Dual citizenship begins November

The Weekend Statesman reports that the Dual Citizenship Act, which seeks to allow Ghanaians to take the citizenship of another country, is to come into effect in the first week of November.

The Act was enacted by the lst Parliament but was not given presidential assent and the regulations that had to be passed to implement it were not laid before Parliament was dissolved.

To this end, a Legislative Instrument (LI 1690) for the Citizenship Regulations made under the Citizenship Act, together with the Immigration Regulations (LI. 1691), made under the Immigration Act, have now been laid before Parliament.

The Attorney-General, Nana Akufo-Addo, told participants at the just concluded Homecoming Summit that the delay had been occasioned by the coming recess of the House. He expressed regret that the regulations had not come into force by the time of the summit.

The Attorney-General said Parliament should be prevailed upon to take a second look at some provisions of the Act which have been the subject of criticism.

The Dual Citizenship Act, he said, should be no circumstances under which Ghanaian citizenship is inalienable. There should be no circumstances under which Ghanaian law would permit the forfeiture or renunciation of Ghanaian citizenship. The slogan, he said, should be "Once a Ghanaian, Always a Ghanaian."

He said the Act need not confer second-class citizenship on overseas Ghanaians, because of the ban it places on them from occupying a host of important public positions, as set out in Section 16 (2) of the Act.

"I am aware that in some countries, the holding of dual citizenship does not carry with it any such consequences. This is another sensitive matter. In the present climate, it may be that Parliament should look at this matter also again," he said. He expressed the hope that when the Act comes into force it would formalize the link between them and their motherland.

Nana Akufo-Addo asked Ghanaians living abroad to facilitate the process of mobilisation to transform the conditions of the people and the nation at large.

"You have special gifts to bring to bear on that process, since most of you work in the heart of the developed capitalist world and know what to do move our country forward," he said.