British Foreign Office error creates technical problem for Cayman elections
Monday, August 23, 2004
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: A clerical
error by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has resulted in an
omission in a recent amendment to the Cayman Islands Constitution with
implications for the forthcoming elections here in November.
The constitutional amendment approved by the Privy Council on 27 July was
designed to correct an anomaly created by the British Overseas Territories Act
2002, which would have disqualified eligible persons holding both British
Overseas Territories citizenship and British citizenship from standing for
election. However, the amendment has created
another unintended consequence that will require the Privy Council to make
another amendment to the Constitution of the Cayman Islands.
The error was caused by the omission of the
qualifying words “by virtue of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002” to
define “British Citizenship,” resulting in the potential for any British
citizen (who is qualified in all other respects) to be nominated, said Cabinet
Secretary Orrett Connor.
He explained that this potential arises from
nothing more than a legal technicality, and one that is entirely contrary to
the intent and spirit of the Cayman Islands Constitution.
It is not possible to correct this error before the November elections, as the
Privy Council will not meet before Nomination Day in the Cayman Islands (6
October). A senior FCO official explained in
response to enquiries from the Cayman Government as to what went wrong:
“Further to our exchanges, we have now looked carefully at the problem
relating to the above Order,” she said, offering an apology.
“From our enquiries, it unfortunately seems that, although the wording you
sought had received ministerial approval, in the haste to send the draft Order
to the Privy Council to ensure that it could be made on 27 July, a clerical
error meant that the text that was sent from the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office to the Privy Council omitted the relevant phrase. The order that was
made therefore lacks this wording. We can only apologise most sincerely for
the unintended omission.” The FCO will submit
a new amendment, subject to the approval of the Cayman Government, to correct
the position, the correspondence indicated, but it was not possible to have
this done before the upcoming election. The
Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly had approved an amendment to the Cayman
Islands 1972 Constitution in the form of a Government Motion passed on 16
July. That Motion aimed to correct an anomaly resulting from the passage of
the British Overseas Territories Act 2002. Without the amendment, otherwise
eligible persons would be disqualified for candidacy in the November elections
by virtue of having both British Overseas Territories Citizenship and British
Citizenship. The Cayman Islands 1972 Constitution did not permit elected
representatives to have dual citizenship. The
wording that the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly had approved was: “In
this subsection the words ‘other citizenship’ do not include British
Citizenship acquired by virtue of the British Overseas Territories Act 2002.”
However, although the correct wording
received ministerial approval in the UK, the order sent to the Privy Council
for approval failed to contain the phrase “…by virtue of the British Overseas
Territories Act 2002.” The Privy Council
approved what was sent to them by the FCO, and eligible persons will thus not
be disqualified in November, but the omission has created another unfortunate
technicality. By the omission of the phrase “by virtue of the British Overseas
Territories Act 2002,” any eligible person who is a British Overseas
Territories Citizen and who is also a British Citizen (any British citizen)
can technically be elected to the Legislative Assembly in November.
Back...
Most popular
articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed
Printable
version
| 
