Opposition Leader Mark Golding
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Daryl Vaz, Peter Bunting, and Dr Paul Ashley
The People's National Party [PNP] is raising concerns that Daryl Vaz, a member of the Jamaican Cabinet, has violated the privacy right of Opposition Leader Mark Golding.
It comes after Mr. Vaz provided pertinent details surrounding Mr. Golding's passport applications and other immigration related information.
Mr Vaz revealed those details on Monday, and on the basis of the details concerning when Mr Golding, a Jamaican born citizen, with British parents, faced "a moral inpediment, in relation to the fact that he got his Jamaican passport, or decided to apply for a Jamaican passport at age 46," when he was already a member of the Jamaican legislature.
That elicited a swift response of condemnation from Peter Bunting, a senior member of the PNP and Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate.
"It certainly gives me concern, as a Jamaica, that Daryl Vaz can go into PICA's database and get information about when I applied for a passport, when I've travelled, when I've not travelled; that is very disturbing to me,"
Mr Bunting, said on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines, on Monday.
It was very disturbing, "in this era of data privacy," he said, that a Cabinet minister is in a position to be providing such details concerning Mr Golding, "even before he was a member of government!"
In that regard, he questioned whether this might constitute a breach of the Data Protection Act.
Distraction
Political analyst Dr Paul Ashley also weighed in on the issue, saying Mr Golding's British citizenship is a distraction as the constitution allows for any citizen of a Commonwealth country to be a member of the Jamaican Parliament.
Mr Golding, as "a dual citizen who has Commonwealth status" is eligible for election to the Jamaican House of Representatives or appointment to the Senate.
Furthermore, he noted, "any Member of Parliament can be prime minister; there's nothing special for you to be a prime minister, other than having the support of a majority of elected members."
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