of the National Assembly by Ms. Oneidge Waldron-Allicock herself, it shows that she renounced her American citizenship three (3) days after she was already sworn in as a Member of Parliament.
The certificate shows that Ms. Waldron-Allicock presented herself to the US Embassy for the commencement of the renunciation of her USA citizenship procedure on the 4th of September 2020 and took the oath of renunciation of her USA citizenship on the 8th of September 2020 contrary to her August 18th and 27th dates as stated by her. However, Ms Waldron-Allicock took the Oath of Office to be a Member of Parliament on the 1st September 2020 which is 3 days prior to the commencement of the renunciation process as stated on her certificate.
Therefore, at the time of her ‘swearing in’ she knowingly held Dual Citizenship and failed to declare same, placing her in default of our Constitution. This makes her guilty and subject to dismissal and charges for breach of our Constitution.
I have attached here a sample of a ‘Certificate of Nationality of the United States’ that holds the details of how a person becomes a citizen by Naturalisation or their Renunciation. This is accompanied by a letter, a sample of which I have also attached.
Please note that to the upper right of the certificate, it will carry an official “Approved American Embassy” red stamp which shall indicate the date of its approval. Then, in line 14, it will state the manner of renunciation. Thence, in line 17, it will state the date of expatriation. Therefore, in line 22, it will state the date of issue.
I hereby declare that all citizens of Guyana should request that Ms. Oneidge Waldron-Allicock furnish these dates to the public and the Courts as I have specified above to verify her honest and legitimate right to the parliament.
