ATTORNEY General Carl Bethel stressed yesterday the law has not changed regarding citizenship despite the Court of Appeal affirming a landmark ruling.
Mr Bethel told the Senate people were showing up at government departments demanding voter’s cards based on the judgement, however he said the Minnis administration will uphold the status quo until the matter is decided in the Privy Council.
However, leader of opposition business in the Senate, Fred Mitchell interjected and said the Court of Appeal’s ruling should be interpreted as the law of the land until the government applies for a stay of the ruling.
On Monday, the Court of Appeal upheld an historic Supreme Court ruling that children born out of wedlock to foreign women and Bahamian men are automatically citizens, regardless of the nationality of the mother.
Before this, the government had sought to appeal a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Ian Winder handed down in May 2020 over the true interpretation of Article 6 of the Constitution.
The appellate ruling, which came in a three to two decision, has dismissed the government’s appeal and awarded costs to the respondents.
“Madam President, I now have to address another issue that is arising,” Senator Bethel said in the Senate. “We all know that there was the recent decision of the Court of Appeal by a three to two majority on the question of the right to citizenship.
“I am now advised that persons are presenting themselves, as of yesterday and even today, at the Parliamentary Registration Department demanding the right to be registered to vote. This is my information. Let me say as I said to the press yesterday, this did not make the remarks in the newspaper but thankfully it got covered from the former Attorney General Sean McWeeney saying the same thing.
“I said that if we were to lose at the Privy Council at that time we would then be required to make changes to domestic law. In other words, nothing has changed as a result of the ruling, because the matter is still a matter of contest. One of the things that is required is, of course, that we would go to the Privy Council for the matter to be settled, but pending that, there is no change in Bahamian law.”
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