Senator Abka Fitz-Henley says People’s National Party (PNP) President Mark Golding’s “inappropriate hesitation” to give up his status as British and choose Jamaican citizenship only sends a concerning signal about his judgment.

The government Senator says to compound the challenge facing Golding, comments made this week by former Prime Minister PJ Patterson have further highlighted the inappropriate nature of the PNP president saying he will have to meditate about whether to renounce his British citizenship.

Senator Fitz-Henley says Patterson’s intervention on the issue, while he addressed a ‘Reasoning with PJ’ forum at the University of the West Indies earlier this week, was useful.

Fitz-Henley says he notes the former prime minister said, in his view, certain sensitive officeholders should not have dual allegiances.

“The former prime minister noted the chief of defence staff, the army head, as one such position. It’s a matter of public record in Jamaica that prime ministers are ministers of defence. Therefore, if Mr Patterson’s view is given a logical interpretation, it would follow that an individual who aspires to be minister of defence should not be a dual citizen”, Fitz-Henley commented.

Fitz-Henley says though he believes it’s too late for Golding to choose Jamaican citizenship only, if he wants to attempt to restore any dignity to his public posture on the issue, the PNP President “should take heed from the erudite council of his political senior”.

According to Fitz-Henley, Patterson provided two examples of appointees who readily renounced their non-Jamaican citizenship, underscoring the inappropriate stance taken by Golding.

“Yet we have heard words from the PNP President, such as, he has to meditate. He has to think about it. It’s an emotional matter for him. He has to pray about whether he should choose Jamaican citizenship only. The PNP President’s hesitation in choosing Jamaica has done him irreparable harm in the eyes of this proud nation, Jamaica, land we love,” Fitz-Henley reasoned in a social media post on Friday.