An exploration of the implementation of the dual citizenship act in selected governance institutions of Zambia’ Lusaka district
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Date
2020
Authors
Namadula, Brendah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The world in the recent past has witnessed a big wave of migration due to globalisation which has forced many citizens to naturalise in their destination countries. The trend has seen many governments changing their citizenship laws to tolerate dual citizenship. The aim of the study was to explore the implementation of the Dual Citizenship Act in six selected governance institutions of Zambia’s Lusaka District. The study was conducted at the MoHA, NA, HRC, TIZ, PCD and MoJ. Methodologically, the study utilised a qualitative descriptive research design. The study used semi-structured interviews and document analysis as data collection instruments. Using a critical case and maximum variation, purposive sampling, the study collected data from a total of 14 respondents from the selected institutions. The study comprised of (6) officials from the passport and citizenship department ,(3) officials from National Assembly,(2) from Human Rights Commission,(2) from Transparency International Zambia, and (1) from Ministry of Justice. The findings of the study have shown that the passport and citizenship Department has started registering citizens for dual citizenship through the notice of acquisition of citizenship and bestowal of citizenship. The study also found that the officials talked to were acquainted with the concept citizenship and dual citizenship. Further, the study established that since the enactment of the Act in 2016, the act had not achieved much economic benefits from its registered citizens however, it was perceived that people after acquiring dual citizenship would invest in the country. Further, the study found that the Citizenship Board of Zambia from august 2016 to June 2019 received 364 applications for dual citizenship. Out these, the citizenship Board approved a total of 83 applications for bestowal and 142 applications for Notice of Acquisition bringing the total of approved applications to 225.A good number of them were not approved due to some irregularities. The study identified lack of awareness, lack of knowledge, delay in security vetting, lack of information from the Zambian missions abroad, lack of honesty from applicants, failure by applicants to provide accurate information, and incomplete application forms as some of the institutional related barriers to the proper implementation of the dual citizenship Act. Based on the findings above, the study concluded that the Ministry of Home Affairs, is registering citizens for dual citizenship however, not much of sensitisation was being done based on the findings which showed rejected application forms due to inaccurate information submitted by the applicants. The study recommends that the Ministry of Home Affairs scales up awareness and sensitisation programmes. It should also consider reducing the cost of applications and also decentralise the sittings of the Citizenship Board of Zambia to other parts of the country.
Key words: Diaspora, diplomatic, statistics, decentralise, security vetting.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Dual citizenship--Zambia