[h=2]Minister: Policy on citizenship in pipeline[/h]
By Patrick Kisembo
29th July 2011
National IDs set to be issued by end of year
Home Affairs minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha
The government is drafting a policy that will restrict the number of foreigners seeking citizenship, Home Affairs minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha revealed in the House yesterday.
Tabling the 2011/12 Home Affairs ministry budget estimates, the minister said the process has already started, adding: "The policy seeks to limits the number of foreigners granted citizenship by the government."
The minister would not reveal the number of foreigners who have applied for Tanzanian citizenship, but it is understood that the move comes in the wake of a massive influx of aliens into the country.
The minister said the government would put in place conditions specifying the number of people to be given citizenship every year.
According to Nahodha, the ministry granted 90 foreigners citizenship last year after they met the set conditions.
He told the House that most foreigners who were given citizenship were from India, Somalia, Rwanda, Lebanon, Finland, Yemen, Pakistan, Nigeria, Italy, Republic of Sudan, Zambia, Bangladesh and China.
A total of 625,308 foreigners entered the country between July 2010 and April 2011 as compared to 664,037 foreigners, who entered the country in the previous year, Nahodha said.
He requested the House to approve a total of 482.394bn/- for his ministry's 2011/12 financial year budget of which 283.638bn/- was for the police force, 3.025bn/- for fire brigade, 108.850bn/- prisons, 6.864bn/- the ministry headquarters and 80.015bn/- for the immigration department.
Further, he said that 627,884 foreigners left the country between July 2010 and April 2011 compared to 638,376 in the previous year.
"The number of foreigners who have entered the country has fallen at an average of 38,729, equal to 5.8 per cent due to reasons related to economic crisis," said the Minister.
He told the House that in the 2010/11 financial year 12,563 foreigners were granted residential permits compared to 10,890, who got such permits in the previous year.
The number of residential permits issued increased by 1,673, equivalent to 15.4 percent during the period, he said.
"The main reasons for this were the progress made in the world economy and the promising investment environment in the country,' he said.
The minister told the House further that 32 Tanzanians were granted citizenship in foreign countries, including Kenya, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Zambia, Britain, Australia, Namibia, Sweden, China and Singapore.
Holding the government censured, the opposition camp in Parliament said there has been an increase in the flow of foreigners into Tanzania as if the country "has no rules and regulations to check the anomaly."
The Shadow minister Godbless Lema made the remarks when tabling the alternative budget yesterday, saying illegal immigrants were openly moving in the country's urban streets.
"They are running their businesses as if they are citizens," he said citing people from Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India and China.
"Majority of these people are living in the country without legal permits allowing them to do business," Lema said.
The opposition told the government that the habit of letting foreigners live in the country illegally, poses a big security threat especially in this era of terrorism.
The Parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security proposed that the government address the challenges facing the immigration department, saying it has been lacking communications facilities.
Mohamed Khatib (CCM) tabling the committee's report on behalf of its chairman, Edward Lowassa (Monduli, CCM) said the department needs to be empowered to cope with the challenges it is facing.
Meanwhile, the minister said that issuance of the National Identity Cards (IDs) is expected to start at the end of this year.
"It is going to start at the end of this year with the issuance of IDs to some segments of the country's population," the minister said.
He mentioned those to be issued with the IDs as public servants, college and university students and businessmen.
According to the minister, the IDs would help the possessor to solve many problems including checking ghost workers in the public service.
They would also make it easy to identify higher-education students who qualify for government loans, strengthen security and simplify identification of voters.
Nahodha said the National Identification Authority (NIDA), the government agency overseeing implementation of the project, has already finalised procedures to acquire plots for construction of its offices in all districts on the Mainland.
The 355bn/- project would enable the government to widen revenue collections from the current 1,570,000 taxpayers to 12 million.
"The government signed an agreement with IRIS Corporation Behard of Malaysia to implement the project on April 21 this year, and the firm has started working on the project," Nahodha said.
He said that between 25milion and 26 million citizens will be given the IDs.
The opposition camp reacting to the minister's speech blamed the government for the delays in issuing the IDs.
Shadow minister Godbless Lema advised NIDA management to speed up the project in the interest of the nation so that by 2014 every Tanzanian who qualifies for the ID would have one.
He also proposed that the electoral commission should make use of the IDs in the 2015 general elections.
For its part, the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security differed with the opposition, saying work on the IDs has been progressing well.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN