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Jamaica should resolve dual-citizenship issue
(Jamaica Gleaner) Four years after the dual-citizenship drama threatened to collapse the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) government, former Director of Elections Danville Walker says he wants the entire matter to be “fixed” urgently and that a Commonwealth dual citizen should have no greater right to enter representational politics than any other.
Walker, who on Friday demitted office as commissioner of customs, resigned from his post as director of elections because he held citizenship not allowable under the Jamaican Constitution.
Walker was the second casualty in the affair after Daryl Vaz was booted as parliamentary representative for West Portland because he held non-Commonwealth citizenship. Vaz later won a rerun of the election against the People’s National Party’s (PNP) Kenneth Rowe.
Walker said the constitutional provision against non-Commonwealth citizens holding certain offices was unfair to American citizens who want to serve the country.
“What is so bad about dual-citizenship?” Walker asked during a press conference called to unveil him as the JLP’s candidate in Central Manchester.
“When I joined the electoral system, I wasn’t aware that this was an issue. When you go to a job, people would have to tell you that; no one ever told me that,” he said before pointing to what he labelled the hypocrisy of the situation.
“What I had a huge difficulty with was when they reran West Portland, they took a Canadian citizen (Rowe) and ran him against Mr Vaz. If it is wrong, it is wrong in principle, not by basis of country,” Walker declared.
“It is a finer point that the lawyers don’t understand. America is no more alien than Canada is. So you are telling me that if I went and got citizenship in Pakistan, I could become prime minister in Jamaica, but because I went to the United States, a country that gives us so much aid and support … ,” Walker added before he was reminded that it was a constitutional matter.
Canada and Pakistan are both members of the Commonwealth.
