Liberia’s president has signed into law a bill that amends the country’s aliens and nationality law.
The new law, signed last Friday, permits dual citizenship by allowing Liberians to hold on to their citizenship after acquiring a second nationality. Also significant is that it allows individuals to claim Liberian citizenship through their mothers…
What have the reactions been?
There are Liberians who contend that the bill should have done more. Robtel Neajai Pailey, a Liberian scholar-activist, told Al Jazeera that the dual citizenship bill “advances the aspirations of Liberians abroad without fundamentally addressing the anxieties of Liberians at home”.
Pailey, an assistant professor in International Social and Public Policy at the London School of Economics, also said it could entrench domination by the elite as it “shields political entrepreneurs from competition by barring dual citizens from elected office without protecting the country from divided loyalties by banning dual citizens from holding sensitive appointed positions related to national security”…
