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Tread carefully on this dual citizenship issue
Wignall's World
Mark Wignall
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Time has now been given to us to determine if the PNP is serious about pursuing in the courts the matter of elected persons in the JLP with dual citizenship status or, letting it slide because it was nothing more than a vote-catching exercise.
In a perfect world, commitment to country is of paramount interest, especially where those elected are quite serious about nation building. But are we not chasing rainbows in the particular matter where the world has shrunk (by virtue of the exponential growth in telecommunications in the last 20 years) to the size of a global village and the typical Jamaican would give an eye tooth for a 'green card' or just a 10-minute visa entry into the USA?
Many of those in the Jamaican diaspora, that is the many hundreds of thousands in the USA, Britain and Canada and living abroad for years are, most of them, more committed to Jamaica than some Jamaicans sitting right here at home thinking, "Boy, I am so committed to Jamaica. Now if I can just convince someone at the US Embassy of this commitment, I could secure a visa and, oh boy, Jamaica ain't going to see me again".
Most Jamaicans living abroad made that choice out of security concerns, education, economic considerations/employment or just due to the fact that over time, more of the family was 'in farrin' than in Jamaica. Having made that move, they, the educated and others not so educated, have one common passion, and that is, Jamaica is home and is loved even more than before.
With all of that they stay, because increasingly a person's home is where the closest circle of family and friends gather and, more importantly, where the 'bread' is earned.
Are those elected representatives who have been here working in their respective communities any less committed to Jamaica than the poor Jamaican heading to the US Embassy and, in his mind, the gold-paved streets of Brooklyn? How often is it that the root cause of this perennial drift to the embassy is long-term governmental policy drafted by 'committed' politicians with no dual citizenship issues?
I am talking about the policies which take children through the school system and yet after many years on average, in Jamaica, about 75 per cent of persons 15 years and over have never passed a single examination!
GOLDING. his first job is to appoint a minister to deal with what is turning out to be a mess in the 'free tuition' promise
While the world has compressed itself to the size of a global village, the term 'world citizen' will be taking on added meaning in the next 20 years. We, however, seem to be heading in the opposite direction.
Word has come to me that the US State Department has been listening in on this issue, very quietly for now. There are many Jamaicans in the US with dual citizenship status who are elected members of city councils, boroughs, commissioners, and there are congressmen in New York, California and Texas with Jamaican ties.
As I understand it, the Americans are simply waiting to do to us what they believe this dual citizenship issue will be doing to those elected Jamaicans living there. It is no secret that after its 18 years in power the PNP was able to secure the friendship of most of the powerful members of congress in the US with Jamaican ties.
But did the PNP ask any of these congressmen if the US had a problem with dual citizenship issues? I am not here saying that we should just slavishly follow the dictates of US policy, but at the same time we must bear in mind that in a global village every local policy move will have some component that hinges on our connection to our nearest trading partners.
As I understand it, once the local courts rule, the US will be moving to do likewise, but specially as it relates to those elected persons of CARIBBEAN descent (not just Jamaica) with dual citizenship status.
Who is he?
Star, star burning bright, rising and stealing the night, he promised to be the best and the most powerful of all those rising but, in a moment when caution should have been his watchword, he was discovered in all of his arrogance and the star was shot down.
Still a powerful man in the PNP, he was once an elected representative and he has taken it all in stride and really has no economic worries now. He did not face the polls in 2007.
As committed as he was to the PNP's causes one is not so sure that he was one of those who had any citizenship problems, dual or otherwise. About two years ago he purchased a beautiful house in Jones Borough in Atlanta, Georgia.
Whenever he is in town, that is, in Stone Mountain in Atlanta, he stops in at a branch of the Wachovia Bank on Memorial Drive where he is treated very special.
Of him we would not want to say that in his time he was not committed. Committed to what? would be a better question. Now is an even better time for him to enjoy the 'fruits of his labour' and his choice of houses; the one in Jones Borough or the two he has right here.
Olint has no agents
On August 29, I received an e-mail from a person named Ngozi Christian inviting me to invest with her FX trading outfit. The e-mail had been copied to some well-known names in the country's Western end and as I responded to the e-mail a few of those names expressed surprise at the sender having their e-mail addresses.
The message promised huge returns, up to 20 per cent per month on amounts invested up to US$2 million. But the person also claimed a connection with David Smith's outfit, Olint. Months before that, I was contacted by Olint's public relations agent asking that I use my column to highlight the fact that persons had been soliciting investment funds in the Forex business while using the Olint/David Smith name to further their business.
These persons were taking advantage of the reported huge successes of Olint in Fx trading and were trying to cash in on the name.
The e-mail from Christian had a phone number attached to it. I called and spoke to a lady who identified herself as Ngozi Christian. I told her that as far I am aware, Olint has no agents. I enquired as to her reason for sending out a circular and especially one which copied me.
She accepted the fact that she had no direct connection with Olint but eventually said that there was an indirect connection. I reiterated my point that I had been among one of two persons who had specifically written columns that Olint employs no agents and urged her to that understanding. In the end she still insisted that she has an indirect link with Olint.
My contact with the PR person for Olint confirms that neither Ngozi Christian nor any other person claiming connection with Olint are acting on behalf of Olint/David Smith.
Golding's Mountain of Troubles
Well, Bruce Golding, you asked for it, expertly campaigned for it and now that you have gotten it, you now have the job of first, pulling the country together and getting us to work as we have never done before.
By next Wednesday Golding will have shaped his Cabinet and charged them with the responsibility of moving the wheels of the nation as he crafts the broader policy of making us believe that we are more than we have been.
One of the noted successes of the PNP in its long 18-year run was its ability to make the people believe that the little trappings and comforts of life meant 'success'. Persons who were able to purchase a two-year-old 'deportee' and have a relative ship them a Motorola Razr saw all of that as success. We drove on the impressive network of highways, checked into hotels on the North Coast and saw it all as success.
We ate ice cream at Devon House, drank Hennessy at Red Bones Blues Cafe, drove down to Passa Passa and shared weed with the 'dispossessed' and saw it as success.
Beyond the shadows and behind the cloud there was still a nation struggling to find itself. Runaway ignorance was easy to find and in fact one had no reason to seek it out. Ignorance lived on every street corner and thrived in many villages in rural Jamaica and in the dense urban settings.
"Cho, wi nuh have nuh love inna wi heart, dat is why onnu fight down Portia," said a young man to me last Wednesday. When I tried to explain to him that a leader is placed there to work for the betterment of us all, he shrugged his shoulders, turned his back on me then muttered while walking away, "If mi did have a gun now, mi shot up nuff guy".
No county can move forward without an action plan. Golding seems to me to be the ideal man for these times. His all-inclusive preamble will in time bear fruit. But for now he must know that he approaches the big job with not much love stored up for him.
A little over a year ago Portia began hers with so much love that at times it seemed she could have made a success of anything she chose to put her mind to. During the previous 10 years when the Jamaican people were expressing undying love for her, no one questioned the love, the adulation and the reasons for the genesis of the outpouring of support for her.
Once she attained that top post, we now had reason to make a claim on that love. We had reason to call for a cashing in of that love cheque. In Golding's case, there is no love cheque to cash in. Golding moves only the educated and, based on the election results, not even many of the JLP committed.
On the Sunday before the elections I wrote, "In regards to the JLP, although the poll numbers indicate a safe win for that party it must first secure its stock of 2002 voters. If it cannot do that, it will barely scrape through with a close-shave win".
Prime Minister-elect Golding has the best opportunity of all of that which have gone on before for other leaders to really tackle the creation of a vision and building on it to take our minds and energies into the 21st century. He is unencumbered by adulation. He has no large constituency of voters to pander to and his funders did not give him the rich victory he deserved. He therefore has no reason to rush to answer their calls.
His first job is to appoint a minister to deal with what is turning out to be a mess in the 'free tuition' promise. He will have to weave his way through what may turn out to be a logistical nightmare in getting urgent needed cash in schools as the new school term begins.
After that he needs to move his attention to the security forces with a special terms of reference to violent crime prevention in the short term.
Portia's refusal to extend the expected protocols of a concession has sent the wrong message to some of the disgruntled young men at street level. How about the new Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Portia Simpson Miller appearing on television and reading a joint statement of peace in the wake of the elections?
There is much to deal with, but many are anxiously waiting to see the composition of the Cabinet before we move ahead in making suggestions to our new prime minister.
Diaspora Voices
When the PNP won the elections in 1972 and the JLP won in 1980 there was an outpouring of love and promised assistance from the Jamaicans in the diaspora. It happened again in 1989, but in those times there was no Internet, no easy link to home.
Again the voices of those in the diaspora are with us. But this time, in a world ruled by the Internet, the voices seem to have much more force than before. The problem besetting those voices centre around the fact that there does not seem to be any concerted attempt to draw these voices/groups into two or three main groups talking with one common voice.
While the PNP was running around chasing down elected JLP representatives who had dual citizenship, the diaspora has been proving its commitment to Jamaica by making us all aware that it stands ready to assist in the nation building process. We are talking about more than US$100 cheques. We are focusing on harnessing the best and brightest minds in the diaspora who are willing to help.
This most recent effort will fail like most of the others if the voices do not place their energies under the umbrella of two or three large groups. Until that time, it is all talk, talk.
Wignall's World
Mark Wignall
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Time has now been given to us to determine if the PNP is serious about pursuing in the courts the matter of elected persons in the JLP with dual citizenship status or, letting it slide because it was nothing more than a vote-catching exercise.
In a perfect world, commitment to country is of paramount interest, especially where those elected are quite serious about nation building. But are we not chasing rainbows in the particular matter where the world has shrunk (by virtue of the exponential growth in telecommunications in the last 20 years) to the size of a global village and the typical Jamaican would give an eye tooth for a 'green card' or just a 10-minute visa entry into the USA?
Many of those in the Jamaican diaspora, that is the many hundreds of thousands in the USA, Britain and Canada and living abroad for years are, most of them, more committed to Jamaica than some Jamaicans sitting right here at home thinking, "Boy, I am so committed to Jamaica. Now if I can just convince someone at the US Embassy of this commitment, I could secure a visa and, oh boy, Jamaica ain't going to see me again".
Most Jamaicans living abroad made that choice out of security concerns, education, economic considerations/employment or just due to the fact that over time, more of the family was 'in farrin' than in Jamaica. Having made that move, they, the educated and others not so educated, have one common passion, and that is, Jamaica is home and is loved even more than before.
With all of that they stay, because increasingly a person's home is where the closest circle of family and friends gather and, more importantly, where the 'bread' is earned.
Are those elected representatives who have been here working in their respective communities any less committed to Jamaica than the poor Jamaican heading to the US Embassy and, in his mind, the gold-paved streets of Brooklyn? How often is it that the root cause of this perennial drift to the embassy is long-term governmental policy drafted by 'committed' politicians with no dual citizenship issues?
I am talking about the policies which take children through the school system and yet after many years on average, in Jamaica, about 75 per cent of persons 15 years and over have never passed a single examination!
GOLDING. his first job is to appoint a minister to deal with what is turning out to be a mess in the 'free tuition' promise While the world has compressed itself to the size of a global village, the term 'world citizen' will be taking on added meaning in the next 20 years. We, however, seem to be heading in the opposite direction.
Word has come to me that the US State Department has been listening in on this issue, very quietly for now. There are many Jamaicans in the US with dual citizenship status who are elected members of city councils, boroughs, commissioners, and there are congressmen in New York, California and Texas with Jamaican ties.
As I understand it, the Americans are simply waiting to do to us what they believe this dual citizenship issue will be doing to those elected Jamaicans living there. It is no secret that after its 18 years in power the PNP was able to secure the friendship of most of the powerful members of congress in the US with Jamaican ties.
But did the PNP ask any of these congressmen if the US had a problem with dual citizenship issues? I am not here saying that we should just slavishly follow the dictates of US policy, but at the same time we must bear in mind that in a global village every local policy move will have some component that hinges on our connection to our nearest trading partners.
As I understand it, once the local courts rule, the US will be moving to do likewise, but specially as it relates to those elected persons of CARIBBEAN descent (not just Jamaica) with dual citizenship status.
Who is he?
Star, star burning bright, rising and stealing the night, he promised to be the best and the most powerful of all those rising but, in a moment when caution should have been his watchword, he was discovered in all of his arrogance and the star was shot down.
Still a powerful man in the PNP, he was once an elected representative and he has taken it all in stride and really has no economic worries now. He did not face the polls in 2007.
As committed as he was to the PNP's causes one is not so sure that he was one of those who had any citizenship problems, dual or otherwise. About two years ago he purchased a beautiful house in Jones Borough in Atlanta, Georgia.
Whenever he is in town, that is, in Stone Mountain in Atlanta, he stops in at a branch of the Wachovia Bank on Memorial Drive where he is treated very special.
Of him we would not want to say that in his time he was not committed. Committed to what? would be a better question. Now is an even better time for him to enjoy the 'fruits of his labour' and his choice of houses; the one in Jones Borough or the two he has right here.
Olint has no agents
On August 29, I received an e-mail from a person named Ngozi Christian inviting me to invest with her FX trading outfit. The e-mail had been copied to some well-known names in the country's Western end and as I responded to the e-mail a few of those names expressed surprise at the sender having their e-mail addresses.
The message promised huge returns, up to 20 per cent per month on amounts invested up to US$2 million. But the person also claimed a connection with David Smith's outfit, Olint. Months before that, I was contacted by Olint's public relations agent asking that I use my column to highlight the fact that persons had been soliciting investment funds in the Forex business while using the Olint/David Smith name to further their business.
These persons were taking advantage of the reported huge successes of Olint in Fx trading and were trying to cash in on the name.
The e-mail from Christian had a phone number attached to it. I called and spoke to a lady who identified herself as Ngozi Christian. I told her that as far I am aware, Olint has no agents. I enquired as to her reason for sending out a circular and especially one which copied me.
She accepted the fact that she had no direct connection with Olint but eventually said that there was an indirect connection. I reiterated my point that I had been among one of two persons who had specifically written columns that Olint employs no agents and urged her to that understanding. In the end she still insisted that she has an indirect link with Olint.
My contact with the PR person for Olint confirms that neither Ngozi Christian nor any other person claiming connection with Olint are acting on behalf of Olint/David Smith.
Golding's Mountain of Troubles
Well, Bruce Golding, you asked for it, expertly campaigned for it and now that you have gotten it, you now have the job of first, pulling the country together and getting us to work as we have never done before.
By next Wednesday Golding will have shaped his Cabinet and charged them with the responsibility of moving the wheels of the nation as he crafts the broader policy of making us believe that we are more than we have been.
One of the noted successes of the PNP in its long 18-year run was its ability to make the people believe that the little trappings and comforts of life meant 'success'. Persons who were able to purchase a two-year-old 'deportee' and have a relative ship them a Motorola Razr saw all of that as success. We drove on the impressive network of highways, checked into hotels on the North Coast and saw it all as success.
We ate ice cream at Devon House, drank Hennessy at Red Bones Blues Cafe, drove down to Passa Passa and shared weed with the 'dispossessed' and saw it as success.
Beyond the shadows and behind the cloud there was still a nation struggling to find itself. Runaway ignorance was easy to find and in fact one had no reason to seek it out. Ignorance lived on every street corner and thrived in many villages in rural Jamaica and in the dense urban settings.
"Cho, wi nuh have nuh love inna wi heart, dat is why onnu fight down Portia," said a young man to me last Wednesday. When I tried to explain to him that a leader is placed there to work for the betterment of us all, he shrugged his shoulders, turned his back on me then muttered while walking away, "If mi did have a gun now, mi shot up nuff guy".
No county can move forward without an action plan. Golding seems to me to be the ideal man for these times. His all-inclusive preamble will in time bear fruit. But for now he must know that he approaches the big job with not much love stored up for him.
A little over a year ago Portia began hers with so much love that at times it seemed she could have made a success of anything she chose to put her mind to. During the previous 10 years when the Jamaican people were expressing undying love for her, no one questioned the love, the adulation and the reasons for the genesis of the outpouring of support for her.
Once she attained that top post, we now had reason to make a claim on that love. We had reason to call for a cashing in of that love cheque. In Golding's case, there is no love cheque to cash in. Golding moves only the educated and, based on the election results, not even many of the JLP committed.
On the Sunday before the elections I wrote, "In regards to the JLP, although the poll numbers indicate a safe win for that party it must first secure its stock of 2002 voters. If it cannot do that, it will barely scrape through with a close-shave win".
Prime Minister-elect Golding has the best opportunity of all of that which have gone on before for other leaders to really tackle the creation of a vision and building on it to take our minds and energies into the 21st century. He is unencumbered by adulation. He has no large constituency of voters to pander to and his funders did not give him the rich victory he deserved. He therefore has no reason to rush to answer their calls.
His first job is to appoint a minister to deal with what is turning out to be a mess in the 'free tuition' promise. He will have to weave his way through what may turn out to be a logistical nightmare in getting urgent needed cash in schools as the new school term begins.
After that he needs to move his attention to the security forces with a special terms of reference to violent crime prevention in the short term.
Portia's refusal to extend the expected protocols of a concession has sent the wrong message to some of the disgruntled young men at street level. How about the new Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Portia Simpson Miller appearing on television and reading a joint statement of peace in the wake of the elections?
There is much to deal with, but many are anxiously waiting to see the composition of the Cabinet before we move ahead in making suggestions to our new prime minister.
Diaspora Voices
When the PNP won the elections in 1972 and the JLP won in 1980 there was an outpouring of love and promised assistance from the Jamaicans in the diaspora. It happened again in 1989, but in those times there was no Internet, no easy link to home.
Again the voices of those in the diaspora are with us. But this time, in a world ruled by the Internet, the voices seem to have much more force than before. The problem besetting those voices centre around the fact that there does not seem to be any concerted attempt to draw these voices/groups into two or three main groups talking with one common voice.
While the PNP was running around chasing down elected JLP representatives who had dual citizenship, the diaspora has been proving its commitment to Jamaica by making us all aware that it stands ready to assist in the nation building process. We are talking about more than US$100 cheques. We are focusing on harnessing the best and brightest minds in the diaspora who are willing to help.
This most recent effort will fail like most of the others if the voices do not place their energies under the umbrella of two or three large groups. Until that time, it is all talk, talk.
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