No dual citizenship for president—Commission
The Special Law Commission on the Review of the Malawi Citizenship Act has recommended that some public top officials should not hold dual citizenship.
Some of the top officials recommended not to have dual citizenship are the president and his or her vice.
Speaking when he presented the findings and recommendations in Lilongwe, Chairperson of the Commission Justice Rezine Mzikamanda said, if adopted, other offices to be affected include Cabinet ministers, Speaker of the National Assembly, Chief Justice, members of Parliament, Attorney General and Chief Secretary to the Government.
Others are any office in the Malawi Defence Force, any office in the Malawi Police Service, any Office in the Department of Immigration, the Ombudsman, Chief Elections Officer, Director of Public Prosecutions, Auditor General and Law Commissioner, among other offices.
The commission states that, among other things, for a person to qualify for dual citizenship, he or she must have made social-economic or other contributions to Malawi.
“The commission found that dual citizenship is increasingly becoming popular for a variety of reasons. The commission recommends recognition of dual citizenship status to certain citizens when the board is satisfied that the person possesses rare skills and capacity for technology transfer from which Malawi can benefit,” he said.
The findings and recommendations of the commission are contained in a report which includes a draft Bill.
The report will be submitted to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs for presentation before Cabinet.
Later on, the Bill will be presented to Parliament as a government sponsored Bill. Additionally, the report contains the Immigration (Amendment) Bill.
Mzikamanda has said the commission commends the Citizenship and Passport Bill and the Immigration (Amendment) Bill to Parliament and the people of Malawi for enactment into law.
On her part, Law Commissioner Rosemary Kanyuka commended the commissioners for demonstrating a high sense of integrity, commitment and hard work in executing their task.
