Mutharika hints on dual citizenship for Malawi: Reviewing Citizenship Act

President Peter Mutharika has said government is pushing for the review of the Citizenship Act so that Malawians can start exploiting the benefits of dual citizenship.

Mutharika speaking when he opened parliament on Tuesday said the review of Citizenship Act will ensure government consider to allow Malawians to hold dual citizenship.

“Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the 2015/2016 fiscal year, Government will review the Citizenship Act in order to, among others, consider dual citizenship and eliminate discrimination based on gender,” said Mutharika, who had spent over 40 years in the Diaspora.

Mutharika is on record saying that in 1994 on the instruction from the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General he came up with a paper on dual nationality, but the issue was shelved when the then Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Wenham Nakanga, died a few months later.

Currently, Malawians who take up citizenship of other countries must relinquish their Malawian citizenship.

If legalized, dual citizenship will allow Malawians who become citizens of other countries to move back and forth between the two involved countries any time they want without going through the rigorous visa process.