26 June 2000. Secretary of State for the Interior, Department of State for the Interior, ECOWAS Avenue, Banjul. ON DUAL CITIZENSHIP It is significant to convey to you concerns expressed by Gambians abroad regarding dual citizenship. It will be necessary to get the view of your Department of State on this matter. According to Section 8 of the Constitution, "Every person who, immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution, is a citizen of The Gambia, shall, subject to this Constitution - "(a) continue to be a citizen of The Gambia; "(b) retain the same status as a citizen by birth, by descent, by registration or by naturalisation, as the case may be, as he or she enjoyed immediately before the coming into force of this Constitution." Some Gambians argue that even though they are Gambian citizens their children are often required to have a visa to come to The Gambia and are treated like aliens. Quite a number of them question how Africans born in the United States are given Gambian citizenship because of their Pan African orientation even though they hold U.S. citizenship, they who find themselves in the U.S. are deprived of the opportunity to hold U.S. citizenship. I had taken the opportunity to quote section 10 of the Constitution for them to confirm that their children are actually citizens of The Gambia. I have also been referring to section 13, subsection (4) which indicates that: "Nothing in this or any other provision of this Constitution or any other law shall be construed as depriving, or authorising any person or authority to deprive, any citizen of The Gambia by birth or descent of his or her citizenship of The Gambia whether on account of such citizen's holding the citizenship or nationality of some other country or for any other cause." In this respect, it appears that the acquisition of another citizenship by a Gambian who has attained citizenship by birth or descent would not necessarily deprive him or her of Gambian citizenship. Most of the Gambians concerned felt that dual citizenship is an asset to a developing country; that countries like Lebanon, Israel and others with a large population that had migrated to other countries are benefiting from investments by their nationals who hold dual citizenship. They argue that the Gambian economy is currently very narrow in scope and cannot provide income generating activities to many of her nationals. Consequently, many Gambians are said to have migrated abroad with the view of broadening economic possibilities for themselves. In this vein, many of them are said to have accumulated quite a lot of resources that they would want to invest at home without necessarily abandoning the families they have established abroad. Some of them would like their children not to lose the advantages they have abroad for furthering their education but would also want them to know their roots and have concern in making their own contribution to the development of the country. It is, therefore, urgent for your Department of State to begin a sensitization programme on the status of such Gambians abroad. The fact that these questions are being raised with such enormous interest makes it urgent for your Department of State to look into the issue and come up with a definitive position on dual citizenship. Once this is done, it will be necessary to begin a sensitization programme so that Gambians abroad would know the extent and limits of their rights as citizens of this country. The motive for requesting for the actualization of dual citizenship accords with the national interest. It inculcates in the minds of each Gambian that while they pursue individual interests abroad, they can also serve the national interest. Your attention of this matter will be considered as a gesture in promoting the national interest. While anticipating that you will do everything to clarify issues, we remain. ............................................ Halifa Sallah. For: The Editorial Board. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------