Report on Citizenship Law: Zambia support this, it is likely that before this amendment many people lost their Zambian citizenship by mere inaction since they most would probably have been unaware that they would lose their citizenship unless they renounced the alternative citizenship. This amendment appears to have been intended to prevent this rather draconian result and the possibility of dual citizenship was likely an unintended outcome. 2.6 The 1991 Constitutional Regime The 1991 Constitution retained the citizenship status granted under the preceding Constitutions91 as well as the categories of citizenship created thereunder. The primary basis of citizenship continued to be descent from one parent who was a citizen at the time of birth, whether that was inside or outside the country.92 However, in line with the amendments to the Citizenship Act in 1986, the new Constitution discontinued the entitlement to citizenship for people born to ‘established residents’; although it recognised that those born before 1st April 1986 would continue to be entitled to recognition as citizens on the same basis as before.93 The 1991 Constitution continued to delegate to Parliament the power to enact legislation conferring eligibility to apply for citizenship in respect of people not otherwise entitled to citizenship.94 Since no new statute relating to citizenship was enacted to repeal and replace the Citizenship Act, 1975, it remained the relevant law dealing with this issue. However, there was no provision under this Act or the regulations giving Parliament power to direct that people otherwise not eligible to apply for registration be registered as citizens. The confusion over the requirements in relation to showing residence in Zambia remained. The new constitution retained the provision under the 1973 Constitution which empowered Parliament to enact that the time that a foreigner had spent under a permit in Zambia would not be considered when computing the time they had been ordinarily resident in Zambia for purposes of eligibility for citizenship by registration. The fact that this provision was retained while the 1986 Amendment to the Citizenship Act provided the opposite makes its retention curious. It is unclear what legislative mischief Parliament sought to address at this stage and why the position in the 1986 Amendment to the Act was apparently being abandoned. It appears more likely that when introducing the 1991 constitutional amendment, Parliament was not aware of the conflict between the 1973 Constitution and the 1986 Amendment and blindly repeated the provision in the 1973 Constitution. The 1991 Constitution also continued the Citizenship Board.95 It also retained the provisions regarding the cessation of citizenship set out under the 1973 constitutional regime. 91 Constitution of Zambia 1991, Art 4 Constitution of Zambia 1991, Art 5 93 Constitution of Zambia 1991, Article 10(3) 94 Constitution of Zambia 1991, Article 7 95 Constitution of Zambia 1991, Article 8 92 RSCAS/GLOBALCIT-CR 2020/14 - © 2020 Author(s) 13