Sharon states her case

People's National Party member of parliament for South Central St Catherine, Sharon Hay-Webster, has responded to a Sunday Gleaner article on claims made in a United States diplomatic cable about the status of her dual citizenship.

Dear Sir,

I have just finished reading the editorial in this morning's daily Gleaner which clearly seeks retribution for the anguish that paper feels as a result of the courts having to oust the four JLP members who breached the Constitution of Jamaica by nominating at a time when they, by virtue of their own act, were under an acknowledgement of allegiance to a foreign country.

In doing so, they failed, whether deliberately or otherwise, to state the known facts involved in my own case. These facts are:

1. I was born in the state of New Jersey in the United States of America in 1961. My birth there was not by virtue of my own act.

2. I landed here in Jamaica as a baby, months old, with a passport issued by the United States of America.

3. I have been a resident of Jamaica, land of my father's birth, since 1962.

4. My entire education - basic school to postgraduate degree - was obtained in Jamaica.

5. I was never registered at the United States Embassy in Jamaica as a US citizen by my parents.

6. As an adult I did not register as a citizen at the US Embassy in Jamaica and have never been contacted by them as a citizen.

7. I have never participated in any entitlements from or in the United States of America.

8. I have never lived in the United States of America nor filed or been required to file income-tax returns in the United States and I do not have to file one.

9. I have never applied for, nor do I, to the best of my knowledge and belief, ever had a social-security number.

10. My first trip overseas to the United States was in 1990 as a servant of the Government of Jamaica on an OAS (Organisation of American States) Caribbean Youth in Business Study Tour to North Carolina exploring entrepreneurial education programmes for youth. This travel was on a Jamaican passport in which I was issued a US visitor's visa.

11. I am, by virtue of my own act, a citizen of Jamaica. I was only born in the United States of America. I have never taken an oath of allegiance to the United States of America and whatever allegiance I may be under is solely as a result of my birth there and certainly not by virtue of my own act.

12. On the 23rd day of November 1988, I, by virtue of my own act, took an oath of allegiance to Jamaica and was issued a certificate of citizenship of Jamaica by birth (descent). This certificate is numbered B 30/1. That on every occasion I was elected to Parliament, I also took an oath of allegiance to Jamaica.

Allow me to state that when I attended on the US Embassy in 2009 with the intention to renounce, it was before receiving legal advice as to the constitutionality of my status. A few days later I sought and received legal advice from a local as well as a US attorney and based on that advice telephoned the US Embassy and advised that I would not be proceeding with the exercise.

It should be clear, even to the newspaper, that all the issues involved in the interpretation of Section 40 (2) (a) of the Constitution of Jamaica have yet to be fully ventilated and determined by our Supreme Court. The meaning of "by virtue of his own act" needs to be determined by our courts and not by those who are driven by personal agendas or partisan feelings seeking to drive me from exercising my constitutional right as a Jamaican to have the particular circumstances of my status ruled on by our Supreme Court as provided for in our Constitution.

Suffice it to say that whatever decision is made by the courts, I will abide with. I'm sure that having my particular circumstances adjudicated upon will create a precedent which will serve to guide us all for the future.

I trust you will at least afford me the courtesy of publishing my letter.

Sincerely,

Sharon Hay-Webster (Mrs)