Ghanaian Citizenship – A follow up

I didn’t think I will be visiting this topic again so soon, but after reading the comments to my opinion article of Wednesday, March 30, 2011, I thought a follow up was in order. For those who didn’t get a chance to read the article and are interested in reading it, I am including a link here for your benefit.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=205895

I failed to address the fact that no one put a gun to my head to make me become a citizen of another country. This is something that I struggled with for two years after I became eligible to become a citizen. I could have lived here all the rest of my life without becoming a citizen. Looking at conditions in Ghana at the time, I decided that it would not be the best thing I could do for my family back in Ghana. When I look back, I am sure that it was the right thing to do. If we are true to ourselves, we will agree that Ghana has been through some tough times in our recent past. My becoming a citizen of another has among other things, benefited my family and I will argue, Ghana. More important point though is that at the time I became a citizen of another country, there was no law to take my Ghanaian citizenship from me. If there was, I would have weighed it against the benefits. A good government that cared about the people would allow adequate time for people in a predicament like mine to “correct” their situations.

On who is a citizen, where you are born and the citizenship of your parents (the mother or the father or both), have been the basis of birth right and for determining citizenship in many places. My point is that there should be an absolute benefit for the country before we make laws that will undermine this birth right. Mind you I said the country, not the government.

At this time, I understand that dual citizens cannot run for MP or President. Can a dual citizen be appointed into a president’s cabinet? There have been some African countries who have appointed foreign citizens into their cabinets because of the unique qualifications that they had. All you have to do is listen to Mr. Henry Kissinger, former secretary of state under President Nixon to know that he was not a natural born American citizen. Are we, at this time, making the decision that from now on and into the future if a Ghanaian who has become a citizen of another country has skills that will benefit the country, we will not welcome his or her help for the country? Isn’t that a disservice to the country? It may benefit a politician, but it won’t benefit Ghana.

One of the comments on my article pointed out that we claim people on TV or other media as one of our own and turn around and take others’ citizenship from them. I didn’t fail to notice that Ghanaweb of Thursday, March 31, 2011 reported that “Walbeck can still play for Ghana.” This is someone who played for England just a few days ago. Is it OK for Walbeck to play football for Ghana and not be able to run to represent some constituency, if the constituency wants him to represent them? Should we let politicians write constitution to protect their interest and not the country’s? We should be steadfast in insisting that they show us the need for this and how it hurts Ghana if we remain citizens.

The constitution committee should look at the task ahead as a service to the nation. They should consider if what’s under consideration hurts or helps Ghana more than considering anything else.

There was a time when I thought that there should be a way for those of us in the Diaspora to contribute to Ghana. When I went to Ghana and saw the sprouting up of the Forex Bureau and all kinds of businesses with a marked Diaspora touch, I decided that we are doing our part and do not need to do any more. At this time, I think the government will do much better looking for ways to extract more from the Diaspora rather than alienate people with “tax”. As I have said, there are many ways to do this.

Though reluctant, I will dabble into this area. The most famous constitution is the American constitution. The preamble begins with “We the people”, meaning the people of America; not some government, are bestowing the power to make laws onto whomever. If rather than “We” Ghanaians, our constitution is based on “I” the government then the constitution is nothing more than powers being bestowed onto the government by some self interest authority.

The American constitution is somewhat based on the right of the individual. The government cannot infringe on this individual right unless there is a very good reason to. This is one of the reasons why there has been a fight over abortion for so many years. America has a high standard for taking someone’s citizenship from him and it involves a legal process.

By the way, America requires that a citizen resides in the country for at least 14 continuous years before he/she can run for office. This will meet the object of what Ghana seems to be doing with a constitution amendment. As I have said, it will not serve Ghana’s interest. It will be convenient for the politician.

By the way, is Ms. Samia Nkrumah a citizen? We all know she didn’t grow up in Ghana. She is also an Egyptian citizen by her mother’s nationality. I do not doubt for a second her patriotism. I also believe that she is doing a lot of good for the country. There are many others who can make similar contribution for our dear nation. Again, let us tread carefully.

Finally, though I have shied away from my personal life, I believe this life story will help those involved in this process see the real life consequences of decisions they make.

In 1993, I went home after a long absence. The new constitution that took my citizenship away was relatively new. I honestly felt that if I went to Ghana with a visa, then I would have accepted that someone had the right to take my citizenship away. I went to Ghana without a visa. At Kotoka International Airport, I got in trouble for my decision.

In a line in front of me was a white man who had arrived from South Africa. He was involved in mining according to his conversation. He arrived without a visa and the lady passed him on to a more senior immigration officer. I was up and in a similar situation. The lady passed me on to the same officer. The immigration officer processed the man ahead of me and said bye to him. Next, he took my passport and said I do not have permission to enter Ghana.

Initially it looked like he was trying to put some fear in me so that he could shake me for as much as he wanted. I must say I spoke to him in Fante from beginning to end. When it looked to him like I wasn’t sufficiently scared, it turned serious. He stopped the plane from taking off for its next destination because he was going to put me back on it.

No amount of talking would dissuade him. Many people around were begging him to let me go. He wouldn’t have any of it. Finally some man who looked a little older than both of us and seemed to me like a more senior officer at the airport started yelling at this guy telling him not to do that. He said even a stranger, when he comes to your home, gets offered water and asked why he has come.

The immigration officer remained silent for a period of time and then said he gets mad if he sees Ghanaians who have gone to other countries and have become citizens of that country. He processed me and finally let me go. I wasn’t done dealing with immigration, but what happened following that event will only take space and your time and won’t contribute much to the point I am making so I won’t go into it.

Fast forward to 1995. My father died in Ghana and I had to go bury him. I didn’t have much time to prepare. I needed to renew my passport so I called the passport office in NY and they said if I need it right away, I had to come there.

I got to the office at 8:00 a.m., having traveled for two and a half hours that morning to get there. I had my passport renewed before noon that day. This time, I was only interested in going to bury my father rather than fighting a philosophical fight over my citizenship so I decided to get a visa and concentrate on the task I was going to Ghana for. I then went to the Ghanaian consulate in NY. I explained to the officer that I was traveling the next day. I had my ticket to show him. When he finished processing my papers, he told me to come back the next day. I tried to explain to him that I am traveling the next day. He angrily told me that he said I should come back tomorrow. If I don’t want to do that, I can take my passport and go. I had no choice.

I made plans to go back on my two and a half hour journey and get everything ready and return to pick up my passport and head straight for the airport. My flight was at 6 p.m. The consulate closed at 3 p.m.

The next day, my wife drove me to the consulate. I thought I left in a good time to get there. In NY, I got caught in a busy traffic. When we got a little closer, I decided I would do better getting out of the car and walking there since it was so close to 3 p.m. I instructed my wife to keep going round and round a certain route until I came back.

When I got to the front desk, it was right at 3 p.m. by their clock. I explained to the man that I was there to pick up my passport. He told me that they were closed and that I should come back the next day. I begged and begged and begged. He just said no. Finally someone who was standing past the reception signaled behind his back that I should walk in. I did. By the time I got to the officer who processed my passport, the man at the reception had called him on the phone and told him not to process me so the officer told me to go and settle whatever the problem was between me and the man at the reception before he would even listen to me.

To make a long story short, it took me until 6 p.m., the time of my flight to get through to them. I called the airline and they said they could get me on a 9 p.m. flight. My wife and I went to the airport and waited there until my flight. I had to stay overnight in London because I missed my connecting flight from there to Ghana.

I asked for a 6 a.m. wake up call. When the phone rang, I thought 6 o’clock came a little too soon. I looked at the clock and it was 5 a.m. It was my wife on the other end of the phone. There had been an accident and two of my children were dead. Another one was in the hospital. I had to miss my father’s funeral and go back to bury my two children; 10 and 9 years old.

When my wife left the airport, she traveled for a bit and then the lights on the car went out. She stopped at a shop near the highway and they told her that the alternator was out. They told her that there was a mechanic up the road who can fix it in the morning and there was a hotel right next to the mechanic where she could stay the night.

She called her mother and arranged for her mother to pick up the kids for school in the morning and pick them at lunch time since it was the last day of school and they were getting out early. Her mother was going to take them to camp, a place we spent most weekends, and my wife would meet them there when she got back. On the way to the camp, my mother-in-law had an accident and the kids died.

How does Ghana play in this? If I had got my passport at 3 p.m., I would have made my 6 p.m. flight and my wife would have had more than two and a half hours of daylight to get back even if the alternator broke. Though a stretch, if I didn’t have to get a visa, I would have made my 6 p.m. flight.

In many different ways, government decisions affect people’s life. It is worth focusing on what helps the country rather than our own personal interests. We will never go wrong that way.

I want to thank the readers and implore you to please take a keen interest in this topic. After all, it’s our country.

Tony Pobee-Mensah