Botswana citizenship quota set very low
Published: 9/Jun/2016
Source: Sunday Standard (Gaborone)
By Tlotlo Lemmenyane
Botswana has one of the lowest rates of citizenship granted, proportionately, in comparison to any other African country. At the ongoing Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sessions, it was brought to the fore that Botswana has a citizenship quota set at 200.
Member of Parliament Guma Moyo expressed concern at the current citizenship quota and quizzed the Labour and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary, Pearl Matome as to why Botswana has a low quota despite the ministry receiving numerous applications.
“It would appear that we are reluctant to bring in foreigners,” said PAC member Guma Moyo, further questioning the PS on the basis of the quota that government has established regarding the approval of citizenship.
According to Moyo, the quota set at 200 is very low and hasn’t been reviewed for a couple of years now despite the number of citizenship applications increasing. He stated that to his understanding the Minister receives about 1000 applications from the Committee from which a limit of 200 is approved. This quota means that every year the Minister gives approval to a maximum of 200 people to obtain citizenship. Moyo who was clearly displeased questioned whether the limit warrants the expenses incurred by the Committee for the process of selecting qualifying applications.
Read further: http://www.sundaystandard.info/botswana-citizenship-quota-set-very-low