Honourable Minister, Bernard Membe.
United Nations Declaration
THE 1930 Hague Convention declared “Every person should have a nationality and should have one nationality only,” On December 10, 1948 at Palais de Chaillot, Paris the UN General Assembly declared that no one shall arbitrarily be deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. Fast forward to over four score years, a good number the world’s countries have embraced the dual citizenship phenomenon in some shape or form. Like many with the growing groups of immigrants from Africa and specifically Tanzania, there is an increasing concern to reexamine the merits of the dual citizenship and the moment is now.
Original Reason for Dual Citizenship
Many opponents of the dual citizenship have posited that loyalty is the main problem. History has it that the main contention against dual citizenship has a diplomatic origin instead. In the days of yore, the rights of a citizen entirely depended on nationality and sovereigns could do as they please with their own. With the then laws if one had dual citizenship protecting a citizen of one country potentially faced challenges with citizenship of the other.
This then became an issue between sovereign nations and not the individual any more. A good case in point was when Germans went to America, gained citizenship and upon return they were prosecuted for absconding their military service national obligations. In such a case the American government would come to the defense of her citizen hence causing tension between the two countries. This problem has since been addressed by the application of the appropriate international legal framework.
Big Results Now (BRN)
In an effort to transition from a low to middle income country, Tanzania has adopted the Big Results Now (BRN) initiative. This Malaysian model that began in the year 2013-2014 is a comprehensive system of implementation of six key economic sectors. One of the priority sectors that can be positively impacted by the dual citizens is human capital development.
Harnessing the Power of the Diaspora to make Tanzania globally competitive
For long, the African continent has decried the immigration trend as mere brain drain. For over half a century many Tanzanians have migrated to the western world for many reasons but the leading one being education. As a result, today many highly skilled Tanzanians are scattered across the globe largely benefiting their local economies and masses instead of those of Tanzania. The Diaspora can play a big role in the human capital development aspect of the economy by transferring the knowledge they have accumulated for a long time.
Diaspora Impact on R&D and National Development
Some countries have decided to build technology parks in order to capture the expertise of the immigrants abroad and combine with the advantage of an erudite low cost local labor force. In order to do this, the Taiwanese government created the Hinschu Science-based Industrial Park back in 1980. This park created by the inspiration of the Silicon Valley and was used to attract the Thailand talent that was abroad.
Such examples are worth emulating so Tanzania can create an environment for her high caliber professionals to be incentivized to return home to work. Tanzania can use Diaspora bodies such as the Diaspora Council of Tanzanians in America (DICOTA) to work with the local entities to build the strategic partnerships to enable such a dream come to fruition. Many Tanzanians in the Diaspora occupy high positions in top universities and in Research & Development.
The Government of Tanzania using the Tanzanian professional relationships with host countries can host high level science and technology forums to further enable to growth of this industry. With dual citizenship, the returning Tanzanian experts can maintain close ties with the countries where they studied. These ties will enable the process to have continuity as they import opportunities to Tanzania. In doing so, they keep Tanzania up to speed with the global trends and latest research and development.
Research & Development
One might wonder why R&D, why during the Dual Citizenship debate? Technology progress plays a key role in the modern economy. It remains a central factor of competitiveness among the Tanzanian firms locally and globally. Working with the replete Tanzanian intellectual capital, the government can achieve her developmental goals at a much faster rate. Numerous life changing results of investment in Research and Development have been documented for years.
Fiber optics has impacted every aspect of our life from banking to education. With availability of such high bandwidth now, a Tanzanian medical doctor at John Hopkins can train other doctors or operate an ailing Tanzanian in Muhimbili (tele-health). Other results of R&D include the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computer Aided Design (CAD) which have all transformed lives and economies.
The technology gap between Tanzania and the developed countries needs no explanation. The availability of Tanzanian skills to help close the gap is replete. The debate of Dual Citizenship is not one of if but more of when it should be in place. The responsibility lies squarely on each one of us. As JFK once said “If not us who, if not now when?By the Tanzanian Community in Dallas, TX
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