There is a lot of gossip in history and a lot of propaganda slips into the 
reporting. Sometimes the historian is at the service of a nationalist agenda, a 
nationalist point of view on the lineage of the founding fathers, an agreeable 
point of view which makes an art out of creating the kinds myths and the 
wisdom they convey as things for us to believe in.

Somewhere else it was said that the vocal cyberspace are naturalised 
foreigners who have no chance of impacting on the situation by casting their 
votes.

This is how far we’ve come, in Sierra Leone and soon all naturalised citizens 
may become MPs, but not president. Meanwhile it’s good news for the 
erstwhile disenfranchised Diaspora:
(this just popped up in my mail:

” Dual Citizenship becomes effective in Sierra Leone 
Sierra Leone's President recently signed the Dual Citizenship bill into law. This 
bill allows Sierra Leoneans who have acquired the citizenship of another 
country to retain or reinstate their Sierra Leonean citizenship. 
 
The parliament of Sierra Leone passed the amendments to the 1973 
Citizenship Act in November 2006, which would allow Sierra Leoneans to hold 
dual nationality. However, the bill only becomes law, after the President 
grants his assent. The Sierra Leone Network (SLN) with some persistence was 
recently able to contact the President's office to confirm that, he has now 
granted his assent to the amendments of the Citizenship Act by signing the 
document.   
 
The SLN will like to take this opportunity to congratulate the many other 
compatriots who have been working publicly and behind the scenes for years 
now on this very important issue.   The SLN believes those Sierra Leoneans 
and friends alike, played a major role in lobbying parliament to sign this bill into 
law but it was just as important to have the President sign the bill.  The SLN's 
Advocacy Committee under the able and dynamic leadership of Mr. Oluniyi 
Robbin Coker, and Amara Omar Kuyateh, the SLN's President in 2006, worked 
in close collaboration with the Chairman of the Parliamentary Legislative 
committee Hon Eddie Turay, and the Speaker of the House, Edmond Cowan, to 
amend the verbiage of the draft legislation.   The SLN together with the 
Center for Constitutional Rights and Development engaged the services of Mr. 
Maurice Garber, Esq., to do a legal review of the draft amendments to the 
1973 citizenship act and to make recommendations on relevant changes to 
the draft legislation.   
 
Old Bill vs. New Bill
 
The original bill contained language stating, "That any person of Sierra 
Leonean parentage who carries a foreign citizenship and is past the age of 
majority (age 21) was automatically deemed to have lost their Sierra Leonean 
Citizenship." 
 
The amended legislation now allows Sierra Leonean citizens to retain or be 
automatically restored to their Sierra Leonean citizenship.   The draft 
legislation had previously proposed that those who wished to regain Sierra 
Leone Citizenship should do so through a cumbersome and subjective 
application process. Parliament in its wisdom has eliminated that process.   
 


Lobbying Activities
 
In March 2006, Oluniyi Robbin Coker and then current President of the SLN, 
Amara Omar Kuyateh, personally visited with the Chairman of the Legislative 
Committee and Speaker in Sierra Leone.  Also present at that meeting was 
Attorney Kevin Metzger, based in London, UK, Ms Assie Bangura, Mohamed 
Serry (SLN members based in Freetown), and Dr Peter Turay, of the Sierra 
Leone Diaspora Network - London, UK.   
In addition, the SLN organized a worldwide petition over the Internet enabling 
Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora to protest against the proposed loss of their 
birth and constitutional rights as Sierra Leonean citizens. Approximately 750 
signatures were collected during the duration of the online petition. 
Result
This development will open up doors for many Sierra Leoneans to contribute to 
their motherland in many different ways that was not necessarily feasible in 
the past. And this opportunity would lend good things to Sierra Leone as more 
and more of the now new or reinstated citizens will contribute invaluable 
resources from a combination of cash, productivity and in-kind perspective. A 
key benefit that accrues to Sierra Leone will be the ability of previously 
disenfranchised Sierra Leoneans to own free hold property in the Western 
Area, thus making investment more likely and more secure. 
The SLN believes that the collaboration and unity that members of the 
Diaspora demonstrated during this campaign significantly affected the 
successful result of the new bill. We in the Diaspora must continue to utilize 
our influences and know-how to make a positive impact on our beloved 
country Sierra Leone.   Sometimes it just takes the belief that it can be 
done! “

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