There is a lot of gossip in history and a lot of propaganda slips into the
reporting. Sometimes the historian is at the service of a nationalist agenda, a
nationalist point of view on the lineage of the founding fathers, an agreeable
point of view which makes an art out of creating the kinds myths and the
wisdom they convey as things for us to believe in.
Somewhere else it was said that the vocal cyberspace are naturalised
foreigners who have no chance of impacting on the situation by casting their
votes.
This is how far we’ve come, in Sierra Leone and soon all naturalised citizens
may become MPs, but not president. Meanwhile it’s good news for the
erstwhile disenfranchised Diaspora:
(this just popped up in my mail:
” Dual Citizenship becomes effective in Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone's President recently signed the Dual Citizenship bill into law. This
bill allows Sierra Leoneans who have acquired the citizenship of another
country to retain or reinstate their Sierra Leonean citizenship.
The parliament of Sierra Leone passed the amendments to the 1973
Citizenship Act in November 2006, which would allow Sierra Leoneans to hold
dual nationality. However, the bill only becomes law, after the President
grants his assent. The Sierra Leone Network (SLN) with some persistence was
recently able to contact the President's office to confirm that, he has now
granted his assent to the amendments of the Citizenship Act by signing the
document.
The SLN will like to take this opportunity to congratulate the many other
compatriots who have been working publicly and behind the scenes for years
now on this very important issue. The SLN believes those Sierra Leoneans
and friends alike, played a major role in lobbying parliament to sign this bill into
law but it was just as important to have the President sign the bill. The SLN's
Advocacy Committee under the able and dynamic leadership of Mr. Oluniyi
Robbin Coker, and Amara Omar Kuyateh, the SLN's President in 2006, worked
in close collaboration with the Chairman of the Parliamentary Legislative
committee Hon Eddie Turay, and the Speaker of the House, Edmond Cowan, to
amend the verbiage of the draft legislation. The SLN together with the
Center for Constitutional Rights and Development engaged the services of Mr.
Maurice Garber, Esq., to do a legal review of the draft amendments to the
1973 citizenship act and to make recommendations on relevant changes to
the draft legislation.
Old Bill vs. New Bill
The original bill contained language stating, "That any person of Sierra
Leonean parentage who carries a foreign citizenship and is past the age of
majority (age 21) was automatically deemed to have lost their Sierra Leonean
Citizenship."
The amended legislation now allows Sierra Leonean citizens to retain or be
automatically restored to their Sierra Leonean citizenship. The draft
legislation had previously proposed that those who wished to regain Sierra
Leone Citizenship should do so through a cumbersome and subjective
application process. Parliament in its wisdom has eliminated that process.
Lobbying Activities
In March 2006, Oluniyi Robbin Coker and then current President of the SLN,
Amara Omar Kuyateh, personally visited with the Chairman of the Legislative
Committee and Speaker in Sierra Leone. Also present at that meeting was
Attorney Kevin Metzger, based in London, UK, Ms Assie Bangura, Mohamed
Serry (SLN members based in Freetown), and Dr Peter Turay, of the Sierra
Leone Diaspora Network - London, UK.
In addition, the SLN organized a worldwide petition over the Internet enabling
Sierra Leoneans in the Diaspora to protest against the proposed loss of their
birth and constitutional rights as Sierra Leonean citizens. Approximately 750
signatures were collected during the duration of the online petition.
Result
This development will open up doors for many Sierra Leoneans to contribute to
their motherland in many different ways that was not necessarily feasible in
the past. And this opportunity would lend good things to Sierra Leone as more
and more of the now new or reinstated citizens will contribute invaluable
resources from a combination of cash, productivity and in-kind perspective. A
key benefit that accrues to Sierra Leone will be the ability of previously
disenfranchised Sierra Leoneans to own free hold property in the Western
Area, thus making investment more likely and more secure.
The SLN believes that the collaboration and unity that members of the
Diaspora demonstrated during this campaign significantly affected the
successful result of the new bill. We in the Diaspora must continue to utilize
our influences and know-how to make a positive impact on our beloved
country Sierra Leone. Sometimes it just takes the belief that it can be
done! “
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