“Malawian Midfielder Gets SA Citizenship” here goes the common news headlines. Then the story follows “the Malawi born soccer pro and captain of that country's national team the Flames has officially turned South African...” We all come to know when footballers renounce their Malawian citizenship because of their celebrity status .
Now the talk is on Tamika_Mkandawire, born to a Malawian father and English mother, who play for Leyton Orient in England. Mkandawire has waited for the past five years for a decision on whether he would be allowed to keep his British citizenship and still play for the Flames. But Malawian authorities have said that the 25-year-old defender will not be given preferential treatment (A right decision but why such a straight forward decisions took five years?). Well if the law was applied selectively on Mr. Mkandawire then we could officially be a lawless nation.
Do you remember Ernest Mtawali? At one time he was asked to renounce his South African citizenship if he was to play for the Flames. Mtawali chose to hang up his international boots!
Today’s posting is not necessarily to talk about footballers who renounce their citizenship. The rambler wants to draw your attention to thousands and thousands of Malawians professionals who change citizenship. Of course you don’t come to here about them unless if they were close to you. These people range from doctors to academics. These are highly skilled people the country needs.I was told at one time that there were more Malawian doctors in Manchester only than in Malawi! The Rambler only hopes the situation has changed!
Before I delve deep into the posting I should ask, should we blame those who change citizenship? The rambler gives a big “No” for an answer. I fully believe that migration of any kind is forced. In any case the old Book will show you that migration has been part of human beings from the very beginning of Genesis. All we need to do as a country is to find a way of accommodating those in Diaspora, who are still passionate about Malawi, to participate in the development of the country.
Professionals with international exposure are the highly skilled people that Malawi needs. These are people who can significantly help in the social services and development of the country. Goodall Gondwe and Mutharika himself are some of the examples. The Rambler appreciates their contributions to the nation although they came back after they had given their very best in foreign lands. Anyway the nation is still enjoying the residue!
There are many professionals who are stuck as citizens of foreign nations not because they want to but it is all for economical reasons. One Canadian “Malawian” nurse told me that she embraced the Canadian citizenship “for convenience but at heart I am a Malawian and that cannot change.” Dare you browse "Nyirenda" in facebook. There are loads of Nyirendas in the US alone chiwelengelo cha Usisya kulengelatu!
The present situation is awkward for Malawians with other citizenship. When they come to visit their passports are stumped few days to stay. I also suppose any Malawian who accepted the citizenship of another country automatically lose their right to work, vote, or own certain types of property in Malawi. As a “developing” country we can do better to court these people.
The rambler therefore pleads to the powers that be to revisit (with the aim to amend) the archaic citizenship and nationality law - Malawi Citizenship Act, dated July 6, 1966. This is not only for the good of Malawians stuck abroad but also for the good of the country.
I therefore advocate a new citizenship law allowing dual citizenship. This is good to Malawians who are still interested in Malawi but have embraced other citizenship as they will be allowed to maintain dual citizenship with unrestricted rights to work and own property in Malawi.
Inu mukuti bwa?
By the way I hope that Mutharika and his government are keenly listening to the raging Taiwan versus Mainland China debate. Out of the current noise there is lots of goodies to ponder on. Mutharika so far has acted wisely by not being haste in his decision. Of course the more he waits now the more agonizing not only to the Taiwanese people but also to the interested Malawians. You have to make a decision, Sir. You are risking our intergrity as a nation.
The Rambler is happy though that he contributed in fueling the debate with no one to censor him!. The Internet is good for democracy!
08 January 2008
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3 comments:
These are the issues the National Assembly needs to be debating, not the petty politicking and name-calling we hear from that house. Malawi is losing out by not adopting the dual-citizenship school of thought. With soccer as an example we will go nowhere if Tamika and other players in the same situation are not given a chance to have dual citizenship. Look at how Franceuledo dos Santos originally from Brazil, transformed Tunisian soccer! Malawi used to beat Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt in the past, but now even Lesotho is a mountain to the Flames. I support dual-citizenship...
I for one do not support the concept of dual citizenship. Should we renounce our Malawian citizenship because presently Malawi is poor? What about if Malawi's status changes in the future? Will these guys revert back to Malawian citizenship? If Tamika or indeed Mtawali were for us, then they will take up Malawian citizenship or otherwise they should not be our flag carriers while they are 'half' Malawians!
Now, on Malawians who get 'permanently' stuck in diaspora... Imagine if every trained professional deserts Malawi for greener pastures, who will develop Malawi? Who will man our hospitals, schools and colleges, etc? I find this to be a chicken and egg problem. Can we develop Malawi while we are permanently outside Malawi? Or we need to be in Malawi to develop Malawi?
I also find it very strange to hear very critical comments on development issues on Malawi in some fora on the Internet by what I call 'patriotic cybercitizens' of Malawi. These are Malawians who have been permanently out of Malawi for so many years and they just follow Malawian issues through the Internet but yet they would like to pretend that they have Malawi's issues at heart. My opinion is that if they really love Malawi, they should come back to develop our poor motherland.
My point of thought is a call to all Malawians kuti chonde tikapanga maphunziro athu konse kumene tili tibwerere tikatukule Malawi
I hope you also understand that this is a general problem that is not only facing Malawi but Mama Africa in general. Who will develop Africa if all her children are 'running' away from it?
On the China issue, should we be happy 'permanently poor' friends of Taiwan? I think China is promising TRADE more than just AID.
Thanks for bringing in this debate!
Yebo.
Thank you Thank you Thank you Bennett for your comments.
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