MONROVIA, Montserrado – On Thursday, the Senate began discussions on a potential constitutional amendment to permit dual citizenship.

Cape Mount’s Senator Varney Sherman, the chairman of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, said allowing dual citizenship would not be harmful; rather, it would promote harmony and development.

Sherman said the practice is accepted in nearly all African countries today. Indeed, the majority of African countries now permit some form of dual citizenship, according to an Open Society Foundation-funded research.

Sherman added that research has revealed that dual citizenship enhances social harmony and stimulates economic development. He added that dual citizenship could facilitate investment in Liberia by making it easier to acquire and develop real property.

“In Ghana, [a] significant portion of the major real property developed [is] owned by non-residents who invested in Ghana,” he pointed out.

He said the right to dual citizenship is necessary, given that there are hundreds of thousands of Liberians who fled the country because of the prolonged civil conflict and the significant decline of the economy, which limited job opportunities in Liberia.

He noted that in the U.S., almost all jobs within the federal government are restricted to individuals holding U.S. citizenship. Sherman said some Liberians were forced to acquire citizenship of another country because that was the only way they could afford to get education or training.

“There is every reason why Liberians should nullify these laws against dual citizenship and assume the modern term by giving dual citizenship to Liberians,” the Cape Mount senator said.

He called the existing law “cruel” and “inhumane,” pointing out that a Liberian citizen can automatically lose their citizenship when they acquire citizenship in another country “without due process.”

The senator advocated that citizenship rights of a person derived from birth within Liberia or by the citizenship of one or both parents should be made inalienable and that the legislature should ensure that no law deprives this category of Liberians of their citizenship.

However, Sherman proposed limitations as a compromise to the dual citizenship question. He said a Liberian who holds a citizenship of another country should not be eligible to be appointed and elected as president, vice president, speaker, deputy speaker, pro temp, minister and deputy minister of foreign affairs, minister and deputy minister of state, minister and deputy minister of justice, head and deputy head of the Central Bank of Liberia, minister and deputy minister of finance, and heads of autonomous agencies.

Sen. Daniel F. Naatehn of Gbarpolu welcomed the proposed dual citizenship amendment and said it is time that Liberia examines the proposal to ensure that the right decision is made.

He noted that limitations on dual citizenship were important and necessary.

Naathehn added that people who have stayed out of the county for long periods needed to know the demographics of the country and understand their needs to administer the affairs of the people.

“You have reawakened our sleeping minds to make the right decision,” the Gbarpolu senator told Sherman.

Sen. Oscar Cooper of Margibi thanked Sherman for the presentation but encouraged the senators of the need to invite experts, traditional leaders, and the public to give their input on the matter to make a decision that is beneficiary to the citizens.

Nimba’s Sen. Prince Johnson accused the majority of his colleagues in the Senate of illegally possessing dual citizenship. He said dual citizenship is not what Liberians need now, as the priorities for Liberians are education, roads, and removing ex-combatants from the streets.

Featured photo by David Stanley