Attorney-at-Law Oneidge Walrond took the Oath of Office to serve as a Minister of Government, knowing fully well that, at the time she was, a citizen of the United States of America (USA).
Her appointment to Office later resulted in her taking up a seat in the National Assembly, notwithstanding the fact that Article 155 of the Constitution bars dual citizens from being Members of Parliament.
Buckling to public pressure, Walrond – the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce – on Saturday confirmed that at the time of taking the oath of office on August 5, 2020 she was a dual citizen.
“On August 5, I was invited by His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Irfaan Ali to serve in his Cabinet. I accepted because I consider the opportunity to serve my people and my country at this capacity as both an honour and privilege,” Walrond said in a statement.
She further added: “As an Attorney-at-Law and being mindful of my status as a US Citizen, I sought the counsel of other attorneys on whether the sections of the constitution prohibiting elected members from being dual citizens applied to me as a technocrat minister. Despite advice that this provision did not extend to technocrats, out of an abundance of caution, I decided to renounce my citizenship to put the matter beyond all doubt and avoid any distraction to the good work of the government.”
It was not until August 18, 2020 that the Minister wrote the US Consular Office requesting that her citizenship to the United States of America be renounced.
However, the process took a number of days to finalize. “I was thereof informed of the administrative procedure I must comply with to obtain a Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States. I complied with that process by August 27 [and] I have since received the Certificate of Loss of Nationality,” she explained.
In her defense, Walrond pointed out that she took the oath to the National Assembly days after receiving her Certificate of Loss of Nationality.
“I took the oath of the National Assembly on September 1. That was after I renounced my citizenship of the United States of America.
Notwithstanding the fact that Walrond’s name did not feature on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) List of Candidate, it is believed that for Walrond to be eligible to sit in the National Assembly she would have had to rescind her citizen before Nomination Day as was required by those listed. Nomination Day was January 10, 2020.
Towards the end of the 11th Parliament, a number of government and opposition Members of Parliament were left with no other choice than to vacate their seats as Parliament after both the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled that it was unconstitutional to sit in the Parliament while being a dual citizen.
Their resignation from the National Assembly resulted in them immediately losing their portfolios as Ministers, in the case of those who were in Government.
The issue of dual citizenship arose following the December 21, 2018 No-Confidence Motion.
