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Fears over dual citizenship no longer valid
2007-08-09 09:29:54
By Editor
The questions of dual citizenship in Tanzania has for the past fifteen years or so drawn up heated debates, some quite formal while still others have taken the grapevine course.
In the end of it all, two groups have emerged in the course of time, supporters and antagonists.
As we roll along, we have however discovered that time could be the best teacher. In the past, as we had strongly clinched on the socialist side of the Cold War, matters related to dual citizenship were seen as touching on sensitive national security issues.
Partly for similar reasons, a decision was taken to relocate the capital city from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, lest sea-borne imperialistic stooges easily find some unknown field days and topple over the state.
Despite the billions spent to date to develop Dodoma as capital city, chances are still slim that it will ever become one. By good luck, the state is still safely seated in Dar es Salaam.
Of late however, an increasing number of countries are changing their citizenship laws from a single nationality stance to recognising dual citizenship.
The progress towards clinching dual citizenship has steadily been gaining thrust as nations become aware that their national security may not necessarily be jeopardised by mere application of dual citizenship under the present circumstances of intense globalisation and technological advancements which have melted territorial boundaries and surely merging the world into a global village.
The realities of the day forced the government to appoint a technical committee to seriously look into the possibility of introducing dual citizenship in Tanzania whose report is said to be ready and has been presented to the cabinet for scrutiny.
Insiders averred that Zanzibar, and by extension the Union factor, are holding back the fast-tracking of the issue to some final conclusions.
Members of Parliament have called for an immediate dual citizenship draft bill while the report is still under the cabinet`s microscope.
Indeed, lack of dual citizenship law in Tanzania can be shown to be an economic punishment of sorts. Groups of Tanzanians in Diaspora would very much wish to invest back home and boost the economy, certainly not as foreign investors but as nationals.
These groups, composed of Tanzanians who left the country in the early `70s and ’80s are said to have amassed USD2.5 billion wealth and expertise and are ready to invest it at home, but the citizenship law is preventing that from happening.
While the citizenship law punishes the indigenous, the same is not for brethrens of Indian stock who enjoy trans-global lifestyle across two hemispheres, as they can conveniently claim dual lives in England, Canada, and the United States.
That would give them the leeway to run a mercantile store in Dar es Salaam with their nephews, and work to earn more money as labourers abroad while remitting back home more surpluses to recapitalize their businesses.
We should pick a leaf from India, a country that has developed a multi-billion dollar outsourcing industry partly because of the influence of dual citizenship.
Small businesses and entrepreneurs always benefit by outsourcing their services to professional service providers or freelancers as this saves them time and money.
The money saved due to outsourcing can be effectively and successfully utilized to focus more on strategic and core business functions.
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