#TurksandCaicos, December 22, 2017 – Providenciales – The Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands is Bahamian born, but she is no longer a Bahamian citizen and can legally and is rightfully holding elected office in the Turks and Caicos Islands; this is the conclusion of an Integrity Commission investigation into the eligibility of Sharlene Robinson to be the premier following a complaint filed just last month.
The complaint comes after Robinson has served a full term as the first all island member and Leader of the Opposition from 2012 to 2016 and after she was elected in 2016, once again as the first all island member and the leader of the People’s Democratic Movement party . The investigation is one of many peculiar attacks on the country leader amidst ongoing social media and social circle rows which have unraveled and erupted in plain sight over the year; with brutal, vicious and downright disrespectful comments being made by some people on both sides of the divide.
The Integrity Commission’s Deputy Director, Richard Been said the IC is compelled by law to investigate all complaints. His media release today said in part, “the Commission investigated these allegations and can confirm that they are false. Prior to the 2012 General Elections and in compliance with the law as it was then interpreted, the Premier did renounce her Bahamian citizenship along with some other members of the House of Assembly affected. She is also in possession of current and previous TCI Passports, some dating back to more than ten years ago. She was thus eligible and was duly elected into the TCI House of Assembly in 2012. Since then, and notwithstanding the current position of the law, she had neither applied for nor possessed any Bahamian Passport. Thus, she remained eligible for and was duly elected into the House Assembly at the 2016 General Elections, contrary to the complaint. Most, if not all, of these facts are easily verifiable from the public and official records of the relevant authorities in TCI and the Bahamas.”
In putting the rumor to bed, the Integrity Commission also asks countrymen to be more responsible in using social media.
“The Commission is once again emphasizing that persons who use the liberty of social media as a cloak to make or give false and malicious information or complaints against other persons, agencies or institutions, especially where the truth of such information or complaint can easily be confirmed, must be prepared to face the severe consequences under the law for doing so.”
The warning is a firm reminder that some individuals may be opening themselves up to liable or defamation law suits for false or erroneous character attacks.
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