No Split Loyalties! PM Rejects Prospect of Dual Citizen Leading Jamaica

Untenable and incurable!

That’s how Prime Minister Andrew Holness is describing the position of any Jamaican who wants to be Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition, while at the same time remaining a citizen of a foreign country.

The prime minister’s position on the matter follows the admission on Sunday by opposition leader, Mark Golding, that he’s a British citizen.

The admission has sparked calls for Mr. Golding to renounce his British citizenship or resign as Leader of the Opposition.

Daina Davy reports.

The opposition leader has admitted that he is indeed a dual citizen.

How? Well, he’s a Jamaican citizen by birth and a UK citizen by descent. Mr. Golding says he has not renounced his British citizenship as it’s not legally necessary for him to do so.

Section 39-part ‘A’ of the Jamaican Constitution, says any person, who at the date of their appointment or nomination for election, can serve in parliament as long as he or she is a Commonwealth citizen of the age of 21 years and upwards.

Prime Minister Holness commented on the issue on Monday morning, during an interview on CVM TV’s ‘CVM at Sunrise’ with Dennis Brooks and Yendi Phillips.

He says persons who aspire to be the ultimate leader of Jamaica must not have split loyalties.

Mr. Holness says it’s both untenable and incurable that a Jamaican prime minister or opposition leader could also be a citizen of another country.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Holness reaffirmed a position he first made years ago, that Jamaicans in the Diaspora should be eligible to sit as members of parliament.