Issue: Essentially undemocratic

The Editor, Sir:

The ouster of Shahine Robinson should be the last straw for the dual citizenship prohibition in our Constitution. The people of her constituency, North East St Ann, are being deprived of their choice, not because Mrs Robinson failed to do her duties, or abused her prerogatives, but because of who she is, a person holding a foreign citizenship in addition to her Jamaican citizenship.

One of the maddening paradoxes of the dual citizenship clause is the prohibitions would not apply had Mrs Robinson been a 'Common-wealth citizen', whatever this archaic concept means today. For reasons that are unexplained and possibly indefensible, the presumption in our Constitution seems to be that a dual citizen from any Commonwealth country, no matter how remote from Jamaica, would be more loyal than a person holding dual citizenship in a non-Commonwealth country such as the United States, which is close to us culturally and economically.

Along the same lines, and equally maddening, is the politically correct belief that only persons who are obliged by their sole Jamaican citizenship to "live out their decisions", have the requisite loyalty to be members of our legislature. This is clearly inconsistent with the facts. As evidenced by the size of the diaspora, many Jamaicans, esp-ecially those qualified to be representatives, have, and will continue to have, substantial oppor-tunities to migrate to, and to secure citizenship, in other countries. Almost none need to live out their decisions.

Fundamental problem

In addition to these inconsistencies, there is a fundamental problem with arbitrary clauses such as dual citizenship, or even term limits. They are essentially undemocratic. They reflect a fundamental distrust in the ability of the people to weigh the facts and to freely choose their representatives.

This overreach in the Con-stitution is not unique to Jamaica. Communist countries typically allow only party members on the ballot. Similarly, some Islamic countries require all candidates to be practising Muslims.

That said, this does not mean that Jamaica should continue similar arbitrary anachronistic practices. These can only deprive our country of the best possible representation. After all, at this point in time, one of our most significant problems is the lack of adequate, legislative leadership.

I am, etc.,

PATRICK WHITE

pew_com@mac.com