However, in 2011 it came to light through the United States diplomatic cables leak that she had withdrawn her application for renunciation, meaning she remained a U.S. citizen.
[4] Hay-Webster joined the Jamaica Labour Party in November 2011 before losing her seat in parliament in the 2011 Jamaican general election.
She was returned to her seat in the 2002 elections, part of a widespread PNP victory which saw them retain their parliamentary majority for a record fourth straight term.
[7] The major highlight of Hay-Webster's second term was her March 2004 trip to the Central African Republic on behalf of Jamaican Prime Minister P. J. Patterson and the Caribbean Community, to meet with Jean-Bertrand Aristide after he was ousted in the 2004 Haitian coup d'état and to discuss his desire to return to Haiti.
She was part of a larger delegation which also included African American dignitaries, namely TransAfrica Forum founder Randall Robinson and U.S. congresswoman Maxine Waters.
[10] In July 2003, during a parliamentary debate on childcare, Hay-Webster suggested that young women with three or more children be subject to compulsory sterilisation.
Opposition parliamentarian Ernie Smith spoke out in favour of the idea, and further suggested that schoolgirls undergo regular virginity tests in order to clamp down on teenage pregnancy.
[12] In contrast, Vernon Daley, a columnist for the Jamaica Gleaner, described Hay-Webster as making a fool of herself by proposing outdated ideas based on shallow thinking.
The trigger for the violence was reported to be a conflict over control of the lucrative protection racket surrounding the town's bus terminal.
[16] In the aftermath, Hay-Webster made public statements distancing herself from the violence and claiming she had no ties to the gang leaders, earning her criticism even from fellow PNP member and former South Central St. Catherine MP Heather Robinson.
[17] However, in later years she crossed party lines to work with fellow woman politician and neighbouring South East St. Catherine MP Olivia Grange, successfully reducing gang violence.
The MP in question was not named in parliamentary debate, but JLP members gave media interviews in the following week, leading to the revelation that Golding was referring to Hay-Webster.
However, after Mair was removed from Parliament by court order, the PNP put forth a candidate Granville Valentine in his constituency for the resulting by-election, leading to the breakdown of the agreement.
[30] However, even after that announcement, the JLP was still said to be getting ready to serve court papers against her, as part of their larger strategy leading up to the by-elections triggered by Stern's resignation.
[34] In December 2010, the JLP made an application to the Supreme Court of Jamaica challenging Hay-Webster's eligibility to sit in parliament due to the fact of her having been a U.S. citizen at the time of the 2007 elections.
[35] It is possible that the court may retroactively disqualifies her candidacy all the way back to her original election in 1997, meaning that she might lose her entitlement to a parliamentary pension, granted to members of parliament who serve for more than two terms.
According to a leaked cable reported by the Jamaica Gleaner, Hay-Webster had visited the US embassy in Kingston to renounce her United States citizenship on 31 July 2009, but returned four days later to withdraw the renunciation.
Jamaica Observer columnist Clare Forrester spoke out in support of Hay-Webster; however, broader public opinion was turning against her.
[41][42] In 2010, she gave an interview to the Jamaica Gleaner in which she expressed regret that she had been unable to emulate Michael Manley's social impact of the 1970s which had inspired her to enter politics in the first place.