Harmon’s harmonica lacks harmony
In the history of post Independence governments, Joe Harmon’s attitude to his foreign citizenship must go down as one of the most comical yet inscrutable things to have come out of the mouth of a senior Cabinet member. What Harmon said when asked about giving up his foreign citizenship has to go down as an embarrassing moment for this country.
Harmon told the media that the court judgement on foreign citizenship is yet to be pronounced on by the other two tiers of the court system – Guyana’s Court of Appeal and Caribbean Court of Justice – and when the court proceedings are exhausted then he would decide on his foreign status.
Either Harmon’s harmonica is malfunctioning or he is playing non-existent notes and so the harmony is lost in a cacophonous echo.
There is no writ before the Court of Appeal on dual citizenship. That was settled by the judgement of the Chief Justice. That particular pronouncement is not being appealed. Let us help Harmon to play his harmonica so he could understand musical notes.
The government’s lawyer, Neil Boston, asked the court to declare Charrandass Persaud’s vote in the no-confidence motion null and void because as a Canadian citizen he had no right to sit as a parliamentarian because the constitution prevents persons with foreign citizenship to hold a parliamentary seat.
The court agreed and its decision was that indeed Persaud and others with identical status cannot sit as members of parliament. What the Chief Justice went on to state is that she could not vitiate the ballot Persaud cast because the constitution states that an action by a member once done cannot be undone.
So there are two things to note here. Persaud was sitting illegally in the House and others like him who are there cannot be there. The second thing to note is that the Chief Justice’s decision on upholding Persaud vote is not in any way connected to the dual citizenship argument. She said the constitution allows for a vote once taken to be counted.
Now what is the appeal on this particular point? It is not about dual citizenship. That has been settled. The court is not being asked to decide on that issue. The appellate court is being requested to upturn the Chief Justice’s ruling on the validity of Persaud’s vote. It means if the higher court throws out the Chief Justice’s decision it denotes that the opposition did not receive 33 votes.
This is in no way connected to the clear constitutional requirement that a person can only sit in the House as a Guyanese and not have citizenship of another country.
The government’s lawyer, Mr. Boston, and leader of the APNU list, Professor Lutchman have clarified the dual citizenship dimension by telling the media that all MPs who have foreign citizenship can no longer remain in the National Assembly because the Chief Justice has so ruled.
The crucial question that journalists have to ask Harmon is why he is waiting on the ruling from the Court of Appeal before he relinquishes his American status since there will be no ruling on that question.
If the government loses in Guyana and the CCJ decides in favour of the government, there still will not be a pronouncement by the court on the legality of dual citizenship. Once more to drive home the point to Harmon, that matter was not before the court. It was the government itself that requested a ruling on the legal propriety of a foreign citizen voting in the National Assembly.
Lennox Shuman of the Amerindian-oriented party knows that he cannot sit in the House once he remains a Canadian. He said steps have been taken to give it up. Gail Teixeira of the PPP announced she is considering surrendering her Canadian nationality. Rupert Roopnaraine indicated that if he has to give up his British passport he will do so. None of these MPs have queried if the constitution allows them to have dual citizenship.
It is either Harmon is playing the fool, playing politics or just couldn’t be bothered with adhering to the constitution. But there is a rude awakening in store for Harmon. Once elections are called, a person cannot be on the list of his/her party if they hold foreign nationality.
There is no way Joe Harmon and Carl Greenidge could make APNU list. Even if they are placed there, a quick application for an injunction to remove them will be made by other contesting parties and the court will comply because the constitution is clear. The satirical column, “Dem Boys Seh” hilariously refers to Harmon as “Lil Joe” or Joe Shanlin.” How about a new one? “Harmonica Joe?”