Shahine Robinson would have served her party better had she continued as a vir-tually silent member of the House of Representatives.

Her rare intervention at last week's sitting of the House was unfortunate at best, and self-serving at worst.

For one who has a cloud of ine-gibility swirling above her head, Robinson should have been among the last to comment on the events which led to Daryl Vaz being forced to take the oath of office as member of parliament for a second time.

Robinson, speaking in Par-liament last Tuesday, described the $30 million spent by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) in the West Portland by-election as "an unnecessary waste".

Her statement was not made in the context that Daryl Vaz, contrary to the provisions of the Con-stitution, faced the electorate in the 2007 general election, and even though he polled most votes was disqualified from sitting in the House of Representatives.

The fundamental premise of Robinson's argument was that Vaz, who was later re-elected with an increased majority, was overwhelmingly the people's choice in 2007 and again in 2009.

We share Robinson's view that the money spent on the holding of by-elections could otherwise be channelled, but we believe that it was money worth spending. After all, the exercise of democracy must be consistent with having a legitimate Parliament.

If parliamentarians are serious about protecting the country's Constitution, they should immediately enact laws which would mandate persons disqualified from sitting in the House because of dual citizenship to pay at least 20 per cent of the cost of the by-election if they want to face the electorate again.

Pocket-burning cost

This huge pocket-burning cost should remove the temptation from persons who would run for a seat, knowing that they are not qualified, and then renounce their foreign citizenship in order to line up in a by-election when booted by the court.

Robinson's shameful argument could soon be invalidated when she faces the courts.

Vaz did a most noble act of renouncing his United States citizenship in order to serve the people of West Portland. But unlike him, other persons, including Robinson, have failed to either make an outright rejection of the claim that they hold foreign citizenship, or at least admit to having divided loyalty and vacate the House.

It is disheartening and shocking that one week after Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that he would be seeking consensus with the Opposition to amend what he calls a constitutional absurdity, Robinson, whose hand is reportedly in the lion's mouth, is wrestling with the beast.

Retabling motion

Indeed, we hope that when the new parliamentary term begins tomorrow, Central Kingston MP Ronald Thwaites will retable his motion to have all members of the House declare their citizenship and permanent residency status in foreign countries.

For too many years we have had MPs in the House who had no right under the Constitution to be there. Unless members are big enough to submit to the Constitution, the repercussions of their selfish actions may be dire.

We may well find ourselves in the messy abyss if the legitimacy of the laws enacted by the current Parliament are challenged in the courts on the grounds that the people who enacted them had no business in the House.

If Robinson means this country well, she would stop the posturing. If she is an United States citizen, which disqualifies her from sitting in the House, and has no intention to renounce her allegiance to Uncle Sam, she should start thinking about serving causes which do not require election.

Silent legislator

Parliament's records will indicate that Robinson has been a silent legislator; resigning would hardly rob the Lower House of her legislative input.

In the same breath, it is time for all those members who know that they have pledged allegiance to a foreign power to stop playing hide-and-seek. You can't be expecting Jamaicans to regard you as 'Honourable' when your behaviour contradicts such.

And on the matter of resignation, Kern Spencer, the MP for North East St Elizabeth, must recognise that he is cheating his constituency by attending the House apparently on a whim. He, too, should vacate the House. Should he be acquitted in the courts, there is always time for a comeback.

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