Immigration, Citizenship bills go to Parliament

Parliament has taken the Immigration and the Citizenship bills through the first reading. The Immigration Bill seeks to revise the existing Aliens Act, 1963 (Act 160) to update the country's laws on immigration in line with the current development policies.

An accompanying memorandum says the bill seeks to de-emphasize and remove existing bureaucratic controls that unduly hinder the smooth operation of the immigration laws to ensure accelerated movement of people across the country's borders.

The memorandum says other policies of the government to which legal backing is being sought under the bill, are the new concepts of indefinite residence status and right of abode status, which may be conferred on foreign nationals. The purpose of the Citizenship Bill is to consolidate the laws on citizenship and to replace the Ghana Nationality Act, 1971 (Act 361).

The memorandum says Act 361, which was enacted after the coming unto force of the 1969 Constitution, provided the then applicable conditions for acquisition of citizenship by birth as well as other methods of acquiring citizenship.

It says citizenship acquired through registration, naturalization and other administrative means backed by law have been relatively easy to deal with, however, determination of citizenship by birth has always been a problem in the country. The memorandum explains that the cause lies mainly in the country's colonial past and also the changes in the legal conditions that have applied at different periods.

The memorandum says the constitutions of the country have saved legally acquired citizenship that existed at the time of the coming into force of the relevant Constitution. It says in order not to sweep aside any citizenship legally acquired and existing, it has become necessary to state the law as it relates to citizenship by birth at the given time.

The memorandum also emphasized that citizenship by birth has been the greatest area of controversy. The bill adopts the method of stating the applicable legal conditions at the various dates because citizenship by birth is a condition a person acquires at the date of birth dependent entirely on the law then in force.

It explains that the 1979 Constitution had different provisions on citizenship by birth from those of the 1969 Constitution. It adds that the provisions under the 1992 Constitution differ on the subject of citizenship by birth from those of the 1969 and 1979 Constitutions. To determine if a person is a citizen of Ghana by birth, the bill says it is necessary, therefore, to relate the question to the legal conditions applicable at the given date of birth.