Mwalimu-Koh Moses Blonkanjay Jackson (MsEd, EdM)
Founder/CEO-Diversified Educators Empowerment Project-DEEP
Thinking Thoughts
In my Thinking Thoughts, I pondered recent ecstasy resonating within circles over news that the Liberian Legislature had finally passed a dual citizenship bill. Accordingly, anybody who has at least one Liberian parent qualifies as citizen although they were born abroad, or hold citizenship in another country. Already, social media is flooded with accolades and applause in appreciation of a long-standing debatable issue since 1847. Notwithstanding, there are also concerns over whether the dual citizenship edict would unlatch a floodgate to approve the sins and vices that are already plaguing the nation-state or serve as an enhancement of its development agenda and give hope.
In spite of those concerns, the bill to open the floodgate for all and sundry to become citizens is now open, regardless of origin or skin color. The question then is “What are the merits and demerits? Will it be open for all kinds of vices and sins to gleefully glide into Liberia, or a catalyst for improving our current socio-political and economic status among the comity of nations?
Debates over the Citizenship Floodgate
For sake of the layman, a floodgate is a gate that can be opened or closed to admit or exclude water; it is also the last restraint holding back an outpouring of something unwanted, powerful or substantial. While a floodgate may be used to prevent illegal entry into a fold, it has both positive and negative sides. It could be positive as in Malachi 3:10 “Test me in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. It could be negative by a single successful lawsuit that gives other plaintiffs motivations to take legal actions for a similar reason.
You see, in July 1847, when the colony of former slaves declared its full-fledged nation status, it closed the gateway to foreign citizenship simply to avoid infiltration by its former slave masters via an edict that only “people of negro descent” or people born by black people could become citizens. As slaves on Western plantations, people with black skin color were not allowed to read and write; they were sold as properties and puppies to other white people; they were put to death or flogged upon their masters’ wishes. Concisely, they were not considered 100% humans but rather mere objects and properties.
It then came out of the fear of being re-enslaved that they inserted the “negro descent” clause and boldly rejected White citizenship to their newfound land of liberty. Understandably, this is why “This glorious land of liberty shall long be ours” became the fulcrum of their national anthem because no longer would a White man determine their existence as human beings. Albeit, there have been debates over this form of outright discrimination as Liberia stood among the comity of nations as the only country that openly discriminates against “White people” who are in fact, its principal benefactors.
The pros in the debates usually present the successes of neighboring African countries such as the Ivory Coast and Guinea where white people are citizens. The cons for their part, aver that were White people awarded citizenship, they would buy up all the land in the country and render original sons and daughters subservient; moreover, the dual citizenship law would usher in all kinds of crooks with shady characteristics, fanatic terrorists and chronic schemers with sinful demonic inclinations capable of inflicting harm on the population via the vices they carry in their baggage.
Floodgate of Sins and Vices
Fellow Liberians, I posit that the basis for the present debates is whether the dual citizenship law would unlatch a floodgate for more trouble, sinful platforms, and vices to enter our fold. Of late, there has been news of rampant corruption including the sale of Liberian passports to fugitives and foreigners with shady characters.
On one occasion, before escaping the country, a sinful soul at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confessed Minister Findley and other top brasses were aware of an illegal passport scheme; later on, another news broke that a notorious individual who is a person of interest for breaching United States laws was found with a Liberian diplomatic passport. In spite of those confessions, investigation reports are yet to be made public. Presently, terrorists the world over, are infiltrating security details and causing havoc for peaceful citizens.
There is also a hunch that the dual citizenship law would promote graft and vices within the economy. By law, certain business ventures are reserved for Liberians. Unfortunately, the same Liberians whose interests are being sought, usually allow foreigners use their identities to establish illegal businesses. Now that those Lebanese and Indian schemers are about to acquire their own citizenship statuses, your guess for the fate of the Liberian society is just as good as mine. These are some of the vices this dual citizenship floodgate is poised to wreak upon the population.
Now my Brabbies, with a Liberia where security is so slight to the extent that one would drive from the Robert’s International Airport after midnight with no presence of security; where young men get drowned mysteriously without explanation; where professional people are found suffocated in their vehicle in broad daylight; where the cause of beautiful Princess Cooper’s death still remains debatable; where the baggage claim section at the RIA is nothing but a big confusion; a nation where anti-graft agencies with prosecutorial powers are themselves corrupt to the core; where people fire productive staff and employ their inept brothers, and in-laws; where convicts who were restrained from holding certain positions are now bosses over significant revenue; a nation where what is good for the goose is unfortunately not good for the gander. For example, in Nigeria and other places, terrorists are killing people if ransoms are not deposited in their accounts that are established in other countries where they have infiltrated the floodgates of citizenship due to lapses in security.
Floodgate of Development and Hope
In spite of the proclivity for sins and vices to bedevil the nation-state, the dual citizenship law has huge opportunities that could be reaped over time. Unemployment rate would drop due to the tendency for businessmen who acquire citizenship to increase their investment portfolios hence creating more jobs; an influx of diasporas Liberians with diverse opportunities would improve residents’ livelihood; some of our friends would import “best practice” educational interventions to build capacity and polish existing skill sets for nation building. What a glorious day that would be for this glorious land of liberty!
Yes, there is hope that the bill could change our disappointments to appointments; our hunger to abundance; our staggering economy to a robust full employment of wherewithal; our miserable poverty conditions to opulence. When Frenchmen and other Westerners were awarded citizenship in Ivory Coast and Guinea and other African nations, those economies boomed; skyscrapers surged and the proliferation of business investments spurred the public revenue regime.
My people, hear me and hear me well. This hope in the dual citizenship bill will be genuine if and only if status quo “movers and shakers” approach it with sincerity; if they divest themselves of their egoistic, greedy, sinful nature of amassing wealth, obscure gubernatorial styles, and unorthodox “economic practices”
Malachi 3:10 “Test me in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “and see if I will not throw open
the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it”
This is our hope. This is the hope with which Liberians are receiving and applauding the dual citizenship edict despite the intrinsic trepidations. So dear God, please save us from those sins and vices that our dual citizenship law would usher!
Simply Thinking Thoughts!
About the author
The Rivercess scholar, critical thinker, and founder of the Diversified Educators Empowerment Project (DEEP), Mwalimu-Koh M. Blonkanjay Jackson holds a Master of Education from Harvard, and Master of Science in Mathematics Education from St. Joseph’s University; he is a Yale University Teachers Initiative Math Fellow and UPENN Teacher Institute Physics Fellow. The Rivercess man is a part-time lecturer at the UL Graduate School of Education. Mr. Jackson served the government of Liberia diligently for four years and returned to private practice as Development Specialist and Education Engineer. The Mwalimu-Koh can be reached at 0886 681 315.