Report on Citizenship Law: Zambia The Constitution specifically empowered Parliament to enact legislation excluding from the required period of residence in Zambia any period during which the person was sentenced to imprisonment, detained in a mental asylum, or resident under a temporary permit.33 This rule was necessary particularly considering Zambia’s transition from its status as a British protectorate during which time the indigenous population had no control over who could reside in Zambia. This rule was intended to weed out people whose connection with Zambia was tenuous such as those in Zambia for purely commercial reasons such as mineral prospecting. The 1964 Constitution’s provisions on acquisition of citizenship reflected its origins as a text negotiated with the British government. This is evident from the emphasis on ius soli attribution of citizenship based on birth in the territory, as well as the gender discrimination in provisions that did not permit transmission of citizenship by a woman to her children born outside the country, and recognising that only women acquired a right to be registered as citizens upon marriage or were capable of conferring citizenship to an adopted child. Another aspect of the legal regime which reflected British influence is limiting the age at which a person could apply for citizenship in their own right at 21 years, which was also the age prescribed under British law at the time. 2.2.7 Cessation of citizenship Under the Independence Constitution, citizenship could be lost in three instances, that is, renunciation, automatic loss and revocation. First, the citizen could expressly or impliedly renounce their Zambian citizenship. A renunciation could be express where the citizen, having alternative citizenship or satisfying the Minister of Home Affairs that they would, after the renunciation, acquire alternative citizenship could lodge a declaration renouncing their Zambian citizenship.34 A renunciation would be implied in cases where a Zambian citizen (other than those acquiring citizenship by marriage) took any voluntary step to acquire the citizenship of another country.35 Second, there were specific instances in which a citizen could lose their citizenship even without taking a positive action. Zambian citizenship could lost if a citizen who was neither a naturalised nor a registered citizen, upon either becoming a Zambian citizen or attaining full age, whichever occurred later, retained the citizenship of another country lost their Zambian citizenship.36 Similarly, a person born in Zambia after 24th October 1964 who after becoming a Zambian citizen or attaining full age (whichever occurred later) remained a citizen by descent under the laws of a foreign country lost Zambian citizenship.37 In addition, registered or naturalised citizens who acquired alternative citizenship after attaining the age of 21 or attaining Zambian citizenship would lose Zambian citizenship.38 Finally, a person born in Zambia after 24th October 1964 who was a citizen by descent of another country and whose father was also a citizen of that other country automatically lost Zambian citizenship the day after their birth.39 33 Independence Constitution, Article 11(4) Section 8(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1964 35 Section 10(3) of the Citizenship Act, 1964 36 Section 10(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1964 37 Section 11(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1964 38 Section 10(2) of the Citizenship Act, 1964 39 Section 11(1) of the Citizenship Act, 1964 34 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/14 - © 2020 Author(s) 7