FORMER Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson. Photo: Austin Fernander
By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS
Tribune Staff Reporter
lmunnings@tribunemedia.net
FORMER Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson urged the government to pass legislation giving Bahamian men and women an equal chance to pass citizenship to their children and spouses, calling this a “no-brainer”.
She was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an Inter-American Development Bank workshop at Island House on Friday.
Attorney General Ryan Pinder said in February that legislation allowing Bahamian men and women to pass on citizenship in all circumstances would be brought once the Privy Council has ruled on whether children born out of wedlock to Bahamian fathers and foreign mothers have an automatic right to citizenship.
The delay has frustrated critics. Mr Pinder had previously said the legislation would be brought to Parliament by the end of last summer. Last year, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the Davis administration should prove its commitment to reforming citizenship laws by abandoning its appeal of Chief Justice Ian Winder’s landmark ruling. The Privy Council, however, heard arguments on the matter on January 17.
Bahamians rejected more liberal citizenship laws in the 2002 and 2016 constitutional referendums.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson said people should push for change.
“I urge us to think about what the suffragists did, us as women, us as Bahamians who believe that all Bahamians, women and men are entitled to be treated equally and I say that there’s already a bill drafted that gives women the right to pass their citizenship on to their spouses and their citizenship on to their children and single Bahamian men also to pass their citizenship on to their children under certain circumstances,” she said.
“Now that’s not to say it’s the same as eliminating discrimination from our constitution but I want to point out that today, while people are wringing their hands and worrying about what will happen, there are women who are suffering, there are children who are suffering and there are men who are suffering and it is the job of our legislators to eliminate, not cause suffering. Pass the bill.
Mrs Maynard-Gibson also said the government should pass legislation outlawing marital rape.
She said: “I will say that very clearly, there is something that is marital rape. I don’t think that any human being should be subjected to that. And again, I think that the necessary legislation … it is so fundamental, that it requires a systemic approach, and we need to have specific legislation that deals with it, how we will prosecute it, how we will punish it and so forth so that our society sends the strongest message about what we will tolerate in a civilized society in a democracy.”
`Asked if religious leaders have too much say in the debate over marital rape legislation, she said: “I do note how, unfortunately, ministers of religion derailed the referendum process and so these kinds of things can happen. I don’t cast blame because at the end of the day my relationship with God is between me and God, and so I have to decide whether I will support women having the right to pass on their citizenship, whether I will support the notion that there should be no marital rape in a marriage. A healthy marriage doesn’t contemplate rape. That’s me, that’s my decision. I can’t blame pastors for that.”
Comments
K4C 1 year, 8 months ago
Some of my children are born in the Bahamas to a Canadian wife, we immigrated to Canada 51 years ago and it took ONE visit to Citizenship Canada to obtain Canadian citizenship for them, not decades, this saga of have honest citizens beholden to the state has to STOP
hrysippus 1 year, 8 months ago
If this is really a "no brainer" bill, .. Is it just a lack of political will. .... .,That has stymied every attempt before, , ,, , To have women be equal under the law? .. .. .Or should we look back on the unholy alliance. .. ... ... .. 'Tween self-serving Drexel and Crawl back through Vomit defiance. . ....One mortgaged his soul to get re-elected, . ..... ..The other bargained his sons to be cabinet selected. ..Self serving acts that sunk the referendum.. ... ... Thus back to the 19th century women's rights they send 'em. Sigh.
Sickened 1 year, 8 months ago
A Bahamian man OR woman should be able to automatically pass on their citizenship to their children whether married or unmarried. To think otherwise is non-sensical.
JokeyJack 1 year, 8 months ago
She is correct. Only someone with no brain would supporr this sell-out of Bahamians. Why are there so many traitors in this country? A country full of traitors cannot survive.
Emilio26 1 year, 8 months ago
I think Allyson Maynard-Gibson and these other activist have a hidden agenda besides the constitution already makes it clear what a Bahamian male or female can do in relation to passing on citizenship to their offspring. AUTOMATIC BAHAMIAN CITIZENSHIP IS GIVEN TO PERSONS:
Born in The Bahamas to married parents, with either parent being a Bahamian citizen Born to an un-married Bahamian female in or outside of The Bahamas Born outside of The Bahamas to a married Bahamian male who was not born outside The Bahamas Adopted by a married Bahamian male Adopted by a single Bahamian female
ohdrap4 1 year, 8 months ago
You need to listen to more talkshows, as they know more about the constitution.
Not "Either parent". If the mother is Bahamian and married to a non Bahamian, the kids are not automatically Bahamian, regardless of where they are born.
ohdrap4 1 year, 8 months ago
I once heard someone say that a Bahamian woman should have her kids before getting married to a foreigner, then marry the foreigner.
However, even under the existence of such laws, applications have been known to languish for years before being approved or rejected, inconveniencing and discriminationg against many people who have always lived in the Bahamas and who were born to a Bahamian mother married to a foreigner or an Unmarried Bahamian father.
juju 1 year, 8 months ago
My family arrived in Eleuthera in 1647 as an Eleutheran Adventurer from Bristol,England via Bermuda. Our daughter with an American father has been denied citizenship twice, once under 18 yrs and once over 18. 376 years of Bahamian family, still in the Bahamas and she cannot be a Bahamian under the current law. But…. a foreigner who spends enough money in the Bahamas can purchase citizenship. Thank you Mrs Maynard. This MUST change.
K4C 1 year, 8 months ago
Mine a few years before yours, it took me over a year for one of my children, that's a year of runarounds request for documents etc. that in the end was not required, the people in this backwards government are hell bent to make you give in,
christee61 1 year, 8 months ago
Had Allyson and her political colleagues not hijack the referendum for political purposes, this would not be an issue today,
moncurcool 1 year, 8 months ago
Exactly!
DWW 1 year, 8 months ago
The foreign affairs/citizenship/passport office is perhaps the most corrupt sector of the Bahamas Govt except perhaps... all the other parts of the govt.
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