THE EDITOR, Sir:
THIS IS an open letter to The Right Honourable Percival J. Patterson, Prime Minister of Jamaica.
Dear Prime Minister: I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on the stand taken re: the deportation of criminals from the United States and England.
However, in the same breath, I am asking you to open our doors to a different type of Jamaican: those born overseas to Jamaican parents or grandparents. I would like to see in the near future, thousands of Jamaican grandchildren returning home to claim their rightful place in the building of this great country. Allowing anyone born overseas whose parents or grandparents were Jamaican the opportunity to become a Jamaican citizen with all the rights of investment, employment, and unconditional visa status in their US or British passport, for example, will create a link, as well as expand our databank of professional business people around the world, who for the first time would feel an attachment to this beautiful country.
Can you imagine having thousands of proud Jamaican descendants taking their pledge of citizenship at the same time? This would create a positive ripple effect for Jamaica around the world never seen before. Both my maternal and paternal grandparents are from Jamaica and I would like to be the first on the list to take this pledge. I am also ready and prepared to help you put this project in place, by creating a volunteer team of professionals who can implement this programme with the least amount of obstacles once the various governmental agencies are on board and ready to go.
SWEAT AND BLOOD
The United States was built with the sweat and blood of foreigners seeking freedom from their country. Give Jamaica descendants the opportunity to come home to the land of their parents and grandparents and you would see an entrepreneurship spirit in Jamaica that would be envied around the world! This will be a one-time opportunity for individuals who can prove that their parents or grandparents are or were Jamaicans. This programme will not be applicable to any lineage beyond that of grandparents. A date by which each individual must submit proof of their parents' or grandparents' Jamaican lineage will be selected. We will also select a date for the citizenship ceremony. For those individuals who cannot be present in Jamaica for this one time mass citizenship ceremony, they will be able to take their citizenship oath simultaneously at a Jamaican consulate or embassy in their respective countries.
Once this programme is implemented, which I know it will, we must also make sure that all the red tape and governmental bureaucracy is minimised by creating a mastermind group whose goals and objectives would be to find and give suggestions for the improvement of Jamaicans trying to do business in Jamaica. If the United States can give citizenship to Mexican and other nationalities that have lived in the United States illegally for 'X' number of years, we can definitely do the same, not for illegal aliens, but for Jamaica's grandchildren who do not feel part of the Jamaican family yet, but are in the wings 'waiting to exhale'. If the last thing you do before leaving office is to give us the opportunity to become Jamaican citizens by the stroke of your pen, then you would have brought to Jamaica a wealth of knowledge, pride, and a crusade back home of some of the greatest minds Jamaica has ever produced.
I am, etc.,
THEO CHAMBERS
Chairman,
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