Namibia to clarify issue of Namibian citizenship

Source: Southern Times, 25/07/2016

Windhoek – Children born by non-Namibian parents, who are on temporary
residence permits, will no longer be allowed to register as Namibian
citizens unless both parents are permanent residents in the country,
according to Home Affairs Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana.


Iivula-Ithana tabled Namibia Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament
last week that seeks to amend the Namibian Citizenship Act of 1990 to
make clear the meaning of the term ordinary resident in relation to
the acquisition of Namibian citizenship by birth of a person born in
Namibia by parents who are not Namibian citizens.


In her motivation speech, Minister Iivula-Ithana said the amendment
has been necessitated by a new development in interpretation of the
constitutional provision pertaining to citizenship by birth,
particularly the interpretation of the term `ordinarily resident` that
appears in Article 4 of the Namibian Constitution.


Article 4 of Namibian Constitution, speaks about Acquisition and Loss
of Citizenship. According to Article 4 (1), "the persons shall be
citizens of Namibia by birth: (a) those born in Namibia before the
date of Independence whose fathers or mothers would have been Namibian
citizens at the time of the birth of such persons, if this
Constitution had been in force at that time; and (b) those born in
Namibia before the date of Independence, who are not Namibian citizens
under Sub-Article (a) hereof, and whose fathers or mothers were
ordinarily resident in Namibia at the time of the birth of such
persons".


However, the Bill proposes that the term "ordinary resident", in
relation to the acquisition of Namibian citizenship by birth by reason
of being born in Namibia after the date of Independence by a father
and mother who are not Namibian citizens, exclude parents on
employment permit, visitor`s entry permit and parents who are refugees
at the time of birth of the child.


Iivula-Ithana said since the term ordinary resident or residence is
neither defined in the Constitution nor in the Namibian Citizenship
Act No. 14 of 1990, it has been left open to interpretation.


"The open to interpretation nature of this term can be seen by the
different opinions and rulings of the Attorney General, High Court and
Supreme Court. It is ideal to have the situation like this; in fact,
it is catastrophic, it causes implementation problems," she
said.


Iivula-Ithana said the fact that the Supreme Court did define what
ordinary resident/ordinary residence means just indicates that it does
not mean permanently resident, and a number of factors must be
considered.


She said once the Bill becomes a law, it will be easy for the
officials to determine ordinary residence when it means permanent
residence because one would need to present a certificate for the
permanent residence issued in terms of the Immigration Control Act of
1993.


"I am aware that the Constitution prohibits our deprivation of
citizenship to the extent that we render people to be
stateless.


I do however hasten to add that in many cases these children would not
be otherwise stateless as they ought to follow the non-Namibianship of
their parents. Additionally, as citizens by birth they would be
entitled dual citizenship which result in double allegiance," she
said.


Currently, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration is only
issuing birth certificates indicative of citizenship by birth to
children born by foreign parents who are holders of permanent
residence permits.


Those permit are issued in terms of the Immigration Control Act No. 7
of 1993. Those born to foreign parents on employment, study or
visitor`s entry permits and refugees were issued with non-Namibian
birth certificates reflecting that they are born in Namibia but are
not citizen by birth.