…over breach of Constitution
Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones has asked the High Court to order the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir to bar Oneidge Walrond from sitting in House as a Member of Parliament over what he describes as a flagrant violation of the Constitution.
Jones’ Fixed Date Application (FDA), filed on Wednesday, comes close to two weeks after Walrond’s US records revealed that she was still a citizen of the United States of America (USA) when she was sworn in as the Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce on August 5, and Member of Parliament on September 1, in breach of the Article 155 of the Constitution.
Article 155 of the Constitution prohibits persons who hold dual citizenship from serving as parliamentarians.
In the FDA, the Attorney General Anil Nandlall and the Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir were named as the first and second respondents respectively.
Through his Attorney, Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde, Jones is asking the court to declare that Walrond, the third named respondent, is an unlawful Member of the National Assembly of the 12th Parliament of Guyana. Further, he wants the Court to declare that Walrond was not lawfully appointed a Minister of Government.
According to the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States, Walrond took the Oath of Renunciation on September 4, 2020 while the Certificate of Loss of Nationality was approved on September 8.
Outside of the High Court, Forde, who is also an A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament told reporters that the coalition had given the Speaker the opportunity to address the contentious issue but to no avail.
“We also think that we have been patient enough to permit Ms Oneidge Walrond, herself, to reflect on the fact that she currently does not occupy any position in the National Assembly which is premised or rested on any constitutional standing,” the Senior Counsel said, while noting that the Coalition’s patience has since been exhausted.
Forde said the case is an important one, noting that there is no reasonable defense or explanation that could be offered.
It was the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, who under pressure, had made public Walrond’s Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States, in a response to a letter from Forde.
In the letter, the Clerk, who sought legal advice before making public the document, pointed out two primary facts. “Mrs. Oneidge Walrond voluntarily took an Oath of Renunciation regarding her nationality of the United States of America during the month of September, 2020…Mrs. Oneidge Walrond lost her nationality to the United States of American immediately upon taking the said Oath of Renunciation,” Isaacs informed the APNU+AFC Parliamentarian.
Forde told reporters that the silence of the Guyana Bar Association, the small parties, business community and civil society on the matter is deafening.
“To date, we have not heard from the Bar Association, we have not heard from Timothy Jonas and his group, civil society, the business community on the number of continuing breaches of the Constitution,” he said.
Forde added: “This is an act of dishonesty on the part of the government to have a Member sit in the National Assembly, and it is quite worrying that a few days ago, I saw some leading light of the Government indicating that there is no honest interlocutor on this side of Parliament.”
Jones, for his part, reminded the press that four Government Ministers – Joseph Harmon, Carl Greenidge, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and Dominic Gaskin – in 2019 resigned from the National Assembly following decisions by the Courts that it was unconstitutional for dual citizens to be Members of Parliament. As such, he said Walrond, having knowingly breached the Constitution, should be removed from Parliament.
