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'There is only an issue if the person is elected'
Published in the Jamaica Gleaner: Thursday | August 23, 2007
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW and former Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) senator, Frank Phipps, said yesterday that no action can be taken against any candidate in the upcoming general election who holds dual citizenship, unless they are elected to Parliament.
Mr. Phipps, in an interview with The Gleaner, described the current debate about parliamentary eligibility as an "intellectual exercise".
"There is only an issue if the person is elected. Only then can you gather the evidence to prove that the person gained citizenship in another country by their own act," he said.
No bond
Mr. Phipps said many persons who were born, or raised overseas, have no bond with the land of their birth.
"Their parents saw it (to be born or raised abroad) as an advantage to have a better education, among other things," he said.
Mr. Phipps, who is also a member of the independent Farqhuarson Institute, said that organisation has no official stance on the issue.
The ruling People's National Party has claimed that several JLP candidates may have sworn allegiance to the United States. If this is accurate, these prospective parliamentarians could be prevented from serving in the House of Representatives.
Karl Samuda, the JLP general secretary, says he is unaware of any of the party's candidates having allegiance to another state.
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