Granger boasts of presidential powers to revoke Guyanese citizenship

Dual citizens

President David Granger on Thursday boasted about his presidential powers to revoke the citizenship of Guyanese dual citizens.

This was done at a dedication ceremony of a public building in honour of the late former Indigenous Member of Parliament, Stephen Campbell, on Thursday. According to Granger, the Constitution of Guyana empowers him to quash the citizenship of any Guyanese who also benefits from citizenship in another country.
“The Constitution empowers the President with the authority to deprive a dual citizen of his or her Guyanese citizenship. It states (at Article 46 (1)): If the President of Guyana is satisfied that any citizen of Guyana has at any time after 25th May 1966, acquired by registration, naturalisation or any other voluntary act (other than by marriage) the citizenship of any other country other than Guyana, the President may by order deprive that person of his or her citizenship.”
According to Granger, while Guyanese citizens enjoy constitutional protections and entitlements, citizenship is not a symbol but rather it is a qualification which ascribes rights, benefits, and entitlements.
“Citizenship entitles every Guyanese to a share in the country’s patrimony, citizenship obligates the State to protect its citizens, both at home and abroad. The protections offered by citizenship are not limited to the country’s territory, nationals are entitled to protections outside of our borders. The Constitution [at Article 31] states: “It is the duty of the State to protect the just rights and interests of citizens resident abroad.” He added that citizenship entitles a citizen to have his or her birth registered which, in turn, can be used to register to vote and to apply for a national identification card and a passport. Proof of nationality allows citizens to access education and to receive social assistance and public pensions and more.
Granger stated that citizenship has become an issue of topical interest, as evident in the ongoing reports and public debates, relating to the presence of foreign nationals in Guyana and the eligibility for qualification to become a member of the National Assembly.
“The Constitution also proscribes certain persons from eligibility as members of the National Assembly. It [at Article 155 (1) (a)] states: No person shall be qualified for election as a member of the National Assembly who a) is, by virtue of his or her act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state…”
He reminded that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), in its judgement of June 18, 2019, in Christopher Ram v The Attorney General, the Leader of the Opposition et al affirmed [at 88]:
“…that a person holding Guyanese nationality is not qualified to be elected a member of the National Assembly if that person is also, voluntarily, a citizen of another State. Accordingly, Guyanese nationals with dual citizenship are not qualified to sit as members of the National Assembly.”
But while the President speaks of his powers to revoke Guyanese citizenship, he himself had a number of dual citizens representing APNU/AFC in Guyana’s Parliament.

Dual citizens
The issue of dual citizenship came to the fore in 2018, when the Government, having been defeated by a No-Confidence Motion, attempted to nullify the motion on the basis that one of its Member of Parliament was a dual citizen and as such, could not have legally been sitting in Parliament.
The matter reached the Caribbean Court of Justice which threw out Government’s arguments and ruled that the No-Confidence Motion (that toppled it on December 21, 2018) was indeed validly passed.
On Nomination Day, the issue again surfaced when a number of dual citizens enlisted their names on political parties’ list of candidates. Those persons had to subsequently relinquish their foreign citizenship before they were eligible to contest.