NC rejects citizenship bill

The Namibian Citizenship Amendment Bill, which is aimed at overriding a recent Supreme Court judgement on the right to acquire Namibian citizenship by birth, is heading back to the National Assembly after it was unanimously rejected by the National Council yesterday.

The Swapo Party-dominated National Council (NC) decided to object to the principle of the bill after adopting a report from a select committee of the NC that was last week asked to carry out consultations on the constitutionality of the proposed change to the law. In its report, the select committee concluded that the bill is unconstitutional and cannot be passed. The National Assembly will now have to reconsider the bill in light of the NC's finding on its unconstitutionality. The Constitution states that if a two-thirds majority of the members of the NC had objected to the principle of a bill, the National Assembly (NA) should then reconsider the principle. Unless a two-thirds majority of NA members reaffirms the principle of the proposed legislation, the bill would lapse, the Constitution also stipulates.