KINGSTON, Jamaica – Opposition Leader Mark Golding has responded to questions about his citizenship, charging that the queries are politically motivated.
Opposition Leader Mark Golding.In a statement issued on X on Saturday, he acknowledged that he got a British passport as a child but stressed that he travels on a Jamaican passport.
“I am a born Jamaican and have a Jamaican passport. I’ve never hidden the fact that my father, who came to Jamaica from the UK, had got me a British passport when I was a young child.
“From before first serving in government, I travel on my Jamaican passport when I go abroad. Like other Jamaicans, I apply for visas from countries such as the US and UK to go there. I man born yah, but the local government elections and recent polls seem to be driving some to grasp at straws.”
On Tuesday, Golding said Jamaicans who also hold citizenship for non-Commonwealth countries should be allowed to seek political office. But Member of Parliament for St Catherine South Western Everald Warmington described that position as a “remarkable and hypocritical turnaround” from the stance of the People’s National Party (PNP), of which Golding is president.
After the 2007 general election, the PNP went to court to have MPs with dual citizenship removed from Parliament. Warmington was among those targeted.
“What the PNP president needs to do is to tell Jamaica whether he is a citizen of Britain,” the Jamaica Labour Party MP said in a circulated audio message. “He should state this that Jamaicans may evaluate where he is coming from and make a determination whether he is putting up roadblocks to Jamaica becoming a republic. Is he a citizen of Britain? Where does his loyalty lie?”
“Jamaicans should also be aware that under British law, it is a crime for any British citizen to serve in the army of another country or come to the defence of another country during conflict. So the PNP president, who wants to be prime minister and Minister of Defence in Jamaica, needs to tell us whether he is a British citizen.”
In his statement on Saturday, Golding also insisted that the rule regarding dual citizenship and participation in general elections should be reviewed.
“Jamaica is in the Commonwealth, and our current constitution requires Commonwealth citizenship (and at least one year’s residence in Jamaica) in order to be eligible to be a parliamentarian. Over the years, parliamentary candidates with Commonwealth passports have therefore legitimately participated in general elections to become MP’s and sat in the Senate.
“On the other hand, the current constitution prohibits non-Commonwealth citizens (who have pledged foreign allegiance) from being parliamentarians. The constitutional reform process should reconsider the current rule, and make it accord with the realities of the Jamaican experience,” he said.
