Tanzania’s Position on Dual Citizenship Hurts Its Own Interests As an Ambitious Nation. Maybe It’s High Time We Shift Gears?
Published: 21/Aug/2024
Source: The Chanzo Initiative
By Steve Williams
Tanzania is the only East African Community nation that doesn’t allow dual citizenship in adulthood. The Tanzanian government has repeatedly rejected the notion of dual citizenship, asserting that such an arrangement would foster inequality and confusion among Tanzanians.
Currently, Tanzania prohibits its nationals from holding dual citizenship, except for individuals under the age of eighteen who acquired multiple nationalities at birth. Upon reaching adulthood, these individuals automatically forfeit their Tanzanian citizenship unless they renounce all other nationalities.
Children born abroad are allowed to keep birth and Tanzanian citizenship until the age of 21, after which they must choose either birth or Tanzanian citizenship. Failure to do so will result in the loss of Tanzanian citizenship.
This policy has been criticised as cruel and unfair for the Tanzanian diaspora. In 2022, six Tanzanians sought to contest the policy in constitutional case No. 18 of 2022. They challenged the Citizenship Act, focusing particularly on sections that criminalise dual citizenship, arguing that their constitutional rights are being violated, petitioning the court to declare the articles invalid because they infringe upon their inalienable natural right of citizenship by birth.
Senior officials have long resisted the notion and asserted it is not for the majority. Home Affairs Minister Hamad Masauni said most Tanzanians don’t want dual citizenship. The attorney general also submitted objections to the case filed by Tanzanians abroad.