Dear Editor,

I have just recently heard of the constitutional hullabaloo that is happening. Is it a meaningful discussion? No, the very important issue of the day is about Opposition Leader Mark Golding’s dual citizenship and that the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) believes he must revoke his British citizenship to have a credible say in the affairs of Jamaica and its constitutional reform.

So tell me, if Golding’s dual citizenship means he has been disqualified from having a say in the affairs of the country he’s still a part of, until he revokes it, then can Prime Minister Andrew Holness tell the members of the Jamaican Diaspora that by virtue of them migrating and adopting a second home, their voices in the country in which they invest, send remittances to relatives, and for which they have been cultural ambassadors do not matter?

By that principle, will we discount the sacrifice of George William Gordon, a half-Scottish, half-Jamaican who had everything, such as wealth and a steady political career, and gave it all up to fight for the betterment of the poor? I can make a bet that if Jamaica collapses, just like Haiti, nearly all of Gordon House, whether the green or orange side of it, will fly out on private jets to the country where they have a second citizenship and will tell us at that time, speaking from their jets or overseas homes, that, “We’re all in this together,” while Jamaicans who have no way to leave have to stay behind in the anarchy.

Even more pressing is that they can reveal the status of the Opposition leader’s citizenship but hesitate to reveal the names of the six parliamentarians who have ran afoul of the Integrity Commission or force the Tax Administration of Jamaica to disclose its leasehold tenancy dealings that resulted in the waste of a whole lot of money. In both cases, taxpayers’ money, drawn out of the paycheques of nearly every Jamaican (including me) every pay cycle, has been wasted.

And this doesn’t mean that Golding gets a free pass either. When Animal Farm was shown on Television Jamaica on Monday, I knew the lesson to be learnt long before the animals started revolting. Prime Minister Holness may want to sow distrust around Golding by pointing to his British citizenship, but I had already been distrustful of Golding because he’s in the same vocation as the prime minister and wants his job. He may talk a big game about public consensus and try to be a ‘man of the people’, but it is easy for anyone to play the man of the people when he’s the Opposition leader and not the prime minister.

My question to Golding is not about his citizenship status but his ability to be a statesman who means what he says about caring about the people. Or is he like Napoleon in Animal Farm, who only says that he cares about the people to get power and then forget about them shortly after the election?

The idealist in me died in 2020, so the cynic’s voice echoes inside, saying that it is likely to be the latter.

Marcus White

whitemarc918@gmail.com