Dual Citizenship

Tribalism talk in Zambian politics is registering high on the news media and social media Richter scales at the moment. It seems tribalism is a problem that as society, we love shoving under the carpet and pretend it doesn't exist. Racism talk has also been trending highly with accusations and counter accusations regarding who is racist and who isn't.  Our society is not as inclusive as we like to pretend it is.

It is common for many of us to refer to ourselves as more Zambian because we have dark skins and others like Guy Scott as less Zambian. Maybe the constitution not providing for the likes of Guy Scott to contest presidential elections is at fault in building fences among us. It is rarely explained that Guy Scott cannot contest the position of republican president because his parents were non Zambian, as opposed to him being a white Zambia. I must then assume his daughter is eligible for the presidency. I am not a constitutional lawyer so I won’t delve much into that. However, I must state here that there is a very dangerous xenophobic behavior that is present in most Zambians.

Talking of the constitution, I hope the technical committee on the constitution making process will soon be done with their work even though the document will not be scrutinized by the public. One of the terms of reference for the committee was to also review the Mung'omba constitution review report, draft Constitution, which in my view was a progressive draft constitution in the face of globalization and 21^st century challenges. One of the 21^st century challenges that the Mung'omba draft constitution addressed was the issue of Dual Citizenship.

 

The South African Citizenship Act provides for retention of South African citizenship,
 PRIOR to the acquisition of a foreign citizenship. 

I must admit here that I haven’t thoroughly read the Mungomba draft constitution in its entirety even though the post newspaper widely distributed the copies. I may be one of the many Zambians that largely want to wait for some civil society leader to read through and then when they speak we just side for or against. Just one of the many Zambians still deeply inundated in folklore as the most effective means of communication. It is easier for me to listen to someone talk than to read. Needless to say, I will endeavor to talk of dual citizenship, even without the full information of what is contained in the draft constitution.

Multiple citizenship is a status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a citizen under the laws of more than one state. Multiple citizenship exist because different countries use different, and not necessarily mutually exclusive, citizenship requirements. Technically each nation makes a claim that this person be considered its national. For this reason, it is possible for a person to be a citizen of one or more countries, or even no country.

Currently, a person who holds Zambian citizenship cannot be a citizen of another country. If they obtained another nation’s citizenship, it would be as good as denouncing the Zambian citizenship. However in my humble opinion, we should as a country move from this 20^th century belief that a person cannot hold passports of two nations.

In the 21^st century where the world has become one global village, gaps created by nationalities must be bridged. The most obvious reason that comes to mind is the ease of travel to both countries. A Zambian who holds British passport may not have a lot of problems travelling to EU countries as much as a Zambian who only hold a Zambian passport. One may take advantage of international agreements between countries (visa free travel to certain countries that do not have an agreement with the other country).

In addition, such a person may access dual opportunities like high paying jobs in both countries. On the other side of the coin, a Government benefits from dual citizenship because its citizens who also hold citizenship of other countries help promote a country's image and culture abroad. If you have two passports, you may have more access to the world.

Truth be told, many Zambians in the diaspora (some of whom are economic refugees) love this country as much as anyone else. It is not even far from the truth to say they love Zambia more than some of the Zambians resident in Zambia. I have deliberately used the term ‘economic refugees’ to mean those Zambians who left the country for ‘greener pastures’. Most left the country for a more fulfilling career outside of the country. They definitely managed to get a pay cheque bigger than the one they got back home.

Most have really done well and do help in the development of Zambia by educating relatives back in Zambia. The truth is that most can do better. But the bigger pay cheque abroad after some time becomes just as big as the smaller pay cheque they escaped from back home. Therefore it is important to ‘empower’ them to be able to earn more. This empowerment can only come when they are able to compete for the same opportunities that citizens of those countries are able to compete for. Dual nationality or citizenship is the answer here.

This brings me to the story of Christopher (not actual name), a friend of mine I attended high school with. After high school, Chris went to the University of Zambia where he only studied for one semester and he got a bursary to study in Manchester. In Manchester, Christopher studied for a Barchelors degree in Economics for four years after which he elected to extend his stay in England by enrolling for a masters degree programme with a major in public finance.

It took Chris slightly under 3 years to complete his masters programmes since this time he was paying for his education alone. He worked in three different places as a waiter and weekends worked as an assistant beverages manager at a coffee shop at old Trafford the stadium for Manchester united football club. In the time Christopher was serving coffee and alcoholic beverages, most Briton friends of his he attended university with had gotten employed by some of the upmarket banks in Manchester. After completing his masters programme, Christopher worked a further three years serving alcohol and coffee until he gave up the search for a better paying job in England and came back home.

The story was narrated to me by Christopher himself when I met him late last year at one of the lodges in Lusaka. He was there to negotiate for one of their beautiful halls to be the venue of his wedding and I also happened to be visiting the lodge for the same reason. He is now working as an economist with one of the government departments in Ndola.

 

Zambians in Australia celebrating October 24th Independence day

Maybe Christopher's story isn't the most striking. Most Zambians that follow Chelsea football Club of London England will be aware of two youth players with the sir-name Musonda. The two Musondas are actually children of former Zambia National soccer team player Charles Musonda. The two teen aged boys are great prospects with the talent they exhibit. Alas, we may never see them in Zambian colours. They are likely to represent Belgium where they were born. It is easier for them to get working permits and contracts at teams such as Chelsea if they hold a passport of an EU country.

If you dispute the kind of benefit of having even just one of your nationals playing for a top team like Chelsea, then just look at the Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba. Drogba was born in France from Ivorian parents and lived his entire life in France but having been snubbed by the French coaches; he decided to play for Ivory Coast. It was recently announced that Drogba who holds French and Ivorian passports is building 5 hospitals in Ivory Coast. Footballers do make enough money in Europe to be able to build five hospitals. Another Ivorian, Yaya Toure gets paid a reported £ 300,000 Sterling a week. You can do your own calculations to find how much that is in Kwacha, then if you so wish multiply that by 4 to arrive at his monthly earnings.