Resignation of dual citizen ministers to take effect after required processes applied

From right to left: Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who holds US citizenship; Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge; Minister of Public Service Dr Rupert Roopnaraine; and Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin, who all hold British citizenship.

One day after announcing that its four ministers who hold dual citizenship have resigned as parliamentarians, government yesterday informed that the resignations will not take immediate effect as certain constitutional steps have to first be followed.

Consequently, the four, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, Minister of State Joseph Harmon, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin and Minister of Public Service Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, will remain ministers until the processes are completed, the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) said in a statement yesterday. It said that Greenidge, Harmon and Roopnaraine, who come from the APNU faction of the APNU+AFC coalition government, have also indicated that they will renounce their foreign citizenship.

President David Granger said that while he has accepted the resignation of the quartet, “their resignations will not take effect immediately as there are several processes which have to be applied,” the MoTP statement yesterday emphasised. Granger left Guyana on Tuesday for Cuba to continue his treatment for cancer.