Dual Nationality Bill: What Economic Gains for Cameroon.

Cameroon is preparing to adopt a new law on dual nationality, giving Cameroonians the right hold nationalities in more than one country.

The bill is currently being debated in parliament and will most certainly go through without any objection as this has been the cry of many Cameroonians for so long. You can read the full draft bill in pdf here.

Dual citizenship or dual nationality refers to an individual being a citizen of two countries or a legal status by which a citizen of Cameroon becomes a citizen of two countries. Dual citizens have two passports which essentially makes them live and travel freely within their native and naturalized countries without immigration constraints

Prior to the bill being signed into law, Cameroonians who have taken up foreign nationalities for various reasons have since been bedeviled by a 1968 law striping any Cameroonian citizen of his Cameroonian nationality once he picks up the nationality of any alien country.

What have been the economic and intellectual consequences of the outdated 1968 law on the development of the country and what is set to change with the eminent introduction of the proposed bill are some of the issues handled in this write up as I take a look at some Sections of the Bill relating to dual nationality.

To begin with, the proposed new bill wastes no time in writing wrong of section 31 of the 1968 law which states that “Cameroon nationality is lost by:

a)        Any Cameroon adult national who wilfully acquires or keeps a foreign nationality;

b)        Renunciation under this law;

c)        any person who, occupying a post in a public service of an international or foreign body, retains that post notwithstanding an injunction by the Cameroonian Government to resign it.”

Sections 11 & 12 of the new bill states “11: This law shall apply to all Cameroonians including those residing abroad. 12: A Cameroonian shall be bound by national law even though he is considered by another State as having another nationality.” Section 103 explicitly paves the way for its citizens who’ve been deprived of Cameroonian nationality to regain such.

It states in SECTION 103: “Persons who acquired Cameroon nationality by virtue of Law No. 68/LF/3 of the 11 of June 1968 bearing on the Cameroon Nationality Code and lost it as a result of the acquisition or the conservation of another nationality by virtue of section 31 of the above law, shall be deemed to have retained that nationality, unless a declaration of renunciation in due form was made under the same law.”

This is in apparent recognition of the need to correct the deficiencies of the outdated 1968 law and pave the way for the participation of ALL Cameroonians, in the national and economic development of the country including those who had taken up second nationalities. Hitherto, the participation of such persons in the socio-economic development of the country has mostly been limited to foreign remittances to relatives mostly for upkeep or to attend to urgent family needs. Their ability to invest back home was stifled by uncertainty as they were no longer considered Cameroonians but all of that is at the verge of changing.

World bank statistics show that foreign remittances to Cameroon have grown from US $3.4M in 1979 to a staggering US $345.4M in 2018, a growth rate of 10,047% in 39 years or an average annual growth of 257.6% over the same time period.

Going by these statistics, one can project that the this upward trend is going to increase exponentially once this bill is signed into law as Cameroonians double up from sending money to solve family problems like sickness, death celebrations or payment of fees to actually carrying out business ventures. This, with the potential to create more jobs, reduce unemployment and improve the economic development of the country.

Dual nationality is all part of a global trend in today’s interconnected economies thanks to globalization and countries like Mexico, Philippines and India are constantly seeking to reap its benefits as dual nationality has the potential to broaden the economic base of a country while fostering trade and investments between the countries of the dual citizens. Countries like the US go as far as offering foreigners who invest up to US $500,000 in the US the possibility of obtaining US citizenship if they so desire.

Should this bill be voted by parliament and signed into law by the president, Cameroon will be catching up with countries like Ghana, which had since 2000 realized the economic and political importance of its diaspora community to the socio-economic and political development of the country and moved ahead to enact a law on dual citizenship.

If this bill is passed by parliament and signed into law, one would expect these foreign remittances to go over the roof as more Cameroonians regain their nationality and feel more comfortable to invest home. For Cameroon to fully reap the economic benefits of this, the business atmosphere needs to be made more attractive to investors as the country is currently ranked a distant 167 amongst 190 economies according to the 2019 World Bank report on Ease of Doing Business, down from 166 in 2018.

The intellectual capital of the country is expected to grow as many Cameroonians of the academic milieu who took up other nationalities and have been limited by the 1968 law will now find space in the academia. Depoliticizing the academic setting would help attract the needed talents back home.

The coming of this law could see a reversal of the brain drain syndrome Cameroon and African continent at large has been suffering from. It could bring about a reversal of the situation leading to “Brain Gain”.