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Monday, 31 July, 2000, 15:06 GMT 16:06 UK
What or who determines your nationality?
The issue of your nationality and whether you can stand for the presidency of your country has raised its problematic head in Africa once again.
In Zambia the vice-president may not be able to contend for the top job after allegations that he is in fact a Malawian, because he hasn't lived in the country long enough. Is it right that you must be a third generation Zambian to stand?
What dictates your nationality: your place of birth; your parents' place of birth or simply where you choose to live?
This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.
I still remember the words of Jamaican reggae star Peter Tosh; "nothink where you come from, as long as you are a blackman you are an African". By this he meant all blacks wherever they are, are Africans. The political argument over nationality is another way to illustrate the short-sightedness of those who call themselves our leaders.
The country called Cote d'Ivoire today is not even 50 years old, constitutionally speaking. It is made up of peoples and tribes who had belonged to many prior kingdoms and empires in pre-colonial Western Africa. The Voltaic and Malian peoples, who make up a sizable portion of the Ivorian population, have also enormously contributed to the leadership and economic prosperity of Cote d'Ivoire. Why then exclude Alassane Ouatara in this shameless way? Wake up, Africa!
It is wrong in a pluralistic society like Africa to trace a nationality of presidential candidates because a quarter of the Africa population is stateless due to partition of the continent during the Berlin Colonial Conference of 1884. For instance, we have Somalians in Kenya and Somaliland, Acholi in Sudan and Uganda, Kakua in Zaire, Uganda, and Sudan, and the mixture of tribes in the Great Lakes region of Africa to mention but a few. These tribes are not recognised as legal citizens in their respective countries. All this causes the civil wars and conflicts throughout the continent. Therefore, nationality should not be a requirement for presidency, but human rights, merit, and a belief in democracy.
Where in the developed world would you see a dual citizen become president? I don't foresee a half Italian/ British person becoming the PM of Britian.
I am quite happy that these rules have been submitted to the people who are sovereign and determine the rules to run the country. The rules have been voted by Ivorians to govern Côte d'Ivoire and only Côte d'Ivoire. These rules must then be applied.
As a conclusion one must acknowledge that despite all the political tensions at the moment, everyone is doing his business regardless of his nationality. So I don't really think the issue of presidential elections is sufficient for Ivorian people to be treated as xenophobic.
We are witnessing a very foolish referendum in Ivory Coast. They are once again proving how Africans are so backward and behind the times. What a very, very foolish article in their Constitution.
The people should freely determine what constitution they want. If they prefer that their President's parents must both be nationals then that must be respected. However, the problem comes when some dictator mischievously inserts such a clause in the constitution in order to prevent a particular rival from contesting elections. This is what should be condemned.
T. Togba, USA
Our identity is our identity - it is something that follows us forever. However, it should not undermine our unity and our progress as a whole. Our parents' identity should not be the only qualification to be a leader in one country as long as the children are born and identify themselves as citizens of that particular country. Besides that, what makes the person a citizen of that country is the love and the sacrifices that he or she wants to render to the birth country rather than to their parents' country.
The USA today is a world power because of the quality of its immigrants from different parts of the world. Africans are still fairly young and should learn from this example - open your borders! You need more qualified and well-trained people to run the countries not the mediocrities we've seen the last forty years in independent Africa.
In the light of all this, does anyone think a union of African states is still a feasible idea?
Africans seem to think it is alright to discriminate against non-Africans. However, when the tables are turned - they are the first to scream "racists" and "racial discrimination". Next time everyone will just reply: "serves them right".
It's sad to see that this issue of nationality has not only been limited to the presidential candidate but also to foreign nationals residing in the country who are now victims of prejudice from even their very own neighbours.
The issue is not one of a foreigner or immigrant rising to become president. No country, it seems, tolerates that - developed or developing. It is the extent to which greedy African leaders trivialize the issue to gain advantage that is worrisome. It shows that when it comes to misrule, the real problem facing Africa is its undemocratic leaders twisting credible as well as incredible situations for personal gain.
It is the greed of politicians who want to capitalise on the issue to further their own interests. When Yoweri Museveni was accused of being of Rwandan origin, no one ever thought that the two countries would fight each other in Kisangani.
At least his opponents were proven wrong because he could not dare to command an army against his purported country of origin. Let us forget this rubbish and concentrate on Moamar Gaddafi's idea of United States of Africa where an African leader can be chosen from any state just the way Clinton from Arkansas leads America.
Gastone Rusiha, Rwanda
This is a legal issue falling under the jurisdiction of Private International Law. Very briefly, every country should legislate a law concerning nationality.
The current nationality issue in Cote d'Ivoire is another example of Africa's, especially Black Africa, political immaturity. Instead of rewriting the Constitution, a common practice witnessed time and again in Black African nations in transition, it probably would have been simpler and less acrimonious had the original Constitution been amended and "grand fathered" so only future presidential candidates would be affected by the new parentage requirement.
What about the cross border tribes like the Maasai and Somali groups in Kenya? They have been there longer than the borders and manipulating constitutions to fit incubents desires is wrong. We are what we choose to be regardless of which border lines cross our homesteads.
Wangeci Gatei, Kenya
That is nonsense. Let the people of Ivory Coast choose their president. What Robert Guei is doing is a nonsense. It is a nonsense that all the efforts and the energy of the Ivory Coast be put to stop Ouatta to achieve the presidency.
Wasn't he a prime minister for the same country? Let then the people decide who will govern.
We should not be proud of such behaviour and we should discourage it to prevent other ill-intentioned opportunistic individuals from doing the same in another poor African country. We should therefore support and encourage the people of the Ivory Coast for taking steps to prevent it from happening to them.
I think in order for you to became a president of a country you should be born in that country, because where you were born and raised will forever be in your heart, even if you lived in another country longer.
The issue of nationality should be
determined by the law taking into
consideration the tradition of the society.
The problem in Africa is, every law is
crafted to benefit the political elite and
to eliminate their opponent from politics.
As former Prime Minister Dr. Ouattara has proven himself as much an Ivorian as any other candidate running for office. General Guei is a dictator and has hurt the country by enforcing a clause that will further hurt the Ivory Coast in future elections. A large percentage of the people are from outside of the Ivory Coast and having one parent Ivorian is good enough for the election but having also proven one's self in past political positions makes the argument even stronger.
The issue of nationality in Africa is a complex one. On the face of it, it seems that barring a first generation citizen from holding high office is unfair. But those who think it is, should think of the black Americans in the US or the Aborigines in America and Australia. They may not be directly barred from running for the office of the President or Prime Minister of their respective countries, but they are barred by other non-constitutional means.
I think it is very disappointing that the press gave this nationality issue any importance. It is obvious that Ouattara's proven qualities as a leader terrifies his opponents. Is it a crime to have lived outside one's country of origin? I was born in Nigeria and have lived outside Nigeria for some years now and nothing, absolutely nothing and nobody can tell me tomorrow that because I lived for 30 years outside the country I cannot contest for the presidency!!!
Black African is one category of human race. Then your country, ethnic group, clan, family, self. All ego. I met an old English lady who put my feet down. The world belongs to all of us. Why strife will rule forever is because of the silly affiliations. And we are talking of a United States (countries) of Africa! Sheer nonsense and myopic. We were not ripe for independence. We got more patriotic foreigners than 'natural-borns'.
Mojisola Terry, Sierra Leone
It is important for nations to recognise the immigrant population. However, when it comes to the issue of the presidency, I think Africa is still in its infancy when it comes to being ruled by someone born elsewhere. It all boils down to trust verses wealth embezzlement. An immigrant has his roots elsewhere. It is the fear that should that country's interest conflict with the interest of the immigrant's country of origin, there is no doubt in my mind that that president will have second thoughts.
The Ivory Coast political situation is a good example of how politicians are just willing to do anything possible to stay in power and dismiss the will of the people. What's happening in the Ivory Coast draws the autopsy of democracy in most of Africans countries.
I am not an Ivorian so it is not my business. We must respect the decision of the Ivorian people on the matter.
The feasibility of nationality by ethnic lineage is questionable in Africa. The multitude of tribes in a country, on the one hand and others which are divided into different nations, makes it difficult to base nationality on ethnic lineage anymore. I think ideological belonging and economic benefits, are the two emerging solid reasons for nationality.
Africans have been faced with ethnic and traditional chaos since the invasion of the colonialists. Dual nationality should not be an issue, your place of birth and your ethnic background identifies your nationality according to most African traditional beliefs and practices.
Abdulai A. Bah, Missouri, USA
What a surprise to note that an African leader has sought a solution to a problem by resorting to such a petty tribal criterion! The next step is to exploit that as a reason for yet another civil war in a country that was, until recently, a ray of hope for us.
Parents determine one's nationality, and if they happen to be of different nationalities (for any number of reasons) then it should be the father's nationality that the children take on.
A larger issue is the ease with which constitutions in Africa nations are rewritten to support short-term political needs.
Seyi Aiyegbusi, Nigeria
The issue of the nationality of any presidential runner is not only an African one. For example, in the USA, one of the most advanced democracies on earth, only natural-born Americans can be candidates for the presidential elections, which excludes Allbright and Kissinger for example.
Many factors can determine one's nationality. However, when the issue of nationality involves the presidency, I believe only a patriot, whose sole interest rests within that country, can become its president. For that reason we have to define the word patriot. If indeed this means one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests, then I believe Alassane Ouattara cannot stand in the Ivory Coast presidential election. He was once a national of Upper Volta and I cannot say for sure where his true interest lies.
It is sad in these times when many African countries are trying to unite that we have this situation come up. This is not good for "African Unity."
The immigrant population, especially in the Ivory Coast, has brought the nation, recognition and wealth, much like European immigrants who helped shape the backbone of the USA.
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