Georgetown: President David Granger in ensuring that government upholds the Constitution of Guyana has received and accepted the resignation of all coalition Members of Parliament who are holders of dual citizenship.
The High Court and the Court of Appeal had ruled that those who hold dual citizenship are not qualified to be Parliamentarians.
President Granger said that these members will not be returning to Parliament, when it reconvenes on April 11, 2019.
“The Government of Guyana is committed to the upholding of the Constitution of Guyana and by virtue, the March 22, 2019 ruling of the Court of Appeal on the December 21, 2018 Motion of No Confidence, which was brought against the Government,” President Granger stated in a press release.
These Parliamentarians Include Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin and Minister of Public Service Rupert Roopnaraine.
However, recently Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, a citizen of the United States denied that he was sitting illegally as an parliamentarian despite rulings of the High Court and the Court of Appeal that those who hold dual citizenship are not qualified to be Parliamentarians.
“I am not illegal,” Harmon had noted.
Harmon denied that the Government was being duplicitous in picking and choosing what aspects of the two court rulings to abide by, though at the same time agreeing that the Court of Appeal dealt with “all matters” and that the Government will “abide by what the Court of Appeal says.”
The Chief Justice had ruled that by virtue of the passage of the No Confidence motion on December 21, the Cabinet stood “resigned” and the Government ceased meeting and instead formed what it called a “Ministerial Plenary” that was carrying out all the functions of Cabinet.
When the Court of Appeal last Friday invalidated the passage of the motion on the grounds that an “absolute” majority of 34 Members in the 65-seat House did vote for the motion, the Government abided by that ruling and declared that it was “business as usual” and resumed the Cabinet meetings, the first of which was held last Tuesday.
You must be logged in to post a comment.