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| African students outside of IBM Headquarters (Photo credit: citizenIBM) |
Africans have been migrating to neighboring countries and overseas in
greater numbers than before. They have been taking up citizenship in
countries other than the country of their birth. This new African
Diasporas are now increasingly calling for
Dual Citizenship.
Dual Citizenship is a situation where an individual can be a citizen of
two countries. The call for Dual Citizenship has been growing in Africa
from the African voluntary Diaspora over the past few years. The
unprecedented voluntary movement of African people within the continent
and outside the continent is being facilitated by increased access to
mass transportation due to globalization. The African Diasporas voices
have not fallen on deaf ears. Currently, nearly half of the African
nations offer Dual Citizenship for their Diasporas. The African Union
has now also officially recognized the economic and social benefits of
engaging the African Diasporas. The AU has gone as far as to recognize
that the involuntary African Diaspora that left Africa in bondage (i.e.
African-Americans, Afro-Latinos, Afro-Caribbeans etc) is the sixth
region of the African Union’s organizational structure. In the spirit
of Pan Africanism, countries like Ghana have extended citizenship rights
to the involuntary African that wish to repatriate to Ghana. In
Southern Africa, the call for Dual Citizenship can be heard in the
countries that formally comprised the
Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, namely, Nyasaland (Malawi), Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
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| English: Map of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
In the 1960s Malawi was at the forefront of dissolving the colonial
Federation that brought modern day Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi as one
nation under British colonial rule. Whilst the hatred for this
federation existed in all three countries, the resistance to the
federation was heard the loudest in Malawi. Malawi was not a settler
colony so Malawians feared white settlers moving in to its borders.
Malawians were also being used as a source of labor for Zimbabwe and
Zambia and this led to the underdevelopment of Malawi. Most of the farms
and industries in the federation were being formed outside of Malawi’s
borders. Therefore Malawians were very opposed to the federation. It was
little Malawi, a country one third the size of both Zambia and
Zimbabwe, that was persistent and instrumental in successfully ending the forced
federation by 1964. It is therefore very ironic that years later, due to
globalization, the people of the same countries are all calling for
Dual Citizenship - a distinct step towards becoming more unified. Migration between the three countries has been profound and large settlements of migrants from the other two countries can be found in each country. In Zambia, Dual Citizenship has already been tabled in
parliament and the first draft of their constitution includes a
provision for Dual Citizenship. In Zimbabwe, a constitutional overhaul
was also supposed to usher in Dual Citizenship as an unalienable right.
It appears that the provision has left aspects of Dual Citizenship open
to subjectivity in the final draft of new constitution. The draft
constitution recognizes that Zimbabweans cannot lose citizenship by
acquiring foreign citizenship but adds that Dual Citizenship would be
regulated by Acts of parliament. For the majority of Zimbabweans, it
means that they can have Dual Citizenship. For Zimbabweans born outside
of Zimbabwe though, it may be an area of concern depending on future
acts of parliament. Lastly, in Malawi, the call for Dual Citizenship is
still in its exploratory phase for the government. No formal bill or
constitutional amendment has been tabled to parliament although various
organizations and individuals have promoted it in the past. The current
call for Dual Citizenship there is being pushed forward by
non-governmental advocacy groups. This includes the
Campaign for Dual Citizenship,
a transnational advocacy group based in the U.K. that has an online
petition form and is also petitioning the government for Dual
Citizenship. Half way across the globe, the
Malawi Washington Association is also advocating for Dual Citizenship through the
Movement for Dual Citizenship
initiative. The Malawian Diaspora hopes to have a bill considered in
parliament like in the case of Zambia and Zimbabwe. Dual Citizenship
however is being promoted in all three nations, largely due to the
persistence of their respective growing Diasporas.
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| English: Flag of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The concepts of citizenship and Dual Citizenship in particular, have
become problematic for African nations under the nation-state system.
Traditional African cultures in the region allowed for Dual Citizenship.
During the pre-colonial era of kingdoms and chiefdoms traditional
leaders had accepted Dual Citizenship. Belonging to a particular
political unit was not as rigid as it was under the nation-state system
that was introduced in the colonial era. As an example, if one was a
Chewa through one parent, one would also be recognized as a Bemba
through the Kingdom or Chiefdom of another parent. This means that
multiple citizenship across groups were possible. The modern day
movements toward Dual Citizenship for this region are therefore also
rooted in pre-colonial African tradition. Relaxing of rigid citizenship
laws for Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe is therefore a step towards
addressing the malaise of the colonial borders in the region. Although
the idea of the federation itself was not bad with respects to promoting
unification of nation-states, the federation itself was intended to
serve the particular interests of the colonial government. It was also
forced the new political units in Africa that consisted of disparate
people to in to yet another forced political unit. Dual Citizenship
however, will serve the interests of the governments and citizens of the
three countries respectively. It will also bring together Africans in a
voluntary manner. Dual Citizenship can therefore be considered as a
viable alternative to persistent calls to redraw Africa’s borders
altogether. It will help strengthen the region’s economic viability. For
the modern day nations of Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, fighting against
unification is no longer relevant in a globalized world where regional
blocs are being formed. Taking steps toward Dual Citizenship is in the
region is a step in the right direction.
