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HOME	DECEMBER 10th, 2005

Parliament to discuss Peter David

The attempt by government to remove opposition Member of Parliament for the Town of St. George, Peter David from Parliament is to be tested on Friday when the House of Representatives meet at the Trade Centre at Grand Anse.

The Keith Mitchell–led New National Party (NNP) government is taking a resolution to Parliament to try and get House Speaker Lawrence Joseph or "some other fit and proper person" to look into the citizenship status of David and other elected Members of Parliament. Government officials are trying to get David removed from Parliament and the seat awarded to the candidate that he defeated in the 2003 general elections, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Brenda Hood.

Legal Advisor to Cabinet, Jamaican Hugh Wildman has indicated that "very soon" papers would be filed in the high court to get a ruling against David who has publicly admitted that he is a Canadian citizenship.

A number of prominent legal officials have said that the Grenada constitution provides for David as a born Grenadian with Canadian citizenship to be qualified to contest general elections on the island.

Following is the full text of the Peter David motion that the Mitchell government is bringing to the house on Friday for debate:

RESOLUTION FOR THE PURPOSES OF SECTION 31(1) (A) AND SECTION 33(2) (C) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF GRENADA

WHEREAS Section 31 (1) (a) of the Constitution of Grenada provides that no person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the House of Representatives if he or she is by virtue of his or her own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state;

AND WHEREAS Section 33 (2) (c) of the said Constitution of Grenada provides that a Member of the House of Representatives shall vacate his or her seat in the House if circumstances arise to show that that Member if he or she were not such a Member would cause him or her to be disqualified to be elected as such by virtue of Section 31 91) of the said Constitution of Grenada;

AND WHEREAS there are sufficient reasons to believe that the Constitutional provisions for membership in the House of Representatives may have been contravened;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the House authorizes the Speaker or some other fit and proper person to make enquiries as to every Member of the House whether any Member on Nomination Day last just prior to the last General Elections was the holder of Citizenship other than that of Grenada, or whether after the said Nomination Day any member acquired citizenship of a country or countries other than that of Grenada;

BE IT FUTHER RESOLVED that the Speaker, or some other fit and proper person is being requested to report back to the House at its next sitting or the soonest practicable time thereafter, as established by the Speaker or other fit and proper person chosen by the House.