Enter The Liberian Situation Room
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Enter The Liberian Situation Room |
Now Available On DVD: Order Your Copy: Click For Details |
Facts You Should Know
Level Of Support In Liberia Sources in Liberia are saying the proposed Dual Citizenship law has no support in the Liberian Legislature and among the Liberian people as it is reflected in the affiliations of the four senators that are sponsoring this bill. There are eleven political parties in the Liberian Legislature, but only two, the Liberian Action Party, or LAP,and the National Patriotic Party, or NPP who are pushing this bill
United States Official Policy On Dual Citizenship
Official U.S. policy has been to discourage the incidence of dual nationality. The Government accepts but does not recognize or approve of dual nationality. The Government accepts it: "only as the result of separate conflicting laws of other countries."
African Countries With Dual Nationality
Benin Burkina Faso Cape Verde Central African Republic Ivory Coast Ghana Morrocco Lesotho Namibia Nigeria Togo Tunisia
One who has a dual nationality will be subject to claims from both nations, claims which at times may be competing and/or conflicting. Liberia at this very stage, poor and under-developed, will always be at a disavantage if any competing interest emerges that involves Liberians with dual nationality. |
Dual Citizenship Law Will Weaken Liberia’s Nationality And Undermine Her Heritage
By P. Nimely-Sie Tuon Editor/Publisher About Liberia Liberia repost
If few members of the Liberian law makers and their supporters have their way, the Liberian National Legislature could inflict on the nationality and heritage of Liberia an irreparable harm whose impact could be felt for generations to come when those who now championing this cause could be, as we say in Liberia “long and gone”. According to news reports, a group of four Liberian senators, all bearing the “senior” senator title, from Grand Kru, Bong, Cape Mount and Lofa counties, are sponsoring a bill in the Liberian Legislature which in their opinion will redeem Liberians who lost their Liberian citizenship as a result of taking up the citizenship of another country. In justifying their move, the four senators said; “We are seeking the repeal of the Aliens and Nationality Law to provide dual citizenship for Liberians at birth, who lost their citizenship due to the necessities of life and survival”.
Interestingly, the above justification fails to define what constitutes the “necessities of life and survival” that prompted these Liberians to lost their citizenship. As it stands, this justification is left to individual interpretation which in itself raises a red flag as to what are the real intentions of our four honorable senators, Cletus Wotorson of Grand Kru, Jewel Howard of Bong County, Abel Massalay of Cape Mount County, and Sumo G. Kupee of Lofa County. In their justification, these senators deliberately fail to mention how many Liberians are affected and the harm that is impacting Liberia due to the lack of “dual” citizenship law. One would think that these senators would have gather the relevant data of not only stating the number of Liberians affected, but specifically name the harm that the Republic of Liberia has endured or is enduring because she lack dual citizenship laws. In his letter sent out to the leadership of the Grand Kru County Development Association in Americas, or GKCDAA, Senior Senator Cletus Wotorson made no mention of the level of support such law has in Liberia, but based his reason for this law from what he called “substantial listing from overseas”.
In quoting the The Alien and nationality laws of Liberia in the preamble for their bill, the senators did not mention the part that states that the loss of one’s Liberian citizenship is not perpetual, in other words, you can get back you Liberian citizenship after it has been lost by re-applying. A process that takes about two years. If the only reason behind this so called “Dual” citizenship law was to enable Liberians who lost their Liberian citizenship to regain it, why don’t the senators introduce an amendment that would shorten the time to regain your Liberian citizenship to at six months from the time you have re-applied? But instead they are introducing a bill in which those who previously renounced their Liberian citizenship can have their cake and eat it. Please note also that since the 2005 elections, there are more Liberians returning to Liberia rather than leaving, and that majority of Liberians who left or fled the country due to the war did not acquire foreign citizenship.
The senators claimed the framers of the Liberian constitution never “contemplated, intend that, as a consequence of the events surrounding our civil conflict, our people should endure the perpetual hardships of refugees and the attending economic destitutions; as at the time there was no foreseeable end to the carnage and the hardships of the war in Liberia”. This is very, very interesting. There is no where in the world framers of constitutions based their writings on future negative occurrences. Constitutions are written underneath the most optimistic atmosphere, with the assumptions that all the provisions in the constitution will be a held to. Can you imagine if the framers of constitutions were thinking about every negative event while writing a constitution? The reason why Liberia finds herself in a senseless war was due to the violation of the constitution, and the remedy prescribed by the framers for those who violated the constitution is punishment by law not creating new laws to legitimize the violation of the constitution. Those who took up foreign citizenships knew at the time that they were violating the Liberian constitution, but went ahead any way. The senators admit in their introduction that 250,000 Liberians were killed, but not one person is currently being held accountable, but then turned around and try to use the misery of the departed to justifies an un-necessary law.
While the constitution gives the National Legislature of Liberia powers to amend the citizenship laws of Liberia but must be done in a way that it will not be inconsistence with the constitution of Liberia. The Liberian constitution sets two conditions upon which one is a Liberian citizen. (a) Those who were citizenship when the constitution came into force, b) and that only people of Negro decent can become citizen of Liberia through birth and naturalization. With this in mind, the constitution also states that all law regarding Liberia’s citizenship must be designed to “to preserve, foster and maintain the positive Liberian culture, values and character.” This proposed law will undermine, not preserve foster and maintain the positive Liberian culture, values and character.
Any Liberian that is allowed to have dual citizenship will have split allegiance between Liberia and the other country. Certain Liberian cultures and laws are in conflict with those of other countries. For instance, Liberia has two sets of laws, western and customary laws. There is a high degree of certainty that Liberia’s customary laws are in direct conflict with the United States and many other countries. Liberians who are citizens of another country while maintaining his or her Liberian citizenship will definite violate Liberia’s laws and cultures in order to keep his and her foreign citizenship. In essence, this will not foster and maintain the positive of Liberian culture, values and character that is required by the Liberian constitution. In fact if this bill goes through and becomes law, the next step will be to destroy those cultural elements of Liberia to prevent any consistency with the laws of those countries who citizenships these Liberians have. As you can see, this is the tip of the iceberg. The proposed dual citizenship is like an inch, let it pass, they will asking for a yard, then a mile, the next thing you know Liberia as we know it will disappear in oblivion. This is why this bill must be resisted at all costs.
Another argument raised by the proponents of this bill is what happens to children of Liberian parents born outside Liberia? The Alien and Nationality laws of Liberia already addressed that. These children are Liberian citizens if they were born at the time when their parents were Liberian citizens. A child can not lose his or her Liberian citizenship because the parents naturalized in another country. After carefully reading the current citizenship laws of Liberia one will find many safeguards that can address any of the concerns before us today, this is why this proposed dual citizens bill is not necessary to which these four senators and their supporters are unable to argue on the basic of national interest but offering excuses and reasons that are too personal. Liberia’s development should not rely on a handful of Liberians who by their own choice dumped their own country’s citizenship. It will be a devastating to our country, and will be setting a terrible precedence to change our laws to satisfy the interest of a very few. This law must be rejected by the National Legislature or veto by the president. The proponents of this law have failed to convince us by offering real and legitimate reasons, especially in the form of statistical data to realistically determine the harm being done to our country without this law, or the benefits it will bring when it becomes law.
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