Former Opposition Chief Whip and parliamentarian Gail Teixeira has officially renounced her Canadian citizenship, paving the way for the veteran politician’s return to the National Assembly and her Party’s candidate list.
Teixeira made this revelation on Monday, on the sidelines of the first day of the National Toshaos Conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. When asked, she informed Guyana Times International that her documents were in fact finalised a couple months ago.
“I received my renunciation since June 26, 2019. My Canadian citizenship was renounced by the Canadian authorities. I was the first of the whole group. Everyone said they were going to, they were going to, but I was done,” she said.
Asked about a return to Parliament, where she has served for decades, Teixeira confirmed that she was thus cleared to return on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) candidate list from whence potential Members of Parliament (MPs) are drawn.
In April of this year, Opposition Leader and PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo had committed to ensuring that future electoral lists submitted by his party to stand for Parliament would be free of dual citizens.
Jagdeo was at the time appearing on the “Jumpstart” radio programme on Monday morning, when he laid down his Party’s position on dual citizenship. He noted the effect a ruling on the no-confidence case in his Party’s favour at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) would have on the whole issue.
“If the no-confidence (ruling) goes in our favour at the CCJ, there will be no need for a convening of the Parliament again unless there’s an agreement. Therefore, no dual citizen will attend the Parliament on our side,” he had said.
“When the new list is prepared for General Elections, no dual citizen will be on that list,” Jagdeo further explained. “If they want to be on that list, they have to give up their dual citizenship. That’s our position.”
Resignations
Teixeira was among seven Members of Parliament (three Opposition and four Government), who had to resign from the National Assembly and as Ministers, because of their dual citizenship status, after a ruling confirmed that dual citizens could not hold those positions.
The ruling in question was delivered by acting Chief Justice Roxane George, who in January upheld the passage of the no-confidence motion against the Government, ruling that it was validly passed with the 33 majority.
At the time, the Government not only argued that 34 was the majority of 65, but it also argued that former Alliance For Change (AFC) MP Charrandas Persaud, as a dual citizen, should not have been in the National Assembly in the first place.
The fallout from her ruling on the dual citizenship issue, however, saw Teixeira and her Opposition colleagues Odinga Lumumba and Adrian Anamayah, as well as former Ministers Joseph Harmon, Carl Greenidge, Dominic Gaskin and Dr Rupert Roopnaraine resigning from Parliament and Government, only for them to then be rehired by the Government in different capacities in the same Ministries they once headed.
Last week, Greenidge announced that his documents were successfully processed by authorities in the United Kingdom and that he would be free to return on his party’s candidate list. Speculation has since arisen that Greenidge could be angling for the prime ministerial spot of the coalition, especially since the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has been lukewarm about accepting AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan as the coalition’s prime ministerial candidate.
Harmon also announced that he has begun the process towards renouncing his United States (US) citizenship. It is understood that Lumumba has also moved in the direction of renunciation. However, Gaskin, who is a British citizen by birth, and Roopnaraine have made no such move. Anamayah has meanwhile already made known that for personal reasons, he would not be renouncing his dual citizenship.
