Kitamirike should get passport
May 30, 2004
<b>Opinion</b><br><br>IT is complications like that the national soccer team Cranes and Chelsea player Joel Kitamirike have come up against, that illustrate the need for an urgent review of particular sections of Ugandan law.<br>
Opinion
BY LOUIS JADWONG
Sports Editor
IT is complications like that the national soccer team Cranes and Chelsea player Joel Kitamirike have come up against, that illustrate the need for an urgent review of particular sections of Ugandan law.
Ideally, there should be nothing to hinder a young man, who has featured for England before, from answering a call for national duty by his motherland.
Yet technically, Kitamirike cannot represent Uganda because of a law — currently under review — that prohibits dual citizenship.
Portugal and Poland have negotiated similar dilemmas before.
Brazilian-born Deco, for example, benefited from a clause in the Portuguese constitution that provided that people who could render “relevant services†to the country be granted dual citizenship.
Nigerian-born Emmanuel Olisadebe was also given citizenship, when the Polish president used his powers to ensure that he features for Poland.
Kitamirike earns his livelihood from Britain and renouncing their citizenship would complicate his stay there.
It is Uganda that should change!
BY LOUIS JADWONG
Sports Editor
IT is complications like that the national soccer team Cranes and Chelsea player Joel Kitamirike have come up against, that illustrate the need for an urgent review of particular sections of Ugandan law.
Ideally, there should be nothing to hinder a young man, who has featured for England before, from answering a call for national duty by his motherland.
Yet technically, Kitamirike cannot represent Uganda because of a law — currently under review — that prohibits dual citizenship.
Portugal and Poland have negotiated similar dilemmas before.
Brazilian-born Deco, for example, benefited from a clause in the Portuguese constitution that provided that people who could render “relevant services†to the country be granted dual citizenship.
Nigerian-born Emmanuel Olisadebe was also given citizenship, when the Polish president used his powers to ensure that he features for Poland.
Kitamirike earns his livelihood from Britain and renouncing their citizenship would complicate his stay there.
It is Uganda that should change!