Maduro: Failing to recognise spouse of Belonger is wicked!
Speaking on his television programme BVI Forum on Sunday February 26, 2012 on CBN 51, the outspoken talk show host said that he is holding back from putting evidence in the newspapers and is allowing the Governor and Premier time to fix it.
Maduro claimed that there are several persons who are married to Belongers, some for more than 10 years and cannot receive their status and is contrary to what is stated in the 2007 Constitutional Order which says the spouse of a Belonger becomes a Belonger upon marriage.
“That spouse may have to do something to finalise the process but in any event that spouse, according to our 2007 Constitution, is a Belonger and we have the Government here today abusing that right,” he stated.
The talk show host said he has been speaking about such issues for the last 12 years, and knows of persons living in the VI for 28 and 30 years, having claimed those rights under the 1976 Constitution and have been denied their Constitutional right.
“I will not stop speaking about this because as I said in the last show I am putting a letter in the papers directed to His Excellency the Governor. I am giving you time to correct this fallacy, I am giving you your Excellency time to correct this abuse. I am not speaking in any secret to you, I am speaking to you in the wide open press because you know what you are doing is wrong, and you are the man responsible for Immigration, you and the Premier, and both of you are equally responsible for this abuse.”
Maduro also has a problem with spouses who lose their Belonger’s status after divorce, claiming it’s an offense.
“Why should a spouse lose Belonger’s status simply because of a divorce? Here is where now our Constitution is wrong but I don’t think that is explicitly written in the new Constitution but if it is written, a divorce is a normal process that human beings do when they can no longer live together as husband and wife.”
And for those persons who may say that some of those who are denied status are due to marriage of convenience, Maduro strongly rebutted the notion. “You want to tell me a man and woman living together for 30 years, married for the last 10 that can be a marriage of convenience? When I put all this in the paper someone is going to look like they never went to school. That’s why am talking a lot before I act.”
Maduro said denying the right to the spouses is also hurting the whole family. “They are hurting the little children, the children are hearing, seeing and experiencing the whole episode of discrimination, why can’t my mommy or my daddy be a Belonger and the law says he is a Belonger or she is a Belonger.”
“I am putting it to His Excellency and all those responsible for carrying out the Constitution that failing to recognise a spouse under the constitution and immigration law and not dealing with those matters expediently is wicked and unwanted and I am calling on you to rectify the issue. I know people who were Belongers under the 1976 Constitutional Order, they are still living here and you will not give them their rights. They will have to be paying for work permit exemptions, and they still have to be buying immigration time, money that they can take and feed and clothe their children with in these times of financial restraints,” he charged.
He is also urging elected representatives to look into the issue stating that they have “been there long enough to correct the issue”.
Maduor called on those persons who are affected to pull themselves together as a group, get a lawyer and challenge “the ignorance that exist as regards to your status and challenge the discrimination that exist, and challenge the folly that lies behind the discrimination you are receiving”.
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