by RICKEY SINGH

THE CURRENT UNSETTLING political situation in Jamaica involving the dual citizenship case that has led to a disqualification ruling against elected parliamentarian for West Portland, Daryl Vaz, and for holding of a by-election, may be a warning for quite a few in Caribbean community states with similar constitutional provisions.

There is a spreading uneasiness, sparked by the Vaz case, that across the political divide in Jamaica's 60-member House of Representatives, are those yet to denounce their foreign citizenship before being compelled to do so by a court of law if they wish to remain MPs.

The problem grows in dimension beyond Jamaica when related to so-called "sleepers", or unnamed individuals with dual citizenship, among them parliamentarians and holders of key public service positions. At the last September 3 general election that ended four consective terms in government by the People's National Party (PNP), the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) had secured a four-seat parliamentary majority.

The PNP's Abe Dabdoub, who was defeated by Vaz for the West Portland constituency, mounted a successful challenge against him last month, based on his citizenship of the United States for which he held a valid American passport. But the court denied Dabdoub's claim to the seat, since Vaz had fairly won it, and instead ordered a by-election. Both are eligible to contest the by-election, now that Vaz has sought and obtained loss of his American citizenship.

This past Tuesday Vaz went on the offensive in challenging parliamentarians of both his JLP and the PNP to do what he has done to put themselves in order by giving up their foreign citizenship so as to remain eligible for election to parliament.

Vaz has also called for a widening of the net against parliamentarians with dual citizenship, to include MPs holding a United States resident alien or "green" cards. Contending it was the "moral thing to do", he posed a troubling question to fellow parliamentarians: "How can you sit in parliament and keep travelling to the United States to ensure you comply with their law that you are a resident of the United States . . . ?"

Amid calls for bipartisan diagloue between the governing JLP and PNP to avoid a political crisis over a likely series of by-elections, came the dramatic resignation on Monday of Danville Walker as director of elections. "It's a matter of principle that I offered to do so," he said.

During his almost 11 years as director of elections of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, Walker had earned a stout reputation, beyond his native land, for competence, courage and as a "man of principle" in those CARICOM states that had benefited from his expertise in elections-readiness arrangements.

What he did not know, until questions kept surfacing in the face of Chief Jusice Zaila McCalla's dual citizenship ruling against Vaz, was that the post in which he had distinguished himself as a public officer cannot be held by someone who had also sworn allegiance to a foreign nation, as he had done in his salad years. Indeed, in addition to the director, all members of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica are constitutionally barred from holding dual citizenship.

I wonder how many CARICOM nationals could be affected if the court's ruling in the case of Jamaica's Daryl Vaz should serve as a guide to effectively deal with the issue of foreign citizenship being held by parliamentarians or those in key public offices.* Rickey Singh is a noted Caribbean journalist.