I wrote last year about the tussle going on in Ghana over dual citizenship. A reinterpretation of citizenship law now means that if you want dual citizenship you must be a Ghanaian first and then seek a second citizenship. This means that my husband can be a dual citizen because he was Ghanaian first, and Australian second. But my daughter cannot because she was an Australian first.
It seems now though, that the situation is becoming even more convoluted.
Friends of ours - a mixed race couple one European, one Ghanaian - travelled overseas last year for the birth of their child. Knowing the issue of dual citizenship, they applied for, and received a Ghanaian passport for the child to return to Ghana on. There could be no issue therefore with the child not being a Ghanaian first. Except, that they are now being told that the passport they received (from the Ghanaian Embassy) is not valid, and will not be renewed when it expires, because you can only be a Ghanaian citizen if you are born on Ghanaian soil.
If it's true (and anyone bothers to enforce it) this could raise some interesting issues. How many thousands (millions?) of Ghanaians are out there who were born beyond Ghana's borders and naively believe that because their parents are Ghanaians, and they have Ghanaian passports, that they are in fact Ghanaians?
photo credit: xedos4
