Voice of Liberia
Fighting for Justice for all Liberians
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PETITION FOR DUAL CITIZENSHIP FOR DIASPORA LIBERIANS; IS THIS THE APPROPRIATE TIME?
By Paul K. Kennedy, Washington DC, USA | August 13, 2007
According to information gathered from “Liberianforum.com”, on July 24, 2007, Representative Armah Sarnor, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Representative Vaforay Kamara, Chairman of the House Human and Civil Rights Committee, introduced an Act in the House of Representatives they claimed is intended to “protect all Liberians from involuntary loss of their Liberian citizenship” when they become naturalized citizens of another country or serve in the armed forces of another country without the prior approval of the President of Liberia. A memorandum in support of this petition written by Alvin Teage Jalloh, Esq.; on behalf of Non-Resident Liberians is also found on this website.
Let me firstly thank Mr. Jalloh and all Non-Resident Liberians who petitioned this bill and Members of the 52nd National Legislature of Liberia involved with this petition; for their efforts to defend the civil rights of “Diaspora Liberians”. However my opinion is that this bill be made available for viewing by Liberians home and abroad for their import. Petition and Memorandum supporting this bill have been published on the liberianforum.com and other news websites; but I have no knowledge of this bill been published anywhere for public access and import.
Although pursuing dual citizen status for Diaspora Liberians seems to be a good vision; I am concern of the adverse effects and or consequences that could follow this issue if not properly addressed. With Liberia just coming out of a long-haul civil war, with all of its infrastructure and human resource base depleted this is not the appropriate time to discuss the issue of Dual Citizenship for Liberians. Time after time Liberian leaders have designed Laws and policies that have benefited few individuals at the detriment of the rest of the Liberian People; instead of benefiting the country. Hence it is necessary that the petitioners provide the Liberian People a copy of this Bill including all of its statues for evaluation and verification before congress can consider any further deliberations.
The issue of Dual Citizenship especially for Diaspora Liberians is a very complicated one and such should be given a very careful scrutiny given that:
- Liberia lacks the system of birth registry or statistics which provides data that could be used to determine or identify its citizens whether home or abroad;
- The Constitution (Chapter IV, Articles 27-28) of the Republic of Liberian clearly explains its statutes on citizenship or categories of citizenships in Liberia; and no petition(s) or bills whatsoever can contravene such laws except by referendum or an act of constitutional reform;
- Liberia will benefit little or nothing from its Non-Resident Dual Citizens due to the inability of the Liberian Government to monitor their foreign incomes and assess interns of imposing taxes if such taxation ever implies;
- Liberia has no means of persecuting Dual Citizens who serve in public offices and take advantage of their status (Dual Citizenship) to embezzle and flight funds to their resident countries abroad;
- Dual citizenship issue is more of a political issue than economics and social development and that people mostly pursuing such are meanly seeking its personal or individual benefits rather than national interest;
- That well-meaning Naturalized Foreign Citizens of Liberian Descent are given all rights and privileges under the Liberian Laws to invest and contribute to the Liberian socio-economic developments in accordance with Liberian Rules and Regulations without any hindrances; Et cetera.
Based on studies conducted on the issue of dual citizenships, strategically comparing Liberia with other countries in West Africa; statistics show that 9 of the 16 countries in West Africa including Liberia(Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Ghana, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Liberia) do not recognize Dual Citizenship; 4 Francophone Countries ( Benin, Cote d’ IVoire, Mali, Togo) do recognize Dual Citizenship; whereas the remaining 3 countries( Cape Verde, Burkina Faso and Nigeria) in this region recognize Dual Citizenship under certain conditions.
(ref.: US Office of Personnel Management Investigations Service, Citizenship Laws of the World http://www.opm.gov/extra/investigate/IS-01.pdf)
Therefore, I will conclude that at this present time, Liberia does not possess the human and material resources required to adequately address the issue of Dual Citizenship. It will be necessary to discuss this issue when Liberia is economically and politically stable with the infrastructures and mechanisms to properly address such issues. The issue of Dual Citizenship is not a pressing one; since the Liberian Constitution does not forbid any Liberian who is naturalized in a foreign country from positively contributing to the socio-economic development of Liberia. Hence I will recommend that we, Liberians in the Diaspora, lay that issue to rest and enhance or design other activities that will support the human resource and infrastructure development in Liberia.
Such as creating as:
- Creating a checking account that we, Liberians in the Diaspora (especially in developed and economically empowered countries; i.e. USA) will make monthly deposits/donations of funds into for the purpose of undertaking initiatives that would help our country, Liberia; i.e. payment of teachers in the Liberian Public School System. Etc….
- Establishing community-based illiteracy eradication programs focus to provide Civil Education, Voter Rights and Voting Procedures to the youth and illiterate adults’ population in Liberia….amongst other productive things in the interest of Liberia as a country and its people and not for our self-centered gain.
Question: Is this the appropriate time to discuss Dual Citizenship for Liberians? What do you think?
Please send your concerns to this article to pekay40@yahoo.com. Thanks for your contributions.
