Following the resignation of Public Service Minister, Dr.Rupert Roopnaraine as a Member of Parliament, it will be up to President David Granger to say if he will select another member of Roopnaraine’s party, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), to replace him in the House.
This was noted by WPA Executive Member, Dr. David Hinds, during an interview with the Guyana Standard.
The political activist said, “I am not sure Dr. Roopnaraine will be replaced by someone from the WPA but, if they go that route, there are only three other WPA people on the list. They are Desmond Trotman, Dr. Rishi Thakur, and Tabitha Sarabo. I don’t know if the President will go in that direction. It is up to him though as he is the leader of the A Partnership for National Unity [APNU].”
Further to this, the columnist said that he believes this move by Dr. Roopnaraine and the other government officials who have resigned – former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge; former Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin; and former Minister of State, Joseph Harmon – is just an interim move until the Caribbean Court of Justice has given a final say on the matter of dual citizen members sitting in the House.
He also expressed the view that the clause in the Constitution which says dual citizens should not sit in the National Assembly should be repealed.
Dr. Hinds said, “We have reached a point where the country is so intertwined, those who are at home and abroad. We depend on the Diaspora for a lot of things and it wants to play a role. But I don’t think someone holding citizenship in another country should be debarred from sitting in Parliament.”
The political activist added, “For clarity, I am not sounding a personal bell. I am a citizen of Guyana. And I just don’t think this clause makes sense now, in these times.”
