Mark Golding to renounce his UK citizenship
Politics

Mark Golding to renounce his UK citizenship

 President of the People’s National Party (PNP), Mark Golding says he will renounce his United Kingdom (UK) citizenship.

This follows long discourse over whether an aspiring prime minister of Jamaica should hold dual citizenship.

Golding made the announcement at a PNP meeting on Sunday and then shared it via social media.

Captioning a video in which he announced his intentions, Golding said, “As promised, I would take the time to listen to views both internally and externally in making an informed decision in regards to having British citizenship by descent.”

He noted that while he is not prohibited legally from maintaining his UK citizenship, he did not want it to impact future candidacy.

“I do not want my status to affect our party nor any candidates who are running for a seat. I have to take all things into consideration and therefore I will renounce my UK citizenship. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feedback over the last month. Now let’s get back to the real issues that are affecting the majority of Jamaicans,” Golding said.

Golding came under fire from members of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) who raised questions about his nationality after he expressed support for dual citizens being allowed to sit in the Houses of Parliament and reiterated his stance on Jamaica’s final court of appeal.
 

In pushing for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to be made Jamaica’s final appellate court, Golding also stated that it should not be a case where Jamaica has “one foot in and one foot out of King Charles’ yard”.

Those comments triggered several calls on social media for him to declare whether he’s both a Jamaican and British citizen.

Golding had attempted to clear the air in a post on social media, stating that “I am a born Jamaican and have a Jamaican passport”.

However, he has since stated that he holds both Jamaican and British citizenship, the latter via descent from his father who had migrated to Jamaica from the UK. He said he had not renounced his British citizenship because it was not “legally necessary” for him to do so.

He had, however, maintained that he would only renounce his UK citizenship should the people of Jamaica require him to.

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