WITH DUE RESPECT CITIZENSHIP BILL IS NOT A NO BRAINER

Former Attorney General Allyson Gibson

Allyson Gibson, the former Attorney General, was in the press last week in a full throated defence of the need to change the citizenship laws to allow for women to have the same right of transmission of their citizenship to their children.  She is right in one respect: it is the fairest thing.  That would be right and just.  However, she described it as a no-brainer.  Not so fast.  If you want political complications for the PLP, let’s fool with that stuff now.  The only issue right now is to get the administrative measures lined up so that the citizenship can be granted in a timely fashion.  The present citizenship laws allow for the Government to give citizenship to anyone, and if as a matter of policy the government decides it wants to give it to the children of Bahamian women it can be done.  That’s the no-brainer.