THIS week, I thought of expounding on Part Four, Article (18) of the recently released Draft Constitution primarily because a concerned reader emphasised their contribution on it following last week’s publication titled “Draft law reflects people’s will”.
Emma Silwembe Sablerolles commented via text and a voice-call to my mobile phone that Article 18, which is the clause concerning dual citizenship, should be upheld in the next Constitution of Zambia.
“Greetings James; thanks for the published opinions on the Draft Constitution. My comment is on Article (18) and my contribution is that dual citizenship is upheld in view of children born multi-racially,” Emma wrote.
“Children born multi-racially will be forced to choose between parents and I find that unfair because these kids are equally loyal to the nation in which they were born,” she said.
Emma stated that there should be a clause to protect multi-racially born children of Zambian decent and under no circumstance must they be denied their birth rights.
Article 18 (1) of the Draft Constitution states that; “a citizen shall not lose their Zambian citizenship by acquiring citizenship from another country”.
It further states in 18 (2) that; “a citizen who ceased to be a citizen, before the commencement of this Constitution as a result of acquiring the citizenship of another country, shall be entitled to apply, as prescribed, to the citizenship board of Zambia for citizenship on that person.
Globally, Pakistan allows dual citizenship with only 16 other countries namely; Australia, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy.
Others are Jordan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The late President Michael Sata (MHSRIP) once said amending the law to allow dual citizenship had its consequences such as having more Zambians and jobs taken away by other nationalities living in the country.
Mr Sata advised Zambians living abroad to return home and compete for jobs with their compatriots, saying that this was in the interest of the Zambians.
In last week’s edition, I contended that the said provision should be revoked from the final draft Constitution as it infringed on a particular person’s loyalty to their nation of origin.
I was speaking from a point of view that any Zambian was free to learn, live and work in the Diaspora but their allegiance should remain here because loyalty can never be divided.
I think if the dual citizenship clause was passed, it would give Zambians the privilege for them to obtain citizenship of whatever country they saw wish, probably in the name of looking out for greener pastures.
Zambia can only be developed by the indigenous people and not people from the outside whose preoccupation may be to gather as much wealth as they can before trekking back to settle in their birth places in Asia, Europe or the Americas’.
Indigenous people have the interest of their county at heart and they are the ones who can contribute meaningfully to national development using the natural endowment.
Passing the dual citizenship clause will also mean that Zambia will end up losing talent in fields such as sport because people gifted in that area will have to choose either to represent Zambia or not.
Emma is right to point out the need for laws that protect multi-racially born children and Government should consider a legal framework in this regard.
The Draft Constitution recognizes and upholds the multi ethnic, multi racial, multi-religious and the multi-cultural character of the nation and from this angle, a framework may be crafted to protect multi-racially born children.
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