Michaela and Julia Tomfeah with Ambassador Gina Blay
‘Respected Academic Prof Stephen Kwaku Asare popularly known as Kwaku Azar has taken time to ‘educate’ Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, Madam Gina Blay on her announcement of two ladies having become what she calls ‘Ghana’s Dual citizens’.
In a post sighted by MyNewsGh.com, Kwaku Azar says “the headline can be forgiven but the Ambassador is expected to know that there is nothing like “Ghana’s Dual Citizenship”, he wrote.
Prof Azar was reacting to news that Michaela Tomfeah and Julia Tomfeah according to a tweet by Ghana’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany, Gina Blay, became the first Germans to receive “Ghana’s dual citizenship” which was awarded to them by Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration. Michaela and Julia Tomfeah will now be recognised as citizens of Ghana and enjoy the same rights, privileges and responsibilities any other Ghanaian enjoys.
Prof Kwaku Azar who has long been an advocate of dual nationality stated that “Ghana can only give Ghanaian citizenship. Ghana has no power to give “Ghana’s dual citizenship.” There is nothing in law called Ghana’s dual citizenship that can be given by Ghana”, he educated Mrs Gina Blay, whose tweet sparked the discourse.
“A citizen of another country who becomes a Ghanaian is automatically a dual citizen not because GHANA has given her “Ghana’s dual citizenship” but because she becomes a citizen of multiple countries that allow their citizens to do so. So too is a natural-born citizen of Ghana who becomes a citizen of another country by naturalization. The other country does not give the natural-born Ghanaian their dual citizenship.” He added.
Read the rest of his write-up
In fact, in many cases, dual citizenship accrues at birth. For instance, the child of a Ghanaian married to a Nigerian is a dual citizen at birth. Neither Ghana nor Nigeria gives this child dual citizenship. Rather, each country confers its own citizenship and the child is a dual citizenship by the operation of laws in the two countries.
So the Ambassador’s tweet that “two entrepreneurs from Munich are the first Germans to receive Ghana’s Dual citizenship” is meaningless.
It may also be misleading since people like Kevin-Prince Boateng and many others are natural-born Ghanaians who are also Germans.
I suspect that the Tomfeahs, just going by the names, have Ghanaian ancestry. If so, then they may even be natural-born Ghanaians and the naturalization process that they went through may be void.
Anyway, what happened to the assurance that the government would soon place before Parliament a bill that would allow Ghanaians, who hold other citizenships, to hold public office?
128/1820 is a scam and a sham that must not be tolerated by any civilized polity.
Da Yie!
