Ghana: There’s no constitutional basis to disqualify someone on dual citizenship – Lawyer
Published: 8/Jan/2021
Source: Ghanaweb.com
Law activist and academician, Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare aka Kwaku Azar has once again penned a position challenging the explanation given by some individuals on the position of the law on dual citizenship.
The outspoken lawyer in his article explained that allegiance is not citizenship.
He says Ghanaians must reject attempts to disqualify any Ghanaian from Parliament because there is no constitutional basis for such disqualification.
According to him, these same politicians opportunistically interpreted allegiance as citizenship, even though a careful reading of the Constitution and common law suggests otherwise.
“Take, for instance, Ghana’s Article 94(2)(a) on allegiance, which was in effect even when the Constitution barred dual citizenship. How does any serious person equate an address to people who owe allegiance to other countries to be the same as an address to a null set?”
“It is an abomination to bar citizens from participating in the political space but if the framers wanted to bar dual citizens then Article 94(2) would have been drafted along the lines of Australia’s section 44(i), which provides that any person who is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, OR is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or citizen of a foreign power.”