National Assembly resumes on April 11 – Harmon

Georgetown: The National Assembly shall reconvene its sitting on the April, 11, 2019 and Government will await the appeals of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) before it acts on the court’s ruling that dual citizens should not be sitting in Parliament.

This is according to Minister of State Joseph Harmon on Friday at a post-cabinet press briefing.

The Minister of State who holds dual citizenship and is an American citizenship said government intends to take action but the matter is before the courts and until there is a final pronouncement an appropriate decision will be taken.

“The attorneys representing the State will advise the government with respect to the situation with members of the government that are dual citizens, so in that regard I will say that this matter is still engaging the attention of the courts and cabinet has not made a ruling on it,” Harmon said.

Further, he said that on April,11, when the national assembly reconvenes all of the members on the government side will be present.

 “The decisions will be made in the public interest,” Harmon said.

When asked whether the Government was being duplicitous by recognising only parts of the Court of Appeal ruling, Harmon said that is not the case, noting that the Government will abide by the ruling of the CCJ.

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has accused the Government of being “convenient” in upholding recent court rulings on the No Confidence motion.

Both the High Court and the Court of Appeal have upheld the constitutional requirement for membership to the National Assembly, namely those dual citizens are not eligible.