The prime minister is proposing to meet with the leader of the opposition to reach consensus on the thorny issue of dual citizenship as it affects parliamentarians. I sincerely hope that neither of them is of the misguided opinion that the wider society will sit quietly and accept a JLP/PNP consensus to fiddle with this issue of such fundamental constitutional importance.

The principle requiring single allegiance for certain posts within a society is not one of narrow parochialism, but one that goes to the very root of the protection of the integrity of the nation state. The principle requiring that the representatives of the people should not be encumbered by allegiance to a foreign power is one that recognises the potential dangers that can arise from divided loyalty, particularly by those who are privileged to make laws.

Absolutely nobody who has accepted the privilege to make the laws of a country should ever have the right of protection of a foreign state which could make it very easy for a lawmaker to avoid the consequences of laws which they have made for the society.

No excuse

The present Constitution does not treat a Commonwealth citizen as a foreigner. Any thoughtful observer will recognise the need to correct that situation. That privilege was born out of the willingness to accommodate privileged expatriates from the motherland to participate in the ruling of young Jamaica. With all the changes that have occurred in how the so called mother country/England and other Commonwealth countries have related to us since independence there can be no excuse in allowing the continuation of the special concession which is permitted by our Constitution to Commonwealth citizens.

Fundamental to the new order must be the acknowledgment that in today's world, there is no economic or political advantage to be gained by allowing ourselves to be categorised as her majesty's subjects. On the contrary, we subject ourselves to the indignity her majesty's representative give assent to our laws before they can be deemed to be legitimate.

I am, etc.,

LUCIUS C. WHITE

Kingston 6