Dual citizenship restriction law must cover CEOs of State-Owned Enterprises – HeFRA boss

The Health Facilities Regulatory Agency (HeFRA) Director for the Ashanti Region and a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Rashid Inusah is pushing for a law that bans Members of Parliament (MPs) from holding dual citizenship to be made to cover all Chief Executive Officer (CEOs) of State-Owned Enterprises (SEOs) too.

His argument is that persons who hold dual citizenship and man these state institutions are sometimes tempted not to give off their best as they have a second place to call home when they mismanage things.

The 1992 Constitution for example in Article 94 (2A) states that “a person shall not be qualified to be a Member of Parliament if he – (a) owes allegiance to a country other than Ghana”.

It goes further to state holders of dual citizenship cannot hold certain specified offices in Ghana, including the following: Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court, Ambassador/High Commissioner and Secretary to the Cabinet.

But the NPP man believes it should be extended further.

Speaking on Kumasi-based Garden City Radio, Mr. Inusah noted that persons who hold dual citizenship and are in high places sometimes don’t have the love for one to start to work towards its development.

“We should not wait till parliamentary contest before telling people to denounce their dual citizenship; it must trickle down through other CEOs of state agencies. The point is that most of these people who hold dual citizenship run some of these state agencies down badly and after their tenure leaves the country back to other countries; they hold allegiance to, that law must be extended to cover a lot more people running state institutions not just MPs,” he said.

He added that, “When you believe in the dream of Ghana you must relinquish every citizenship and hold on to Ghana. You can’t be a CEO of a state agency and hold two allegiances, if they run the systems down all they do is grab their passports and run and leave you and me the loyal citizens to suffer, if their party wins power again and they are lucky they come back to do the same things, this is not fair.”

“The law must be extended to cover all that so that any big company or agencies of state will be handled by true Ghanaians in the office,” he noted.

In 2021, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Swedru in the Eastern Region, Kennedy Nyarko, presented the Citizenship Amendment Bill to Parliament.

The bill, if passed, will amend the 1992 Constitution to remove restrictions imposed on dual citizens and persons who owe allegiance to a country other than Ghana from holding public office.

Positions dual citizens can occupy if the bill is passed will include Ambassador or High Commissioner, Secretary to Cabinet, Chief of Defense Staff, Inspector General of Police, Director of Immigration Service and MP.

It must also be noted that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in 2019 said the government would be laying a bill before Parliament to allow persons with dual citizenship to hold public office, described it as the Diaspora Engagement Policy Bill and was being worked on by the Office of Diaspora Affairs.