Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 16/Sep 04:22

Shifting the goalpost

WHAT’S the goal behind the new legislation to enshrine the “grandparent rule” in the Constitution? The question arises because of the two completely different stories told by the government in recent days in relation to this move to widen citizenship. One story is about football; the other, brain drain. Narrow was the rationale behind the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2025, when announced on September 4 at the post-cabinet media briefing. According to Phillip Watts, the legislation was designed to “create a wider pool of athletes.” The Minister of Sport brought TT Football Association (TTFA) president Kieron Edwards to the podium at the Diplomatic Centre to explain how allowing people born outside of the country access to citizenship will benefit national teams. All of this echoed the rationale suggested by the Prime Minister on August 28. At a post-cabinet briefing on that day, she confirmed meeting the TTFA on the issue and disclosed the government’s move to draft a law to “get our grandsons to come forward.” Ms Persad-Bissessar, at one of her first post-cabinets, had shown interest in football, galvanising the country on June 5 to support “our boys” at a match due to be played that week at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. However, when the bill was unveiled in Parliament on September 12, a new policy reason emerged. The country, Mr Watts said, “has suffered one of the highest brain drain rates.” The grandparent rule legislation is supposed to affect 40 players immediately, he said, but a “second phase” now involves matters “well beyond sports, boosting our economy, diversifying our workforce and enriching our culture.” Ms Persad-Bissessar spoke of bolstering “ties with the diaspora” and clumsily declared: “Becoming a citizen does not end after one generation abroad.” For good reason did this sudden widening of the ambit of the argument fail to convince PNM MPs, who spotted a similar expansion in the scope of the law in its nuanced wording. Colm Imbert said the bill’s provisions go further than just allowing grandchildren to become citizens and effectively removes blood ties, while Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles raised the somewhat far-fetched spectre of voter padding. Ms Persad-Bissessar countered that there will be a process of vetting. But left unstated by her was where in the proposed, or existing, law would such checks of newly created criteria be mandated. That is just one of the many pressing questions that arise. Justice Minister Devesh Maharaj might feel the bill is a simple matter, but there is nothing more symbolic to a country than citizenship. Despite its reproachfully slapdash approach, the government got its way in the House last week, overcoming PNM objections to secure the bill’s passage. But that goal might soon be ruled offside in the Senate. The post Shifting the goalpost appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.