By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

STATE Minister for Legal Affairs Elsworth Johnson yesterday suggested critics of proposed changes to citizenship laws were “downright evil” as he called for elevated and rational discourse on the issue.

Mr Johnson, former Bar Association president, spoke generally about the need to remove the “emotionalism” surrounding the contentious issue and instead focus on resolutions which will further the upward mobility of the country.

He did not state whether he supported the proposed changes to the Bahamas Nationality Act or whether he felt the move conflicted with the outcome of the 2016 gender equality referendum.

Mr Johnson said: “If we want to see this country grow, if we want to build a country where our daughters, our sons, can thrive - I have a Haitian village just opposite to me and the young boys in there are my godchildren. I don’t like it that the Haitian village is there because it’s built against every code but I love them like my own, I check on them, in my heart of hearts I know they’re Bahamians because we have conversations. What do we do with them?

“We have to take this debate to a higher level, we must see the human dignity in it, the human persons that are suffering and see whether or not at the end of the day we are being just downright evil.”

The government plans to amend the Bahamas Nationality Act to give children of unwed Bahamian fathers with foreign mothers and married Bahamian women living abroad automatic rights to citizenship upon application.

The Minnis administration’s plans touch on two issues which were addressed in last year’s referendum.

The first of four questions involved changing the Constitution to give married Bahamian women with foreign spouses the same right their male counterparts have to confer citizenship to children regardless of the country in which the children are born.

On that question, 32,249 people voted ‘yes’ to the question and 51,022 people voted ‘no.’

The third question involved changing the Constitution to give an unwed Bahamian father the same right that a Bahamian woman has to pass citizenship to a child born in or out of wedlock, providing proof of paternity.

On this issue, 28,246 people voted yes but 54,890 people voted no.

“This whole issue - I know we had a hotly contested [referendum] recently where there was the pros, the cons, the ones who thought they should have been given resources to carry their campaign during the debate, there were those who were adamantly saying there was no need for a referendum, that by simple legislation you could have had things done,” Mr Johnson said to reporters outside the Cabinet Office.

“I’m not going to condescend or speak to whether or not we should or should not make the changes, I want to speak to the Bahamian society and say we must come up to a higher level and accept certain truths as they exist in our society.

“If a lady can have a child under certain circumstances they can be a Bahamian, why can’t a man do the same thing? If it is and I believe in patriotism, I love my country, I would die for the sovereignty and protection of my country. But if there are persons who are here and after you’ve put them to the litmus test, if they pass the litmus test and they know in their heart of hearts they’re Bahamian, then swear them in now.

“For those imposters,” Mr Johnson continued. “I would have no association but we must remove the emotionalism from it. We must come in a rationale way as to how we will resolve these issues, how we will build this country, how we will take this country from Third World status to First World.

“We need citizens who are committed and who are prepared to work, persons who are prepared to make the necessary sacrifice. Now if these persons meet all of the criterion, the Constitution is a living document, the Privy Council has already said that. It makes adjustments as society makes adjustments. It’s for us to see where it’s necessary and do that.”